The Opel Gemini was a model produced and sold under many different brands in the 1970s. It used the General Motors T platform and brands in the GM group as well as affiliated brands like Isuzu had their own versions in 4-door and 2-door bodystyles. Most were known as Gemini although Chevrolet called it a Chevette in Brazil and Daewoo sold it as a Maepsy Sigma in Korea.
The Gemini was marketed in Malaysia by a GM subsidiary up till the early 1980s and then when that subsidiary closed down, it became an Isuzu and was marketed by ACM. The model was assembled at the GM factory in Johor.
During the second half of the 1970s, the traditional 4-speed manual transmissions started to gain an extra gear. At that time, as fuel economy was a priority, the fifth gear was an overdrive ratio – being higher than 1:1 (eg 0.8:1). This reduced the revs at higher speeds which helped reduce fuel consumption and as a side benefit, there was also smoother and quieter running. Today, there are automatic transmissions with up to 10 speeds.
The shift to 5-speed transmissions was led by the Japanese and though Opel was a German brand, it was largely the Isuzu model which was used for the Malaysian market. In later years, the next (second) generation of the Gemini with a diesel engine would become the favourite of taxi drivers in urban areas before it was replaced by the Proton Saga for the role.
In the early 1990s, Isuzu stopped making passenger cars to focus on commercial vehicles and pick-up trucks. For the domestic Japanese market, it still offered Isuzu passenger cars but these were rebadged Honda models which were used in exchange for Isuzu trucks which Honda rebadged for the US market.
