Why are European cars better than America?
#11
Originally Posted by LowOrbit' post='369539' date='Dec 20 2006, 01:22 PM
Lets face it, Americans for the most part do not appreciate precision, sophistication and quality as much as Europeans. This is evidenced by the predominance of tacky McMansions and low-tech SUVS and the popularity of NASCAR vs. F1.
are you serious?
i would argue that if not for the American Market, no car or luxury goods company in the world for that matter, would be anywhere near as successful as they are today...Toyota is a super power house purely on the american market (and govt subsidies), there is no big acceptance for luxury cars from the japanese in europe for the most part, nor the rest of the world...BMWs #1 market outside of germany is always the US, it is the US that has allowed all luxury companies to grow and expand as they have in the past 20 years....talk about SUVs and you are talking about the US market, Mercedes has as many SUV models as they have cars now, and they arent building them for europeans; i just dont understand how you say that comment above
as for the car problem with american companies, they have trully missed the 'boat' so to speak.... its corporate mis-mangement that has caused the problems, imho, as well as the legal and labor systems in the US... We in the US can build spacecraft to fly around the solar system and beyond, we can land on the moon bring men back safely using 1960's technology; we can clearly build a solid car if managed properly, it aint rocket science or nothing like that...perhaps some day a true car enthusiast will take over Ford or GM before its too late, i would happily buy an american car if they got their act together
#12
Originally Posted by subterFUSE' post='369574' date='Dec 20 2006, 12:13 PM
The biggest problem which faces American car companies is labor unions. They have a stranglehold on the industry, and make costs skyrocket. GM, for example, must dish out $1400 or more from every vehicle sold just to pay for healthcare for the workers. With so much cost in production being wasted on union benefits, it leaves little room to be engineering better cars.
Back in the early 80s?, the U.S. automakers made these sweetheart deals with the unions because they assumed they could cover these costs given the expectation that the Big 3's U.S. market share would remain constant.
With the advent of the Japanese invasion and the increasing popularity of German brands, the market share of the Big 3 dropped dramatically so they were not able to cover these (essentially) fixed labor costs. If the Big 3 would have been quicker in making more reliable/efficient/higher-quality cars, the inroads by foreign makers would have been much smaller. Now, with the huge legacy costs, the Big 3 may never have the cash flow to spend on R&D to become competitive.
I can not think of one American car I would buy (would choose a Boxter over a Vette), which is pretty sad.
#13
Originally Posted by KAF' post='369566' date='Dec 20 2006, 02:02 PM
American cars were built for American roads, long, straight, 55mph speed limits, good surfaces.
The idea that the American public only likes straight line driving is only partially true. Most people just don't care either way. Cars are appliances to them.
#14
Originally Posted by LowOrbit' post='369582' date='Dec 20 2006, 02:25 PM
I can not think of one American car I would buy (would choose a Boxter over a Vette), which is pretty sad.
#15
Originally Posted by m630' post='369580' date='Dec 20 2006, 12:19 PM
are you serious?
i would argue that if not for the American Market, no car or luxury goods company in the world for that matter, would be anywhere near as successful as they are today...
i would argue that if not for the American Market, no car or luxury goods company in the world for that matter, would be anywhere near as successful as they are today...
Even if only 5% of the U.S. really appreciates sophisticated cars (and can afford them), that is still a huge market. The majority of Americans don't care about quality as much, which is why American cars are still sold here.
In reality, a lot of MB and BMW owners probably don't truly appreciate the difference, but they buy them for status reasons.
#16
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Originally Posted by subterFUSE' post='369574' date='Dec 20 2006, 07:13 PM
The biggest problem which faces American car companies is labor unions. They have a stranglehold on the industry, and make costs skyrocket. GM, for example, must dish out $1400 or more from every vehicle sold just to pay for healthcare for the workers. With so much cost in production being wasted on union benefits, it leaves little room to be engineering better cars.
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#17
Originally Posted by dlevi67' post='369592' date='Dec 20 2006, 12:35 PM
that does not explain why Ford (and now even GM) can consistently produce "fun to drive" cars for the European mass market (e.g. Focus, Mondeo, new Astra), but not in the US one.
Perhaps its because the U.S. part of GM etc. has been making huge profits on their SUVs so there was no pressure to focus on making quality, fun-to-drive cars for the U.S. market.
We may now see some progress in this area given that Big 3 SUV sales have plummeted.
#18
Originally Posted by LowOrbit' post='369589' date='Dec 20 2006, 02:32 PM
What high end luxury cars does America produce?
2007 Cadillac STS-V MSRP: $74,870
2007 Cadillac XLR MSRP: $78,080-$97,460
2007 Cadillac Escalade MSRP: $54,500-$59,470
2006 HUMMER H1 Alpha MSRP: $128,374-$139,771
2007 Chevrolet Corvette MSRP: $44,170-$69,175
2006 Dodge Viper MSRP: $83,145
2006 Panoz Esperante MSRP: $97,360-$128,319
2006 Ford GT MSRP: $149,995