Asüna was a captive import

Captive import

Captive import is a marketing term and a strategy for an automobile part or entire vehicle that is foreign-built and sold under the name of an importer or by a domestic automaker through its own dealer distribution system....

 automobile brand created in 1992 for the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 market by General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

 as a counterpart to Geo

Geo (automobile)

Geo was a brand of small cars made by General Motors as a subdivision of its famous Chevrolet division from 1989 to 1997. Its original slogan was "Get to know Geo." Originally formed by GM to compete with the growing small import market of the mid 1980s, the line continued through the 1997 model...

. It was one of two successors to the Passport

Passport (automobile dealership)

Passport was a Canadian car dealership network owned by General Motors. It sold vehicles from Isuzu and Saab as well as its own branded Passport Optima, a Korean made badge engineered Opel Kadett E, starting in model year 1988...

 brand, which had a similar intent.

Preceding the Asüna brand, Passport sold a Korean (Daewoo

GM Daewoo

GM Korea Company is South Korea's second largest automobile manufacturer and is a division of the General Motors Company. GM Korea's roots go back to the former Daewoo which was split from its parent company, Daewoo Group, in 2001...

) made badge engineered Opel Kadett

Opel Kadett

The Opel Kadett is a small family car produced by the German automobile manufacturer Opel between 1937 and 1940, and then again from 1962 until 1991 , when it was replaced by the Opel Astra.-Original model :...

 E known as the Passport Optima (which hit Canadian shores in 1988) as well as a selection of Isuzu

Isuzu

, is a Japanese car, commercial vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo. In 2005, Isuzu became the world's largest manufacturer of medium to heavy duty trucks. It has assembly and manufacturing plants in the Japanese city of Fujisawa, as well as in the prefectures...

 SUVs. General Motors Canada

General Motors Canada

General Motors of Canada Limited is General Motors' Canadian division. Its national headquarters office, Canadian Regional Engineering Centre, and main manufacturing plants are located in Oshawa, Ontario. GM Canada is 100% owned by GM.As of Apr...

 changed its branding strategy in 1991, disbanding Passport (the Optima was rebadged as Pontiac LeMans

Pontiac LeMans

The Pontiac LeMans was a model name applied to compact and intermediate-sized automobiles offered by the Pontiac division of General Motors from 1962 to 1981. The LeMans was replaced by the downsized Pontiac Bonneville for the 1982 model year...

). Isuzu was grouped together with Saab

Saab

Saab AB is a Swedish aerospace and defence company, founded in 1937. From 1947 to 1990 it was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile, and between 1968 and 1995 the company was in a merger with commercial vehicle manufacturer Scania, known as Saab-Scania.-History:"Svenska...

 and GM's new, import-fighting Saturn division to form Saturn-Saab-Isuzu dealerships. The Geo brand was introduced in Canada in (model year) 1992, offered at Chevrolet

Chevrolet

Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...

-Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...

-Cadillac

Cadillac

Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

 dealers (who had been selling the Geo brand's products as Chevrolets from 1989 until the brand's introduction). Sales of Geo vehicles were relatively successful, prompting Pontiac

Pontiac

Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...

-Buick

Buick

Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...

-GMC

GMC (General Motors division)

GMC is a manufacturer of trucks, vans, military vehicles, and SUVs marketed in North America and the Middle East by General Motors Company. In January 2007, GMC was GM's second-largest-selling North American vehicle division after Chevrolet, ahead of Pontiac....

 dealers to request GM Canada to provide a lineup of similar "import" vehicles. Asüna was created to fulfill this demand.

The Pontiac LeMans model name was dropped altogether in favour of trimline designations, selling as Asüna SE in base trim hatchbacks and sedans, and as Asüna GT as a higher trim hatchback. The Asüna lineup was rounded out by the Sunfire (a rebadged Isuzu Impulse

Isuzu Impulse

The Isuzu Piazza is a small sporty 3-door liftback coupé that was manufactured by Isuzu from 1981 to 1992 in two generations...

) and Sunrunner (a rebadged Suzuki Sidekick, taking the GMC Tracker's

Geo Tracker

The Chevrolet Tracker, formerly the Geo Tracker, is a mini SUV produced for Chevrolet and Geo by CAMI Automotive in Ingersoll, Ontario. Although appearing as a compact SUV, the Tracker was actually certified as a Light truck due to its off-road capabilities.-First generation: The Geo Tracker was a...

 place in the Pontiac-Buick-GMC lineup).

Asüna sales could not match Geo's, and the Asüna brand was eliminated in 1995. The SE/GT and Sunfire were dropped from the GM Canada lineup and Sunrunner was later rebadged as a Pontiac.

List of vehicles

Name	Years in production	Badge engineered	Image
Sunfire	1993	Isuzu Impulse Isuzu Impulse The Isuzu Piazza is a small sporty 3-door liftback coupé that was manufactured by Isuzu from 1981 to 1992 in two generations...
Sunrunner	1992–1993	Suzuki Escudo Suzuki Escudo The Suzuki Escudo is an off-road vehicle that has been in production since 1988...
SE/GT	1993	Daewoo LeMans