Sterling 825
If you don’t know what the Sterling 825 is, no one can blame you. Once marketed as the next big thing in the luxury segment of the American market, Sterling is now a forgotten brand on the margins of automotive history. Sterling had an exciting story. It was a British company established in the late ’80s with Honda’s capital and Rover’s design. Back then, Honda owned Rover and wanted to enter the American market with a luxury model. So they conceived the Sterling, a luxurious car based on the Acura Legend (via Motor Trend).
It was a strange combination but the finished product looked nice. It had a nicely designed interior and decent power from a Honda V6 engine. After its introduction in 1987 and promising sales numbers in the first few months, the first problems showed up. The Sterling was poorly put together. Its electronics were troublesome and some cars developed rust issues. Honda tried to improve the production process, but there wasn’t much they could do. By the early ’90s, Sterling was gone and no one was sad about it. Not even Honda.