Still thinking about upflation, repurposing a product for a higher price.
The largest upflators were American cars made in other countries. It’s a good illustration of BASELINES. The same product has a higher status measurement when the yardstick starts at a lower altitude.
The Willys Aero succeeded here for only two years. It beat Rambler in ’53, then Nash figured out why and answered the threat with a somewhat larger Rambler. After that the Aero was sunk here. Kaiser moved it to Brazil, where it was upflated against a lower baseline. It became a luxury car instead of a cheap economy car. The Brazilian factory improved the upholstery and then changed the styling, making it fully localized as the Itamaraty.
Rambler started associating with Renault in 1965. The first collaboration was an upflated Rambler, aimed at Luxury Prospects in France, again with better interiors. The same thing happened in Australia, where the Rambler was rebranded as Hudson for a more upscale image. Australia upflated the Ford Galaxie later, again with better interiors.
Canada went the other way. The Canadian versions of Dodge and Pontiac were downflated from Step-up to Conservative Prospects, with shorter wheelbases and mostly sixes instead of V8s. This shift didn’t result from a different yardstick; it was needed to please the Canadian Scottish character, pure 100% Conservative Prospect.
Polistra's Mill 