So good, they brought it back
While not perhaps as crucial as design or engineering, choosing a name for a new model is something car manufacturers want to get right, because no product is going to sell well if people start laughing every time they mention it.
New names are being thought of all the time, but another option is to recycle one that has been used in the past, especially if the earlier car was successful.
Here we’re taking a look at examples of this from car makers based in the USA, following a self-imposed rule that only names which fell into abeyance and were brought back several years later can be included.
Therefore Ford Mustang, for example, doesn’t count, because every generation so far has been immediately followed by another one.
We are presenting these cars in alphabetical order.
Buick Regal (original)
Buick first used the Regal nameplate in the early 1970s for a version of the Century, but over the next few years it gradually became a model in its own right.
Although early Regals were often powered by V8 engines, V6s were also available (for example in the 1987 Grand National pictured here), and in time this layout became the only one offered for the car.
In later years, this meant the 3800 V6, a very successful unit which was also used in many other General Motors vehicles.
As far as the US market was concerned, the Regal name was dropped for the 2005 model year and replaced by LaCrosse, though Regals remained on sale in other countries for a few more years.
Buick Regal (comeback)
Despite the introduction of the LaCrosse, the Regal name returned to the US market in 2008 after being applied to a very slightly reworked version of the Opel Insignia.
Even given the international nature of General Motors, it might seem strange that the badge of the resolutely American Buick marque would be applied to a car designed (and, initially at least, built) in Europe, but this could perhaps be justified by the fact that founder David Dunbar Buick, who spent most of his life in the USA, was born in Scotland.
The principle was continued into another generation for the 2018 model year, when the second Opel Insignia was named, for North American and Chinese purposes, as the sixth Buick Regal (pictured).
The name was discontinued in the US when GM decided that Buick should focus entirely on SUVs for that market, and doesn’t look likely to be brought back in the near future.
Buick Roadmaster (original)
In its first three decades, Buick referred to its cars simply as Models and then Series.
A change of policy in 1936 led to them being given more imaginative names including Roadmaster which, according to a contemporary brochure, was applied to a car that, ‘literally named itself the first time a test model leveled out on the open highway’.
Once Buick had chosen a name, it tended to stick with it for a long time, and Roadmasters (including the 1953 convertible pictured here) were produced almost continuously, though obviously in different forms, up to the 1958 model year.
A new set of names was introduced in 1959, and for a long time after that the successors to the Roadmaster were called Electra.
Buick Roadmaster (comeback)
Having been a regular part of Buick’s portfolio for 22 years, except for a gap during the Second World War, the Roadmaster name was unused for a further 33 before it resurfaced.
Its comeback came in 1991, when it was applied to a large, V8-engined, rear-wheel-drive model available as both a sedan and an estate car, the second of these being part of a line that stretched all the way back to 1940 but was not always called Roadmaster.
Rear-wheel drive was on its way to becoming an anachronism by the 1990s, but the new Roadmaster proved to be reasonably popular. It survived for five years before being discontinued in 1996.
Chevrolet Camaro (original)
Though not the first, the Chevrolet Camaro was one of the earliest and most successful pony cars, a term used loosely to describe compact, sporting coupes or convertibles designed in North America and aimed at customers in that market.
Pitched directly against the Ford Mustang, the first Camaro (pictured) was introduced in the 1967 model year, powered by any one of several straight-six and V8 engines, and was followed by a more muscular second version which lasted from 1970 to 1981.
The third and fourth Camaros went on sale in 1982 and 1993 respectively, the latter having very curvy body styling and looking much less aggressive than its predecessors of the 1960s and ’70s.
Chevrolet Camaro (comeback)
The fourth Chevrolet Camaro was discontinued in 2002 and not immediately replaced by anything, which seemed to be the end of the matter.
However, a coupe concept of a new Camaro was displayed in 2006, followed a year later by a convertible, and a new production model (pictured) – which, like both concepts, gave the impression of having been inspired by the first-generation pony car and in no way by the fourth – went on sale in the first half of 2009, though marketed as a 2010 model.
The slightly retro look was greatly admired, and earned Chevrolet the World Car Design of the Year award in 2010.
A sixth Camaro entered the market in 2015 and was discontinued in December 2023, though Global Chevrolet vice-president Scott Bell was quoted as saying: “This is not the end of Camaro’s story.”
Chevrolet Malibu (original)
For three generations from 1964 to 1977, the Malibu name was used within the Chevelle range, which initially consisted, in ascending order of price, of the 300, the Malibu and the high-performance Malibu Super Sport pictured here.
A fourth generation began during the 1978 model year, and now all versions were called Malibu, the Chevelle name having been dropped.
Chevrolet described this car as being, ‘easier to get into and out of garages than last year’s model’ – which was a fancy way of saying that it was smaller.
Two diesel engines (a 4.3-litre V6 and a 5.7-litre V8) became available in 1982, but they didn’t last long because the Malibu itself was discontinued shortly afterwards.
Chevrolet Malibu (comeback)
While several engines and body styles were offered during the first era, one thing shared by all Malibus was that they were rear-wheel drive.
This situation changed completely when the nameplate returned in 1997.
All Chevrolet Malibus since then have been front-wheel drive with transverse engines (latterly only a 1.5-litre, turbocharged, petrol unit), and by far the most common body type has been the four-door saloon, though a station-wagon alternative was available during the sixth of nine generations.
The last second-era Malibu intended for purchase in the USA left the Fairfax Assembly plant in late 2024, though a year later it was being reported that 199 examples were still lying on Chevrolet dealer lots.
Chrysler 300 (original)
The 300 name was used by Chrysler for nearly 70 years, though not continuously.
It first appeared on the 1955 C-300 (pictured), named after the output of its 5.4-litre V8 engine as measured in the conventional manner of the era, which led to what has become known as the ‘letter series’, with new models called almost everything from 300B to 300M (though 300I was skipped) appearing for one year only all the way through to 1966.
The ‘non-letter series’ of cars known simply as 300 ran through three generations from 1962 to 1971, then stopped for eight years.
A final ‘non-letter’ 300, based on the Cordoba, was produced only in the 1979 model year.
Chrysler 300 (comeback)
The 300 name was brought back for two generations of a large saloon (also available as an estate in the first) manufactured from 2004 to 2023.
Known as the 300C in some markets, both were influenced by which other manufacturer held a shareholding in Chrysler when they were being developed.
The earlier version was created during the DaimlerChrysler period, and accordingly had some input from Mercedes-Benz, including an optional, 3-litre, turbocharged, diesel-fuelled V6 engine.
When the later 300 was introduced in 2011, Daimler was no longer involved and Chrysler was partly owned by Fiat, which explains why this model (pictured) was sold in parts of Europe as the second-generation Lancia Thema.
Chrysler Voyager (original)
Oddly for a nameplate in this list, Chrysler Voyager was not originally used in the USA but on American-built vehicles exported to Europe.
It was first applied to a generation of badge-engineered minivans (or MPVs as they would become known) which were called in the domestic market the Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager.
Neither Dodge nor Plymouth meant much east of the Atlantic when these models appeared in the late 1980s, but Chrysler certainly did (thanks largely to the unsuccessful and short-lived but at least well-known Chrysler Europe organisation).
There was no such thing as a Chrysler Voyager in the US until the turn of the century, when the Plymouth brand was discontinued.
Chrysler Voyager (comeback)
Partly because of a switch to the name Grand Voyager, no Chrysler Voyagers were built or sold anywhere between the 2008 and 2020 model years.
The comeback was a little unusual, since the new Voyager was simply the existing Pacifica minivan in its lower-specification L and LX forms, Chrysler management having decided that these should be renamed.
In 2022, access to the Voyager was restricted when it became available only to fleet buyers.
That policy was reversed in the 2025 model year, when the Voyager re-entered the retail market, once again as a less well-equipped but correspondingly cheaper version of the Pacifica.
Dodge Challenger (original)
On sale from 1969, the original Challenger was available as either a hardtop coupe or a convertible, and in at least some of its forms was among the most formidable muscle cars of its era.
A wide variety of engines was offered, from a relatively mild slant-six to the 7.2-litre Chrysler RB V8 and the slightly smaller but even more powerful Hemi.
Though exciting, the big V8s were also considered excessive, and from the 1972 model year onwards, no Challenger had an engine with a capacity of 6 litres or more.
The global oil crisis of 1973, and increasing concern about exhaust emissions, soon made the Challenger irrelevant, and it was out of production by 1975, but it had been a wild, if short, ride.
Dodge Challenger (comeback)
Unusually among nameplates on this list, Challenger made not just one comeback but two.
In the first, which lasted from 1978 to 1983, it was applied to a rebadged Mitsubishi Galant Lambda, available with 1.6- or 2.6-litre engines and not likely to achieve particularly high status as a classic car.
The second, previewed by a concept in 2006, was a retro-styled muscle car very much in line with the original Challenger, and produced from 2008 to 2023.
The ultimate version was the SRT Demon 170 (pictured), which had a 1011bhp 6.2-litre V8 engine and gained considerable publicity from the fact that it was banned from NHRA drag racing without an additional rollcage or parachute because it could cover a standing quarter-mile in less than 9 secs.
Dodge Charger (original)
The first Dodge Charger was a remarkable, roofless concept car displayed in 1964.
Production Chargers (including the second-generation 440 R/T pictured here alongside a contemporary Ford Mustang) were manufactured from 1966 to 1974 as coupe muscle cars usually powered by V8 engines, though an occasional straight-six did creep into the range.
In 1975, Dodge changed tack dramatically, repositioning the Charger as more of a luxury car than a performance model.
That lasted until 1978, and from the 1982 model year until 1987 (the result, you’ll notice, of a comeback, though not the one we’re most interested in here) the name was used for a very different vehicle with a transversely mounted, four-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive.
Dodge Charger (comeback)
The Charger name was recalled for a second time in 2006, this time applied to a four-door saloon often, though not always, powered by a big V8.
The car was substantially revised in 2011 and continued in production until late 2023.
Power outputs latterly exceeded the wildest dreams of 1960s Dodge Charger owners, reaching 796bhp in the case of the supercharged, 6.2-litre Hemi V8 fitted to the daringly named Jailbreak edition.
A completely new, though retro-styled, Charger was introduced in 2024 and features two- or four-door body styles, four-wheel drive (with the option of sending all the power to the rear wheels if that’s what the driver wants) and, in the case of the Daytona Scat Pack version, an all-electric powertrain.
Ford Bronco (original)
The original Ford Bronco was a simple, rugged, one might almost say Jeep-like off-roader with body-on-frame construction and a long list of optional extras to allow customers to tailor the vehicle to their individual needs.
Launched in the 1966 model year, the Bronco later became available with various Packages combining some of the options, Sport, Explorer, Ranger and Special Décor being introduced in 1967, 1972, 1973 and 1976 respectively.
The second-generation Ford Bronco was larger and slightly less utilitarian than the first, and by the time the fifth generation came to an end in 1996 only the name and purpose of the original model were similar to those of the model first seen three decades before.
In 1997, the Bronco was replaced by the Expedition, which was also available in more luxurious form as the Lincoln Navigator.
Ford Bronco (comeback)
For one reason or another, the Bronco name remained in the American consciousness long after production had ended, and Ford eventually decided to bring it back for a new model which went on sale in the 2021 model year.
Naturally, it was far more advanced than the one first seen in 1966, but Ford went to great lengths to carry over as much of the visual appearance as possible.
As of 2026, 296bhp, 2.3-litre four-cylinder, 325bhp, 2.7-litre V6 and 412bhp, 3-litre V6 engines are available, all badged as EcoBoost.
The name has also been used for the smaller and less powerful Bronco Sport and for the Chinese-market Bronco New Energy electric SUV.
Ford Maverick (original)
Aimed squarely at customers who might otherwise have considered buying European or Japanese imports, the Maverick was briefly Ford’s smallest American passenger car until the arrival of the Pinto.
Despite being promoted as an inexpensive and economical car, it bore some resemblance to the Mustang, both in its initial, two-door form and, to a lesser extent, with the four-door body introduced in 1971.
Power usually came from the Thriftpower straight-six engine, though the 4.9-litre Windsor V8 was available to customers who valued performance over fuel economy.
Also sold as the Mercury Comet, the Maverick was discontinued in the US in 1977 and Brazil in 1979, though Ford later used the name for SUVs sold in Europe, Australia and Japan into the early years of the 21st century.
Ford Maverick (comeback)
The Maverick badge was applied to yet another type of vehicle in the 2022 model year.
This served to expand Ford’s highly regarded pick-up truck range downwards, being smaller and cheaper than the Ranger.
Customer choices included a stand-alone petrol engine or a petrol-electric hybrid powertrain, and front- or four-wheel drive, the latter referred to in the US as all-wheel drive.
It’s believed that the Maverick was originally going to be called the Courier, which would have been another case of a name making a comeback, because Ford first used that moniker in 1952 and applied it to its own versions of several Mazda pick-ups, plus some utilitarian derivatives of the Fiesta.
Ford Model A (original)
With unquestionable logic, the Ford Motor Company chose Model A as the name for its first car, introduced in 1903.
It bore a strong resemblance to the Cadillac Model A of the previous year (marketed as the Runabout or Tonneau depending on which body was fitted to it), and this should not come as a surprise because Cadillac was a reconstruction of the Henry Ford Company, which Ford himself left within a year of founding it.
The cars were not identical, however: the Cadillac had a 1.6-litre, single-cylinder engine, while the Ford was powered by a 1.7-litre flat-twin.
The latter was discontinued in 1904, and because there would never be a first production Ford again it must have seemed reasonable to expect that the company would never use the Model A name again, either.
Ford Model A (comeback)
The Model A introduced in late 1927 clearly wasn’t the first Ford, but it was the first to come after the epoch-making Model T, which it replaced.
Far more conventional and unquestionably more modern than the immensely successful T had been, it immediately became – perhaps for exactly those reasons – another big seller.
According to the Model A Ford Club of America, 4,858,644 examples in a wide variety of body styles were built up to 1932, 532,919 of them in countries far away from the USA.
While at first sight this does not appear impressive compared with more than 15 million Model Ts, the Model A’s production run was far shorter, and average annual production was a great deal higher.
Hudson Hornet (original)
The new Hudson for the 1951 model year featured the company’s ‘step-down’ design (in which the floor was recessed within the chassis rails, thereby increasing the height of the cabin) and was powered by a 5-litre straight-six described in the brochure as ‘the sensational new H-145 engine!’.
It performed particularly well in stock-car racing, and was entirely responsible for the fact that Hudson became the first manufacturer whose cars were driven by three NASCAR champion drivers.
In 1954, Hudson was merged with Nash-Kelvinator to form the American Motors Corporation.
Inevitably, the second-generation Hornet which went on sale shortly afterwards had a certain amount of Nash about it.
AMC Hornet (comeback)
Among many other results of the Hudson-Nash-Kelvinator merger was that the Hornet model name was now the property of AMC, which gradually phased out the identity of most of the marques it owned.
The ‘new’ Hornet, which arrived in the 1970 model year, was therefore attributed to AMC rather than to Hudson, a name not used for more than a decade by then.
Classified as a compact, this Hornet shared very little with either of its predecessors, other than it was usually powered by a straight-six engine.
Throughout its production run, however, a 5-litre V8 was also available, as was a 5.9-litre V8 until the American appetite for muscle cars faded out.
Mercury Montclair (original)
Ford’s Mercury brand introduced the Montclair in the 1955 model year as its range-topping vehicle, positioned above the Monterey and Custom.
All three had very similar dimensions, but only the Montclair was offered with the 195 horsepower version of the ‘Super-Torque’ 4.8-litre V8 engine, and even then only if the buyer specified the optional Merc-O-Matic Drive automatic transmission.
Development was so rapid within Mercury, and indeed within American marques in general in those days, that the Montclair entered its third generation in 1959, now with much more power, a new chassis and quite different bodywork.
After this flurry of activity, Mercury dropped the Montclair in 1961, and there was no immediate reason to believe that it would return.
Mercury Montclair (comeback)
After a relatively short break, the Montclair name did indeed return in 1964 for a model available with several body styles, some of them featuring Breezeway – a rear window which was both retractable and slanted in such a way that the bottom of the glass was further forward than the top.
In a startling contrast to the 1955 situation, the least powerful engine in the range was now a 6.4-litre V8, while the optional Marauder Super V8 measured 7 litres.
Like other Mercurys, the Montclair was completely redesigned for 1965, with a much squarer body. In this form it survived until 1968 before being dropped for a second and final time.
Mercury Montego (original)
In the earlier part of its career, the Montego was Mercury’s counterpart to the Ford Torino.
It was produced from 1968 to 1976, and the wide range of engines available at one time or another included a modest, 3.3-litre straight-six and a very much more potent, 7.5-litre V8.
Throughout its eight-year run, the Mercury Montego came in many body styles, and its outward appearance changed constantly, the concealed-headlight look of the 1970 model pictured here being a short-lived feature.
The name fell into abeyance in 1977, when the Montego’s role within the Mercury organisation was taken over by the Cougar, then entering the fourth of what would eventually become eight generations lasting until 2002.
Mercury Montego (comeback)
The Montego name was brought back in the 2005 model year for Mercury’s version of the Ford Five Hundred.
Based on the Ford D3 platform which was largely the work of Volvo (then part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group), this was the first and only Mercury Montego with a transversely mounted engine and front-wheel drive.
Similarly, it was the only one with a V6 engine, namely the 3-litre version of the Ford Duratec.
Although the car remained in production until 2009, the nameplate did not.
It was dropped in favour of Sable during a mid-life update for the 2008 model year, the same time that the Five Hundred became the Taurus.
Pontiac Le Mans (original)
In Pontiac terms, Le Mans started out in the early 1960s as a name for particular versions of the Tempest, but by 1964 it had become a distinct model, available as a convertible, a hardtop coupe and a sports coupe, and with a choice of a straight-six or one of two V8 engines.
A 7.5-litre V8 (rather larger than the 5.7-litre version used in the 1972 GTO pictured here) was available for a few years in the 1970s, but increasing concern about fuel economy and exhaust emissions eventually put an end to it.
In addition to the trend for lower-capacity engines, the last generation of the original Le Mans was considerably smaller than those that had gone before.
It was discontinued after the 1981 model year, though a competition version driven by Cale Yarborough won the Daytona 500, the opening race of the NASCAR season, in 1983.
Pontiac Le Mans (comeback)
After a seven-year gap, Pontiac used the name again for a Le Mans that was utterly different from anything that had gone before.
Essentially, this was the car known in most of Europe as the Opel Kadett and in the UK as the Vauxhall Astra, but it was imported from South Korea, where it was built by Daewoo.
It was the only Le Mans with front-wheel drive, and the only one powered by a four-cylinder engine, or indeed by any engine with a capacity of under 2 litres.
Replacing the 1000 as Pontiac’s smallest car, the Le Mans was also sold, with other model names, by two very short-lived GM Canadian brands: Passport and Asüna.
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