And call Metros & Prisms Chevrolet instead?
IIRC: Geo started off being marketed as “a whole nother” division of GM, like Buick, Chevrolet, or Saturn for that matter.
WAG: Two separate divisions cannot be maintained as cheaply as one division doing more work. Separate divisions mean separate management structures, separate advertising budgets, etc. Combine that with the fact that Geos were not selling well enough to make GM happy, and you have a simple solution: kill the division and move the few successful models over to the next closes division in terms of demographics.
Chevy Metro, Geo Metro, a piece of crap by any name. I rented one once & it literally would not do the speed limit (70) on the interstate.
The crazy thing about Geo impersonating a “division” is that none of the line’s automobiles were made by General Motors. They were all re-badged Suzukis, and possibly other varieties of turd-car manufacturers.
Frankly, I think that Geo was created in order to protect the other divisions from possible bad press. The cars are really, really small, and might have turned out to be dangerous, too (remember the Samurai?). I agree with KTN’s hypothesis about the division’s demise.
The Prizm is actually a Toyota Corolla.
TampaFlyer -I too rented a Geo Metro, and found that it wouldn’t do 50 mph, which meant that I recommended it to my dad who lives 50 miles south of Tampa by the way…
however, I DID end up buying a Geo Prism… and the only thing bad about it is that it wants to go fast…
Must’ve been the 3-cylinder model. My mom’s '96 Metro has the 4-cylinder engine and it’ll get up to 75 on the highway… eventually. 
If I recall correctly (and I’m not entirely sure) the Geo brand was an attempt by Chevvy to lure young, hip, urban types who wanted cheap, kicky transportation. At that time the only thing Chevvy offered to fill the bill was the Cavalier – not exactly cutting edge hip. The Chevrolet brand definitely had an older, suburban, white-bread image, so they thought giving the cars a separate brand would help. Another thought was that dealers who didn’t appeal to those kinds of customers (like out in small towns who really made their money on trucks) wouldn’t feel pressured to carry those models like they would feel pressured to carry a complete line of Chevvy-branded models.
I don’t know that the experiment was exactly a failure, but it wasn’t really all that successful. You can still get the same types of kicky little vehicles, only they’re called Chevrolet.
I am the PROUD owner of a 1993 Geo Metro.
I really have nothing to complain about the car, except that being 6ft 1 in tall, I often bump my head getting in and out 
Other than that, I love the little bug.
The car belonged to my mother originally, (she was the only previous owner) and she gave it to me when she got a brand new Saturn.
I am going to point out all of the good aspects of this wonderful little car…
My Metro is seven years old and has 96,000+ miles on it. In my car’s life time, it has only required one major and expensive mechanical repair job. This mechanical problem didn’t manifest until after 96,000 miles had been put on it. The catalytic converter had gone bad, and therefore burnt out the valves of the engine. Cost to fix: $1100, over $400 less than the estimate the shop had first quoted. Good deal 
That’s still alot of money, but I felt it was worth it since my car is in overall excellent physical and asthetic conditon.
My mom always took good care of the Metro, but regardless, these little cars have one hell of a paint job on them. My car hasn’t one spot of rust on it, even though it has been through 7 winters and God knows how much road-salt. It has never been stored in a garage. The finish still looks near good as new. Any blemishes were man-made, such as small scratches, dings. I have noticed many other older Metros than my own on the road, and they seem to be equally excellent at corrosion resistance.
My Metro gets an average of 34 miles per gallon (city), which is outstanding, considering gasoline prices have been so terribly high this year. I have noticed that brand new vehicles of most any make/model seem to average 17-22 MPG, which is lousy, IMHO.
I see some of you have driven Metros, and were disappointed with their performance. Don’t blame the car, blame the previous owner, or rental company for not maintaining them properly. When I step on the gas of my Metro, the lil bugger moves. I haven’t ever had a call for driving it at speeds greater than 50 mph, but it gets up pretty quickly. I should know the difference between pokey cars and fast cars, as my last car was a 1992 Pontiac Firebird V8. The Geo Metro won’t do burn outs, but are great for simply getting where you want to go.
Parking is a breeze with a Metro. It’s small size makes worming in out of tight spots as easy a hot knife through butter. (I also own a big ass clunky old Ford van, which is a nightmare to park, fwd-rev-fwd-rev, arrrgh!!)
That about sums up all my good points about little Geo Metro. I might add that these points are probably quite significant to most car owners.
Now for the downsides of the Chevy/Geo Metro.
My biggest disappointment with this car is that the interior compartment panels are all made of cheap plastic and fastened with cheap plastic “buttons” as I call them. I need to replace almost two-thirds of these button thingys, which are ridiculously priced at over one dollar a piece, and are only available through the dealership. Pep Boys and other car parts stores don’t sell them.
IIRC, that’s the only major problem I have with the quality of the car.
There is an “annoyance” or two, but aren’t anything major. The beverage holder is in a very awkward spot, and the way the seatbelts are mounted, they tend to catch in the door upon exiting.
Other drivers hate my little car, regardless of how fast I am going, just because of it’s small size. I am constantly being passed by p-o’d drivers. I don’t drive slow, but I always try to stay in the speed limit. My town is loaded with speedtraps. Let somebody else be dumb enough to get the tickets. If they’re in a hurry, they’re going to be delayed a lot longer when they get pulled over. HA!
Other than the above, I can’t think of much else negative to say.
I plan to keep my little Geo Metro for as long as I can, and preserve it indefintely. I do need to do some very minor restoration work on it, but only to prevent it from “spoiling.” (e.g. fix paint scratches) It’s no classic, or novely car, but I think it’s a cool lil bug, and it saves me a shitload of money in gas. I only have to fill up once every two weeks, and I do A LOT of running around in it.