Quote:
Originally Posted by bbjsw10
Never realized until this statement, You my friend are absolutely correct. Geo metro= Suzuki Swift,,, Chevy Aveo= Daewoo ?,,, Ford festiva= Mazda ? Ford Probe= Mazda 626 drivetrain. Why is it every small car US automakers turns out to either A= designed and built by foreign automakers or B= Powered by foreign automakers. I am sure there are alot more cars than this, If Chevy can turn out a car that performs like the Vette, Dodge the Viper, Ford the GT why shouldn't they make a Good FE car for US soil.
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Aren't we all being just slightly naive here? North America is a comparitively vast geographic footprint with residents paying comparitively little for fuel.
We've over-specialized our talents in developing larger cars suited for long distance... in the rest of the world, people pay Taurus money for a well-outfitted Mini.
Til the $4.00 gasoline cast its recent sobering light on our situation, most Americans would walk right past that Mini and enjoy their Taurus, F-150 etc.
We can blame the big three all we want, but it costs big bucks to field any kind of entry in the automotive market, our market has been suprisingly resilient til now -- and our market has been utterly distinct from the rest of the world.
Doesn't anyone remember how Chrysler struggled to introduce the Neon... it was a brazen attempt by the a US automaker to say "we can compete," to reclaim a turf we had formally enjoyed (Vega, Pinto, etc) and since relinquished.
Turns out its not as easy as it looks. Global platform engineering makes a far better business case.
Americans enjoy a vantage of inordinant wealth and privilige. Immature Americans are fond of casting meaningless aspersions on cars they don't understand... especially small cars that don't deign to address their unsatisfiably spoiled need for constant aspirational reassurance.
An Aveo... fundamentally decent, modest as it may seem... but which provides a hundred times more content, value and engineering prowess than almost any car offered three decades before... is called
crappy.
Oi.
.
.