WaitingforFI

iTrader: (1)

I'm not one for American cars, but why the hell do other countries get better version of our cars? Example here

Detrich

simple.

americans have, for the most part, already made-up their minds about how shitty american-made autos are. china, on the other hand, is still a developing country. as such, they are more ignorant and open-minded.

they'll get burned eventually and see the light as we do.

Clavius

'eh its GM for ya.. but nice to know its once again using Holden as a source for new products. Kinda sad they've waited this long to realize that Holden has its **** together.

maxxdamigz

iTrader: (1)

This is off the top of my head, but I had thought GM was becoming a more successful car company in China than it was in the US. A coworker of mine who is from China said that a "nice car" over there when he worked there was something like a VW Passat with a 1.6 non-turbo engine (I guess due to gas prices). A lot of foreign offerings in China were scaled down. GM was not cutting back as much.

therm8

Buicks sell amazingly well in China. Buick has the image there, that BMW has here. It is the luxury car to have. That Park Ave will be here when the G8 hits shore, or shortly after. It'll sell much better than most of the Buick lineup. That's a Buick I'd actually consider buying, which is a first unless you consider the Grand National.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

exactly.

Last time when I was in China (about 3 yrs ago) my cousin asked me about this *Luxury* car brand that supposedly from USA ... at first I was like what ? what brand (cuz she told me the chinese name of the company, which I had no idea wtf is that that time) then there was one past right by and she pointed it out ....

I was like , are you out of your mind ? Buick ? thats some freaking garbage in the states ....

Clavius

Could some if not all of the problem stem from the cost of making the cars in America? But that Buick does look nice a shame its only gonna be in China and not hit our shores.

Detrich

yah- there are a lot of american brands that have luxury images in asia that generally, make no sense... for example, in japan, UCLA clothing is equivalent to say, Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfinger. i mean, it's just university logo clothing to us. but, over there, everyone wants to wear UCLA brand stuff.

they're all crazy if u ask me...

No More Oldsmobiles

I always thought of Buick as making BBRCs -- Boring But Reliable Cars.
Meanwhile, Chevy could make some exciting cars that would turn to rust five blocks from the dealership.

UFGator12

This reminds me of the new 007 movie when he drives that Ford up the hotel. That thing is sweet looking and I wish they did sell those here in the states. Does anyone know what kind of Ford that was or anything about it?

mac11

iTrader: (1)

widebody buick FTW!

Rhawb

Just get the G8 and call it a day. Aside from those badass looking headlights, it's pretty darn similar.

...I want one.

By the way, American companies need to realize that they ALREADY HAVE the cars to "revitalize their image." They're just sold everywhere BUT America!

Carrera26

That's the new Mondeo. Lauded as the dynamic equivalent of the BMW 5-series for years in Europe. Where they also have the new Focus, the C-max, soon to be 300BHP AWD Focus RS on the C1 (Mazda3/VolvoS40) platform, Focs hardtop convertible, Fiesta (not a POS), etc etc etc...

In Australia it gets even better. Want a twin-turbo I6, independantly suspended, 6 speed, 4 door sedan from Ford? Or would you rather have that in all-aluminum V8 flavor? Just for fun, local tuners recently arrived a 1000bhp on stock internals with that 6.

Obviously such cars would never be liked in the US...

CarAndDriver

It's Audi-esque but lightyears better than our Buicks here.

No More Oldsmobiles

They all sound interesting. But is it an issue of sales potential or of U.S. safety and mileage requirements?

tajabaho1

USA cars getting crappy........just look at the rx-8....the ones selling in japan are better than the ones we have here also.........

Renesis_8

Japanese car companies give the best cars in Japan, Euro companies give europe the best. American companies give americans the worst..
________
Crisstal cam

Carrera26

Generally, Ford execs figure that Americans won't spend good money on high quality American car unless it's either;

A - Muscle Car / Corvette

B - Luxury Land Yacht

C - Truck

There is also some issue with the European-built C1 Foci and Mondeos and their import tariff costs vs. the Japanese built Mazda3s.

Essentially though, they say that Americans won't spend the $$$ on high quality hatches or small/medium sedans. Look at Honda selling Si's for $25K. Now imagine a Ford or Dodge badge on the same exact car, and there are, grudgingly agreeing a bit here, many people who wouldn't drop the same coin on the same car.

In Europe, people are used to spending more $$$ on cars in general, with far less space and much higher gas prices. This has pushed the development of smaller and more effecient cars and also allowed for a market for these cars at a higher price point. Same goes in Japan.

Now, imagine walking into a Ford dealership and seeing a $24,000+ price tag on a new Focus ST (C1 Chassis, gorgeous, turbo 5-cyl). A few enthusiasts who know the deal would pay, but 95% of people wouldn't understand why they should pay that much for a small domestic hatch/sedan.

Now watch Mini Cooper S's, Civic Si's, MS3s, etc etc dance right off the sales floor at the same price. The market for the car is here, but that market is now so biased against these types of domestics that it would admittedly be very hard going. So they continue to feed us the same low-rent crap, which deepens these feelings, which exacerbates the problem, which makes it even less likely to succeed.

I am shopping my RX-8, but I am coming out of an SVT Focus, which I have to tell you is one of the best small cars I have ever been in in my life. Few cars of any stripe have given me as many giggles, and righteous lap times, as this little domestic jewel. European Ford of the finest degree, sold by the boatloads there. Journalists raved. Commercial failiure in the US of course. $19K for a cloth-seat, manual tranny Focus? You must be kidding...

Detrich

in short, american cars are fugly, are less reliable, and over-priced... and, even if they're getting better, they've been bad so long that they basically screwed themselves.

tajabaho1

I drove a ford once.....after that I understood the word "fix-or-repair daily"

No More Oldsmobiles

Interesting info. Thanks.

I've heard that one other factor is that U.S. automakers have a much larger pension load. They are older, with more retired workers drawing pensions. Japanese car companies have less of an expense in that area.

CarAndDriver

For some reason its the GM arm in China thats delivering decent cars. It is certainly not the rest of China--look at those Chery's and the other subpar cars.

tajabaho1

so basically the US auto industry is moving to China?

Razz1

Buick has never been crap and will always be a top line car.

When American cars had bad quality, Buick was the only one that didn't have a problem.

If you don't believe me, you don't know cars.

tajabaho1

^I know jack **** about cars then