{"id":2187638,"date":"2026-10-09T13:25:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2187638"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:25:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T10:25:00","slug":"what-car-was-the-biggest-departure-for-its-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2187638","title":{"rendered":"What Car Was The Biggest Departure For Its Maker?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"columns-holder\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-widget\">\n<div class=\"add-on-google-heading\">Add Jalopnik on Google:<\/div>\n<div class=\"add-on-google-buttons-row\">\n                    <button type=\"button\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"preferred-source\">Preferred Source<\/button><br \/>\n                    <a href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMXBneTRxX2Zw\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"add-on-google-btn\" id=\"google-discover\">Google Discover<\/a>\n                <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">As the rather oversimplified adage goes, your reputation is all you have. Though I don&#8217;t believe this applies well to people, it&#8217;s very relevant when discussing businesses, and especially car companies. Car buyers want reassurance that they&#8217;re making a good purchase decision, since buying a car is one of the biggest purchases most people make in their lifetime, so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2214120\/these-cars-have-the-most-annoying-drivers-reader-answers\/\" target=\"_blank\">reputations matter<\/a>. Automakers often have to pivot their strategy in order to keep up with an ever-changing world, so sometimes that requires breaking into uncharted territory, which is what I want to touch on here today: what car do you think was the biggest departure for its maker?<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2278364\/2027-mercedes-benz-gle-suv-facelift-gle450-gle580-gle500e-first-drive-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mercedes-Benz<\/a> is known in the U.S. for being a luxury automaker, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2276173\/2027-mini-countryman-untamed-edition-rugged-crossover-details\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mini<\/a> makes small cars, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2234151\/toyota-models-with-top-tier-value-retention\/\" target=\"_blank\">Toyota<\/a> makes sensible and dependable cars and trucks, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/2185233\/2026-mazda-cx30-turbo-review-budget-porsche-macan\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mazda<\/a> makes cars that are fun to drive, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/1914435\/2025-subaru-crosstrek-premium-review-specs-features\/\" target=\"_blank\">Subaru<\/a> makes quirky all-wheel-drive outdoorsmobiles, just to name a few examples. But all of those companies have released cars that seem to be a total 180 from the rest of their fleet. Those are the types cars we&#8217;re talking about here today. Submit your answer in the comments section below.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"columns-holder \">\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Dodge has a long and storied history of making massive muscle cars with even more massive V8s under their long hoods, but releasing a dedicated V10-powered, two-seat supercar was a very different undertaking. The company was still riding high on the raging success of its groundbreaking minivan and its K-Car era, and Dodge dove head first into the supercar world with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jalopnik.com\/1861499\/which-dodge-viper-generation-investment-value\/\" target=\"_blank\">the Viper,<\/a> taking it to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans just two years after its 1992 introduction.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Though the Viper still had a heaping helping of Mopar muscle under its hood, its purpose was a big digression for the mainstream American brand. It soldiered on through a handful of successive generations, but it never strayed far from that first Viper&#8217;s ethos, and it became quite the legend for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">As much as\u00a0I hate to admit it, I think Dodge killed the Viper at the right time since the changing automotive landscape as well as changing legislation would have likely resulted in a very different snake. As it stands, the Viper went out as the raw, maniacal, V10-laden supercar that it came into the world as, and I think there&#8217;s something to be said for that. I think it was the biggest departure for its maker, but what say you?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Add Jalopnik on Google: Preferred Source Google Discover As the rather oversimplified adage goes, your reputation is all you have. Though I don&#8217;t believe this applies well to people, it&#8217;s very relevant when discussing businesses, and especially car companies. Car buyers want reassurance that they&#8217;re making a good purchase decision, since buying a car is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,247],"class_list":["post-2187638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-jalopnik-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2187638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2187638\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2187638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2187638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2187638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}