Car brands that are similar?

Why do people make similar cars that look like other cars… For example, a GMC sierra looks like the Chevy Silverado… Another example is the ford crown Victoria and the murcury grand marques… Why do they make cars that look so much like other cars? Is it because they ran out of ideas and can't figure what else to design?

The reason for that is that all those brands were once independent companies producing different vehicles. Brands that are similar were simply bought out. Ford now owns Lincoln and Mercury. GM owns GMC, Chevrolet and Cadillac. Same with other countries too. Toyota owns Lexus and Scion.

The reason a lot of these brands don't disappear after they are bought out is for brand recognition, saving money and diversity. You probably know that a GMC Tahoe is nicer than a Chevy Suburban and a Cadillac Escalade is nicer than a Tahoe. But they are all pretty much the same vehicle, just more features. So someone that really likes the Suburban but would like heated seats, GPS and fancy features just buys an Escalade.

Another reason for this is parts interchangability. Companies don't want to have to make three different types of brake pads for three different cars when they can use one type for multiple models. A lot of parts are shared across a wide range of vehicles. The Chevy Suburban uses a lot of the same parts as the Chevy Silverado and Avalanche. Companies also have deals to share parts too. Mazda vehicles use a lot of Ford parts for example. My Mazda 3 has a Ford engine in it. The Chrysler 300 has a Mercedes engine in it. The Lotus Elise used a Toyota engine and the Audi TT was basically a Volkswagen Golf with a sportier body on it.

Hope this answers your question.

Ford and Mercury (Ford, Mercury, Lincoln) are the same company as are Chevy and GMC (GM - Chevy, GMC, Cadillac, Buick). So a lot of those interchangeable brands are the same vehicl simply re-badged.