Captive import

Captive import is an automobile marketing term denoting a foreign-built vehicle which is sold and serviced by a domestic manufacturer through its own dealer body.

Related Topics:
Automobile - Marketing

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The foreign car may be produced by a subsidiary of the same company, be a joint venture with another firm, or acquired under license from a completely separate entity. The brand name used may be that of the domestic company, the foreign builder, or an unrelated marque entirely. (This is one type of badge engineering.)

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This arrangement is usually made to increase the competitiveness of the domestic brand by filling a perceived "hole" in its model lineup, which it is either not practical or not economically feasible to fill from domestic production. Captive imports are often aimed at the lower end of the market, but this is not always so.

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