Danny Tran
or <br /><div class="bigusername">Tranny Dan?</div
Been reading this old article by James May:
"Forget brand awareness. It's the country of origin that counts nowadays
I suspect the days of true and fundamental differentiation between the big marques are largely over. In the olden days a Jaguar was very different from a Citro?n because the two cars represented vastly different philosophies on how a car should be made, and these philosophies reflected the conceits of just a few men; sometimes only one."
(...)
...despite the EU constitution and a lot of waffle about the global village, national characteristics in car-making are still easy to identify. Think country of origin rather than brand, and we start to get somewhere:
Germans
"They're good, but I remain alarmed by the German obsession with performance and handling. German cars are becoming a bit too wide-boy for my tastes."
British
"The nominally British motor industry has me a bit worried as well. I've had the new Range Rover Sport for the weekend and there's a lot I like about it. But Sport? What a fatuous notion.
I've been out in the Aston DB9 Convertible too, and I'm afraid it leaves me cold. It just doesn't seem very Aston-like; it feels more like the Aston edition of some universally accepted idea of what a posh, high-powered GT should be. It's a good car, but not one that keeps me awake. Likewise the Bentley Continental GT. British cars are in danger of becoming a bit phoney."
Japanese
The Japanese, though omnipotent in quality and reliability, are just a bit boring...
French
"I've long admired their small Renaults and Peugeots, but in the end their cars are just too left-wing for my liking."
American
"... America is still largely irrelevant."
Italians
"So where does the misty-eyed car enthusiast go for magic these days?
Italy. The Italian car, once so beloved by us, but for too long a rather sorry apology by the nation that produces it, is resurgent. The three cars I've most enjoyed in the past year have been Italian: the Fiat Panda, the Maserati Quattroporte and the Ferrari F430 Spider. I can come up with sound reasons for approving of them: the Panda is unpretentiously utilitarian and all the more charming for its honesty; the Maserati is a seductive blend of performance and restrained good taste that Mercedes can currently only dream of; the F430 is so intoxicating that I had to be manhandled back onto the airport bus at the end of a day driving around Emilia Romano. But it's more than that."
Conclusion
The Italian motor industry seems to carry remarkably little in the way of extraneous baggage. An Italian car really does come across as just a car; not as a lifestyle statement, an exercise in branding, a fashion accessory or an expression of national fervour.
The whole article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2005/06/04/mmay04.xml
Discuss!
"Forget brand awareness. It's the country of origin that counts nowadays
I suspect the days of true and fundamental differentiation between the big marques are largely over. In the olden days a Jaguar was very different from a Citro?n because the two cars represented vastly different philosophies on how a car should be made, and these philosophies reflected the conceits of just a few men; sometimes only one."
(...)
...despite the EU constitution and a lot of waffle about the global village, national characteristics in car-making are still easy to identify. Think country of origin rather than brand, and we start to get somewhere:
Germans
"They're good, but I remain alarmed by the German obsession with performance and handling. German cars are becoming a bit too wide-boy for my tastes."
British
"The nominally British motor industry has me a bit worried as well. I've had the new Range Rover Sport for the weekend and there's a lot I like about it. But Sport? What a fatuous notion.
I've been out in the Aston DB9 Convertible too, and I'm afraid it leaves me cold. It just doesn't seem very Aston-like; it feels more like the Aston edition of some universally accepted idea of what a posh, high-powered GT should be. It's a good car, but not one that keeps me awake. Likewise the Bentley Continental GT. British cars are in danger of becoming a bit phoney."
Japanese
The Japanese, though omnipotent in quality and reliability, are just a bit boring...
French
"I've long admired their small Renaults and Peugeots, but in the end their cars are just too left-wing for my liking."
American
"... America is still largely irrelevant."
Italians
"So where does the misty-eyed car enthusiast go for magic these days?
Italy. The Italian car, once so beloved by us, but for too long a rather sorry apology by the nation that produces it, is resurgent. The three cars I've most enjoyed in the past year have been Italian: the Fiat Panda, the Maserati Quattroporte and the Ferrari F430 Spider. I can come up with sound reasons for approving of them: the Panda is unpretentiously utilitarian and all the more charming for its honesty; the Maserati is a seductive blend of performance and restrained good taste that Mercedes can currently only dream of; the F430 is so intoxicating that I had to be manhandled back onto the airport bus at the end of a day driving around Emilia Romano. But it's more than that."
Conclusion
The Italian motor industry seems to carry remarkably little in the way of extraneous baggage. An Italian car really does come across as just a car; not as a lifestyle statement, an exercise in branding, a fashion accessory or an expression of national fervour.
The whole article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2005/06/04/mmay04.xml
Discuss!
