Erin & Saminda - Part 1: Like A Virgin (Allied For The Very First Time)
Erin were almost on the road back to success, but they needed to properly secure their recovery. So, CEO Marco Erin took the incredible decision to accept an offer from Saminda. The Japanese car maker wanted to expand into Europe, giving Erin the perfect opurtunity to widen their range and gain proper worldwide recognition.
This would be the first time Erin had ever partnered with another car maker, certainly on this scale. And with a reliable, well-reputed world car maker like Saminda at their side, Marco was sure the venture would be successful. This gave him the confidence to commit the Visto and Berlose to production, having poured almost all the company’s remaining money into their development, as the cars produced from this alliance would undoubtdely gain attention, if only for the Euro-Asian style.
Documents were signed in 1982, merely months after the Nasaro was released, and the deal was done. Erin and Saminda would design alongside one another and release the resulting vehicles under the Erin brand in (Western) Europe, and the Saminda brand everywhere else in the world. This would be partially changed in 1987, where Erin and Saminda sold the cars alongside each other in South and Latin America, South Africa and Australia. Three cars were planned initially, to be released simultaneously under each company.
The fruits of this international partnership were first bored in 1984. As A-ha’s The Sun Always Shines on TV topped the UK charts, the Erin Devaran was launched. The car that was “Everything You Ever Wanted In A Car” was a brilliant, characterful angular design, made to compete against family cars market in Europe, and was generally seen as a success. Some shakey early sales were soon quashed as Erin’s marketing helped to create the image of a European styled car with Japanese reliability.
This was to be start of the golden period of the Erin-Saminda Alliance. Sales across the board for Erin were boosted by the Devaran’s arrival, as it rebraned Erin in mainland Europe as a car company you could actually take seriously. Meanwhile, increasing success in Group C racing for ErinSport’s Group C Development Project was projecting the company’s image well in the motorsporting world, as this would also be the first of 3 storming years for the Group A Erin Nasaro that would dominate the division across the world and even forced FIA to adjust the the class rulings due to its success.
Erin were no longer recovering; they were back on form.
1984 Erin Devaran
An efficient, compact and user friendly vehicle; Japanese innards with an Erin designed interior, along with a few other bits and bobs. A rebadged version of the Saminda CZ2, the Devaran was an in-between car between the compact Merna and the mid-sized Saminda C5.
Its main selling point was it’s size and shape; plenty of space in a car with a lower than average foot print, excellent amounts of room in the cabin and a large boot. Plus, decent economy was complemented by a well designed Saminda 1.7l engine and spritley 4 speed manual gearbox. It may not have looked sporty, but the Devaran was still enjoyable to drive.
The design on the outside may only just have fit into Erin’s range, but it didn’t slow the sales of this car. The Devaran was quick to gain popularity, and has become a fairly iconic and unusual classic Erin thanks to its angular shape and linear design. Because the car was sold as a Saminda in the UK, “badge conversion” kits have been a popular mod Saminda versions of the car, as the only proper Erin Devarans sold in Europe were all right hand drive examples.
