blisteringsilence wrote:
DrunkFace wrote:
Thats my point. American cars can not compete in a "fair" market because they produce inferior products for no less money. Companies such as KIA, Hyundai etc may also produce inferior cars but they do it so cheaply they can compete against much better cars.
The evidence is that as there a very few American cars in other countries because they lack the government protection they get in the domestic market, yet there are plenty of European/German and Japanese cars in America because they are better quality and people know this.
The ford focus has been a top 10 seller in the UK and Europe since it was introduced in 1998. Consistently. It was a top 5 for the first 6 years. Even today, it's the 5th most popular selling car in the UK.
I'll give you this one, Its a well built relatively cheap reliable small car.
Onto other american cars in foreign markets: The australians love everything vauxhall.... which is essentially an american company.
Australia makes its own cars under the badge of Holden and exports them to Europe as Vauxhall and Chevrolet to the US.
The vaunted Monaro is just a rebadged Pontiac GTO.
Its actually a Holden Monaro, which is a coupe version of the Holden commadore which is exported to Europe under the badge Vauxhall and is rebadged the Pontiac GTO for the US. Yes the company is owned by GM, but its a self governing subsidiary and the cars are not made or designed in the US.
The swedes love their volvos (also american).
Owned by Ford but again, a self governing subsidiary which has all its design operations in Sweden, and a lot of its production operations in Europe (and none in America).
The japanese drive the hell out of their mazda's (also american).
Mazda is only 33.4% owned by Ford but still runs most of its operations outside of America.
And then there's south america. Rio is FULL of american cars. Sure, there are lots of non american imports, but let's be real. There are millions of american cars in use around the world.
I'll take your word for it (even tho you've been wrong on everything else) as I know nothing about the Brazilian car market (except they use ethanol a lot).
And I want to differentiate between a European car and a German car. These are two different beasts. While I would happily drive a BMW, you'd have to hold a gun to my head to get be behind the wheel of a Renault or Citroen. You talk about shoddy worksmanship? Who are you kidding? Europe is the home of such beauties as Jag, Alfa, and Volkswagen.
VW is German and owns both Audi and Bugatti (which made the Veyron - the worlds best super car). It makes one of the best small cars in the golf and many of its other cars are based off Audi. Its 1 bad car - the 'new' Beetle was a gimic car, over priced, under designed and marketed at idiots.
Jaguar and Alpa have been know to lack quality, but they are improving. EDIT: Forgot to mention that Jaguar is also owned by Ford.
I wont mention the French cars... Because there well... French.
There is a hippie icon in the US named John Muir. He is know for several books, but his most famous is titled How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step-by-Step Procedures for the Complete Idiot. It's a book that taught hippies throughout the world how to fix their broken down beetles.
A car based on a designed in 1938, and its last major updated in 1967, yet was still being produced in 2003 just shouts out "SHIT" doesn't it?
And as a man who had to drive a new beetle as a company car, I can tell you with certainty that I would never get behind the wheel of that piece of shit as a private owner. That damn car. I had it for 23K miles, and it had to go to the dealership 5 times. For shit that broke.
No one in there right mind would buy a 'new' beetle as explained above.
Don't lecture me about the quality of German cars. The days of the 1981 Mercedes 300D getting 300K miles are long over my friend. LONG over.
Only time will tell, but nothing I've seen or heard leads me to believe your statement is anything but a frustrated US pride arrogant opinion.
You want something that will last forever? Get a Ford truck. Those bastards won't die. My buddy has one, just rolled over 300K miles, and all he's had to replace, other than tires and brakes, is his rear window. That got shot out. He hasn't even had to replace the plugs. Just pulls them out, cleans them, regaps them, and puts them back in.
Or if you want something that lasts forever, doesn't cost the earth in petrol, doesn't pollute as much, handles alot better and has a much smoother ride, Get a Toyota Hilux or Land Cruiser.
Last edited by DrunkFace (2007-03-25 03:21:58)
