What are the best selling cars in your country?

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Since I drive the best selling car in the US for the past 10 or so years, I figure I'll post my opinion of it. First, no, its not a sports car, as something to drive, I'd much rather be in my brothers GTI, or my dad's MS6, but my truck can do pretty much everything. I can carry 4 people in relative comfort, 6 in a pinch (front bench FTW), its very comfortable cruising down my straight American roads, when I need something to tow my Jeep to the trails, it works great for that and whenever somebody in my family needs to moving something big, I get a call. Having a truck is just useful. Now, I have the only one in the family, everybody else drives a sedan or a hatchback, but since we need one truck, I drive it. Yes, I only get 13mpg, but I don't drive it enough for that to matter.
 
I want to live in a country where the best-selling car is a Koenigsegg. :D

Therefore, I'm going to start my own island nation, with free financing to all prospective CCX owners. Who's with me?
 
I want to live in a country where the best-selling car is a Koenigsegg. :D

Therefore, I'm going to start my own island nation, with free financing to all prospective CCX owners. Who's with me?

I am! :)

If the same applys with Lambos and Fiat 500's! :D
 
I want to live in a country where the best-selling car is a Koenigsegg. :D

Therefore, I'm going to start my own island nation, with free financing to all prospective CCX owners. Who's with me?

The life expectancy in your country will be worse than in equatorial Africa... Anyway, count me in.
 
NooDle: Kias are utter rubbish and you know it. If you're a Clarksonite you should have already agreed that anything that has 4 wheels and an engine and comes from the pacific rim countries is so bad that a BL car is -almost- acceptable to compare. On a more reasonable note, Hyundai bought them, which is awesome for kia, but that ultimately means that the best kia is only as good as a downmarket hyundai. A Spartan F150 with a V6 and a Stick still has all the decent suspension and interior bits a fully loaded $30k truck might have, just minus the power everything, big engine, and leather bits. trust me, a simple truck isnt a crappy truck, at least by most reasonable people's standards (aka NOT clarkson's opinion)

Yes, KIA is crap, but to me, it's still a better choice than ANY pickup truck. Laugh, point, call me crazy but thats my thoughts on the matter.

Bigger does not equal better. An F150 has a ladder chassis FFS. It isn't expected to handle. Which is what I want.

Also, keep in mind that for the last 7 years at least we havent had any GOOD american musclecars except the Mustang, and even then until 05 it was sitting on a chassis from the stone age. (camaro nuts dont hunt me down i loved those too but you could get IRS on some stang models, and production was over in 02) The pickups quickly stepped in because we wanted RWD V8s, and didnt care too much exactly HOW we got them.

I sincerely hope Pickups arent the new Muscle cars. because Muscle cars kick ass, and pickups are just for people who constantly need to carry lotsa shit around

In Summary:
-Chicks love trucks(especially in the states, Vicki Butler-Henderson admitted to loving the Dodge Nitro so it's not US only)
-Guys love trucks (V8 powaaa big gnarly tires and go-anywhere capability/utility)
-dogs love trucks! (if you've seen the late 90s Nissan Commercials, you'd catch the gimmick on this one)
-farmers love trucks(you've even admitted this yourself for the UK that they'd fancy one as a secondary maybe)
-gardeners love trucks(keeps dirty soiled tools and mulch seperate from the passenger compartment)
-racers love trucks (tow the car to the track with parts and tools in the bed without breaking a sweat)

In Europe
- Chicks don't dig trucks at all. Supercars/sportscars perhaps, but even then you may just get a glance
- Guys don't like trucks.
- Dogs fit nicely in sedans or estates too! and they can sit inside, away from rain and wind!
- Farmers use 4x4s
- gardeners use 4x4s
- racers use a "regular" car and a trailer to haul their racecar.

you will not convince me there is a need for the pickup truck here, because there just isn't.
 
I still doubt that there is a need for a pickup truck as a vehicle for daily use at all. And if there isn't a need, there also is no logical argument to justify those huge sales numbers (mind the bold letters).

But the points I made to underline that opinion, are constantly ignored. Instead I get bashed for being intolerant. I must be close to the truth then :)

I'm very tolerant - I tolerate people who drive trucks without really needing them. But that doesn't mean I have to take them serious, does it? :p
 
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As has been said before, trucks have become to many the new muscle cars. They are cheap, come with big engines, and can be fast in a straight line. Add to this the huge construction/farming industry in the US and you have huge sales.

No one needed to have a Mustang in the 60s, but it became the biggest selling car of all time. Basic need doesn't determine sales.
 
Bigger does not equal better. An F150 has a ladder chassis FFS. It isn't expected to handle. Which is what I want.

I sincerely hope Pickups arent the new Muscle cars. because Muscle cars kick ass, and pickups are just for people who constantly need to carry lotsa shit around


Bit of cognitive dissonance there - the original muscle cars had ladder frames and couldn't handle either.

So, why does a muscle car kick ass, yet something like the Ford Lightning doesn't? The only real difference is the sheetmetal on top of the frame.

I still doubt that there is a need for a pickup truck as a vehicle for daily use at all. And if there isn't a need, there also is no logical argument to justify those huge sales numbers (mind the bold letters).

But the points I made to underline that opinion, are constantly ignored. Instead I get bashed for being intolerant. I must be close to the truth then :)

I'm very tolerant - I tolerate people who drive trucks without really needing them. But that doesn't mean I have to take them serious, does it? :p

Let's say my car payment is $250 a month for an F-150. Let's say that instead, I bought a Hyundai Sonata for that same payment. I only have enough space for one daily driver, and I don't have anywhere good to store a trailer where it's not going to be stolen.

Let's say I need to haul something that won't fit in the Sonata or that's dirty/greasy/oily and hauling it in the Sonata is a bad idea.

Let's say I need to do this about 10 times a month, which is pretty common for those people that own trucks - maybe we need to get stuff from the home improvement store, maybe I'm just making a run with bulk trash to the dump, maybe I'm getting a new transmission for the drag racer, whatever.

Let's say that renting a trailer costs $50 per day.

So, let's see. I need to rent a trailer for 10 days. That's $500.

That's *TWO* car payments.

Or I could have bought the truck and saved $500 per month.

$500/mo will buy a lot of gas. And since most driving in the US is just sitting in traffic, a nicely equipped truck will be no less comfortable than the Sonata. And that doesn't take into account the time it takes to go to the rental place, rent the trailer, then return the trailer when you're done with it.

My point is - don't tell us what to buy, we won't tell you what to buy. Don't complain about us buying trucks, I won't complain about you buying cars instead of clearly far more efficient motorcycles or scooters.

Just because *you* can't see a "need" doesn't mean that there isn't one.
 
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I still doubt that there is a need for a pickup truck as a vehicle for daily use at all.
Hey, you don't need a fast car, right? Nobody needs a motorcycle. See, I can do it too ;).

Without a doubt, the majority of truck owners will probably never come close to using their vehicle for what it's built for. But they're still very necessary in some occupations. Heh, you guys over there always seem to forget that we've got a whole lot of empty space here. For jobs like construction, logging, ranching and farming, etc etc, you need a tough, reliable vehicle with good payload capacity, ground clearance and 4WD.

There were plenty of times when I worked construction that I would find myself looking at an access road that looked like this ...
slaughterhouse4-main_Full.jpg

"Roads" like that will rip the exhaust right off Buicks and slice Toyota oil pans like butter ... those were bad days :lol:. I finally got wise and got a truck.

Don't get me wrong though; I've got no idea why someone who could get along fine with a car, would get a truck instead. Boggles my mind. But even in cases like Spectre mentioned, they do make sense.
 
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Could it be that trucks are so cheap because it's the only real seller the U.S. car industry still has and that they rather sell them cheap to hold the last bit of ground, instead of making real profits with them? Has anyone got the numbers what they actually earn on selling those trucks?

And let me ask you a question as a car enthusiast: Would you rather have what tigger showed above or would you rather be able to do this instead, even if you cannot carry around tons of debris that way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O89UWHnFUl0&feature=related :)
 
Could it be that trucks are so cheap because it's the only real seller the U.S. car industry still has and that they rather sell them cheap to hold the last bit of ground, instead of making real profits with them? Has anyone got the numbers what they actually earn on selling those trucks?

Could it be that you're full of human waste product?

Trucks were cheap when there was no significant foreign compeition.

When the Model T ruled the world, the truck variants were the cheapest.

Right before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the cheapest Chevrolet or Ford you could buy new... was a pickup truck.

Trucks and their SUV relatives have been a HUGE profit center for the US makers for years and still are. They're so lucrative that the likes of Nissan, Toyota, ***BMW***, ***AUDI*** and ***PORSCHE*** all either make full size trucks or large SUVs in the same class as US truck-based SUVs.

The average profit on a pickup truck runs between 20 and 30%, IIRC. The profit on a big SUV can be as high as 50%. Yes, you read that right, 50%. Trucks cost almost nothing to make - a stripped out half-ton truck costs about $7000 to build. They sell for $10000-15000. The trucks have been the only *real* profit center of the US makers for some time now; this is why they're so worried about the foreign competition in this arena.

You FAIL, try again.

And let me ask you a question as a car enthusiast: Would you rather have what tigger showed above or would you rather be able to do this instead, even if you cannot carry around tons of debris that way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O89UWHnFUl0&feature=related :)

An M6 won't get the paying jobs done. A truck will. I can buy the M6 later with the money the truck gets me. Given a choice of one or the other as my only vehicle? I'll take the truck.
 
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What the hell is it with "Europeans" and this flat bed pick up hatred - it is quite clear that in NA (and Australia too) this is either a vehicle that suits requirements or is one that is desirable - leave the Americans and Canadians alone for heavens sake, its their money and their choice.
 
I have no problem with them when when they are used in a application they are intended for. I do have a problem with vehicles that unnecessarily burn our oil and pollutes our atmosphere.
 
You mean like these, which for some reason you haven't banned yet?

110-trabant.jpg


If you are really concerned about the environment, don't buy a new car. Buy a used one.

The production of a single new car consumes so much oil and creates so much pollution that I could run my old Pathfinder for 25 years and never equal it. I could run my old V8 Jeep Grand Wagoneer for 20 years (when I had it) and I'd barely equal it. Or did you think all those plastics and composite materials came for free wholly formed from the earth?
 
^^ Try two coal fired power stations per week going live in China, for pollution. Their "trucks" are the least of worries.
 
Thanks for mentioning that, Cobol. Maybe we should tell them about the radioactive dust you get when you burn coal.

In any case, China is now the largest and worst polluter on the planet, and they don't have full size US trucks there.
 
Their defense is that divided by the number of people then they are not, so they should be allowed to get their pollution up to our level - problem is that their have about 30% of the world's population. Oh er.
 
Well, I'm sticking to my opinion: Selling the most problematic vehicles (in an ecological sense) for the lowest price is a perversion. And it will in the long run be the death blow for the American car industry, when they're not good at anything else.

If it would at least be diesels... I believe some years ago JD Power published a study that the USA could be nearly independent from oil imports, when all trucks and SUV's were running on diesel.

That would surely have a positive effect on the fuel prices here :mrgreen:
 
Erm, we'd love to have had them be diesels...

But after the debacles that were the European diesels you sent us in the 80s (well, and the Japanese aren't blameless either), diesel emissions were strictly limited. American market diesels *must* be cleaner (and I checked, it's not just particulate emissions any more, either) than what you Europeans consider acceptable.

In addition, the diesels that used to be available (those that would work in a truck application) were far too heavy for a half-ton truck to support. That's recently been fixed with new metallurgy.

All the US makers are reintroducing diesels into their light trucks now that tech has cleaned up diesels where they can be used again.

By the way, even if we went independent (which we can't any more since the liberals say we can't drill for oil in most of the places in the US where there is oil), it wouldn't help you. Most of your petrol cost is TAX imposed by your government. If you took the taxes off, your petrol would actually be cheaper than it is here, due to lower transport costs.

See: http://forums.finalgear.com/general-automotive/environmentalist-groups-25388/page-4/#post635600
for further commentary on diesel in the US.

Also, at the end of its life, a truck is FAR easier to recycle than a car. Trucks are made of steel and as such are easily recycled. Plastics and composites from a modern car, not so much. By the same measure, a truck is actually better for the environment to manufacture - it takes less oil and less energy.
 
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^^ You would have to be a brain surgeon to convince Americans not to buy trucks, re-wire all their brains to think differently. Americans buy trucks because they're the most versatile vehicle and they're cheap and rugged, as well. Basically, they're the most fitting car for most people.

Isn't that why estates are so common in Europe? Best tool for the job. Same deal in America.
 
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