U.S. vs. the World: What Makes an American Car American? - Road Testament - 08/05/10

Wow. This made my head hurt. I can only take so much of JF's complete lack of automotive knowledge, and his fumbling around trying to sound like he knows what he's talking about, but he really doesn't.

Anyway, it is pretty simple. Both geography and culture define what a car company is. Ford and GM are clearly American companies... headquartered here, owned by Americans, and more importantly, have an American manufacturer culture ingrained into them. BMW, Mercedes, Audi, VW, Porsche, etc. -- clearly German. Again, geographically AND their culture and philosophy for building cars. Honda, Toyota, Nissan -- Japanese for the same reasons. Chrysler is a little harder to define. They are headquartered in American and still are pretty much ingrained in the American culture and way of doing things, but they are owned by an Italian company, and I would imagine some Fiat principles will trickle down. As of now though, I think they still fit the American car company definition, although I think that may change over the next decade, depending on which direction they go with their products.

WTH - the background noise in this is horrible. Where did you film this? In front of a bus station?

Buick sells well in China because the last Emperor of China had one, hence the rest of the Chinese wants one.   Had it been a Lincoln Towncar, guess what do the Chinaman want to drive,,,,, you guessed it..

Alright, I am about to make things much clearer.  An American car must be poorly built and designed compared to its competitors, must have a horrendous interior (looks like a group of drunk kindergarteners put it together), must be advertised as one of the most powerful vehicles in the segments, must utilize antiquated technology in some way (Corvette rear suspension, Mustang rear suspension, push-rod engines, SOC, number of gears in transmission etc.).  Put all of that together in one way or another, and you will find that it fits with every "American" car on the market; and these stupid people wonder why we don't buy their crap.

its a f10 not an e60

"Back to me ladies?" Back 2 U Trannie!
Lets roll up the fkn WINDOWS. The bloody siren whaling the 
whole show! Then what a water sprinkler???!!! Engine running?!
JF: 'Being marketed as an AM car'...'is WRONG!'  WTF???!!!
Is there anyone who has at least maybe half a brain?
U totally forgot to mention content. The Ford/Mazda joint
venture has further blurred the line. Many AM cars have up to
85% foreign content with engine+/or transmission from MEX.

An American car company is such because the company began and is still HQ'ed in America. For your discussion, Ford is a GLOBAL automaker in scope and scale. It is still American, simply because the company began and is HQ'ed in the US, but operates and has resources around the world. The concept applies to every company mentioned. Where company began, and the HQ is, is all it needs to make it's national identity.

You guys confuse the issue by talking about the cars when you are actually talking about the businesses themselves.

Ford is still american in the sense that they build american cars and trucks. The Focus and Fiesta were made for europe oringally, but whe the focus was brought to america it became a hit. The only small make of car that ford had was the Escort. And the later models weren't making it better for ford sales in america. The Ford Fiesta of the 80's and early 90's was a compact cheap car with cheap styling. But they still sold well in Europe due the roads and traffic. 

The Ford Mustang and F150 are truely amercian in that they be apart of american culture and hertitge. And that they are built in the USA, with constantly changes in the handling for the Mustang proves that ford is still an american car company with a world view.

It's easy, there's Ford usa and there's Ford europe. And now finally the american asshole's start to understand that the european idea of how a car should be is better so they start to sell the european cars in the us now...

Holly crap that was a great show!!!!
I actually learned a couple of things.
Alex is a good source in knowledge when he is not being a D-BAG.

Design "language" dictates the character and origin of all cars whether the artist/engineers or even the parts involved in building those cars came from different countries.

What makes a car American vs German vs Japanese isn't in the design... it's in the Engineering that behind the design.  It's the quality parts and how they fit together, how the technology integrates into the driving experience and how the total package brings solid performance.

Great job!!  I enjoy your opinions and analysis!!

WHAT???
You know there are no more american car manufactures. All parts are made somewhere else and most american brand cars are assembled in the U.S. I own one Chevy Colorado '04 and the Kia Sorento '06. I looked at each for confort and reliability.. Plus basic, old school, rear wheel drive enginuity.  I like em both, but I know not all the parts  on each are made here in the U.S. 
Talk about SEMA or something more continental U.S. than European, Ima-pean, We're-All-apean shows that most people here dont get a chance to watch.

whos freakin' idea was it, to film in a German BMW car, u guys should have filmed at a dtagstrip, in a 2010 Chevy Camaro, not a BMW

Crap, forgot it was Thursday, no DD...
When are you going to get rid of these 2 idiots? 
Keep DD through Thursday and then Leo on Friday.
Thursdays are just pathetic!

Good show brothers! I always buy American unless it’s a BMW

Good show fellas. Keep it up.

With the help of today's 0mm loan guarantee from the US Import-Export bank, Ford has no excuse if they falter. Their best marketing tool for the Fiesta is Ken Block in his Olsbergs MSE prepped rally car. Too bad the Fiesta doesn't come with AWD as an option.

The Buick Regal is really a opel/vauxhall insignia built in germany. The G8 is really a holden (same with the camaro). GM is doing the right idea of taking european cars and putting them on sale in america. The problem is unlike ford they arn't marketing those cars as european. that is what ford is doing with the fiesta