Petrolblog Revisited: Whatever happened to the Sao Penza?

Can you remember what you were doing in 1991? Have a think about what you did in the year the Soviet Union collapsed, the Gulf War started and Freddie Mercury passed away. 

You would have blinked around 5.5 million times in 1991, so the chances are you might have missed a few events. Maybe you didn't see Sweden winning the Eurovision song contest. Perhaps you missed out on Nirvana's debut album. But there's a very good chance that during one of those 5.5 million blinks, you missed the arrival and departure of the Sao Penza.

Sao what? Sao Penza.

You know, the South African-built version of the Mazda 323? The chances are you've never seen one. There's also a chance that there's only one left in the UK (thank you, Autoshite). It's actually a surprise that anyone bought one. Sure, it cost £2000 less than the Mazda 323, but then it was less well equipped, had far less charisma (and we aren't starting from a high base here), and was backed by a ridiculously small dealer network.

Let's not forget that the Penza was based on the old 323, meaning Sao was effectively asking buyers to pay for the depreciation on a model from the 1980s. Many people decided to say no to the Sao. Or maybe, you Sao it best when you Sao nothing at all.

Then there's the name. Penza is an industrial city in Russia with a population of half a million people. Using exotic locations for car names is a tried and tested formula. Who can forget the greats such as the Lancia Montecarlo, Ferrari Daytona and Chevrolet Bel Air? But Penza? Really? Some creative flair could have resulted in the Sao Penzance, Sao Peterborough or the Sao Preston.

Surely this is another case of the legendary (but mythical) story of how the Mitsubishi Starion got its name. You know, how the American guy on one end of the phone misheard the Japanese guy's pronunciation of Stallion and so the Starion was born. Yeah, it's not true.

Maybe the orders from South Africa were to call the rebadged 323 the Sao Panzer. Now that's a name for a car. Why has nobody picked up on this before? Surely the Vauxhall VXR8 Panzer would sell ribeye steak at an Australian barbecue? Or the TVR Panzer? Or the Dodge Panzer? Even the Toyota Yaris Verso Panzer? It just works.

You're not going to mess with any road car with the word Panzer emblazoned down the side, especially in the style of a Renault Fuego Turbo.

But it wasn't sold as the Panzer and therefore it didn't sell at all. I'll willingly give anyone a whole pound coin for every Sao Penza they see on British roads before the end of the week. You've got more chance of seeing a Renault 12 Gordini or a BMW X5 without a personalised plate.

As you can imagine, footage of the Penza is in short supply; it was never advertised on TV and it certainly didn't warrant any exposure on Top Gear. The next time you blink, just think what car launch you might be missing.

Penza street photo courtesy of Wikimedia. Thank you to John Catlow for the photos of the Sao Penza.