European cars in North America

We used to say 50% of cars in the world was made in the United States, the 50% of the Americans are GM and the 50% of GM are Chevrolet……

Well….as you know, till the early 80s, about 90% of market was dominated by America Big3 and there were just a little bit market for imports those days.

Now, It is hard to see Cadillac or Lincoln on the street and Mercedes or BMW are everywhere…..

This way, people think there are lots of European cars in North America.
But, is it true?

Tell the truth, there are lots of Mercedes, BMW, Audi and VW…….but no other things.

I used to live in New Zealand which is part of British Empire…..we had Peugeot, Citroen, Renault, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Rover or etc…..

We used to have that kind of cars in North America too in 80s, but all of them have already left from us. What was the problem?

•  Imports are not as economical as domestics.
• Those cars were not as reliable as Japanese.
• Maintenance was dealer dependent.

In case of luxury cars, those were not big problem….but for normal cars, those were big problems and that was how more people bought Japanese instead of Europeans.

Especially the quality of those cars were absolutely nightmare those days. In North America, people used to service cars at petrol station. In that culture, European cars were not really welcome for most of the people.

European compact cars have lots of good things. They are compact, lots of room, good performance and good design….but they did not mean too much to American people because for American people, compact cars are for cheap 2nd grade cars.

That was how Japanese succeeded in North America and Europeans left.

It has been over 20 years since then and what happened to them?

• Europeans are still making cars in their own style.
• Japanese became bigger and bigger….and now they are like dull & boring tasteless creature…….although the quality is still the best…….

To sell in North America, Japanese lost character and Europeans which left American market are still making charming cars.

When Chrysler went broke, Fiat helped them. It was to get back to North American market again.

Now Fiat 500 is sold by Chrysler dealers and I sometimes see those in Vancouver too. The price is starting from $13,000.

I don’t think it is successful at this stage…..but it is better to have something different here.

When we talk about Imports, All we have is Japanese, German and Korean……what’s are boring market !!

I miss Citroen’s driving feel ” Soft like American car,  Stable like German cars and Fast like Sports car…..”