i'm shocked

[jpaul1]

i was browsing wiki and i was shocked because i learned some legendary US cars companies have disappeared (Oldsmobile,Plymouth) and others were planned to be definitely stopped like Pontiac . as i said i'm shocked , how to say for me it was like if a part of my dreamt America definitely disappeared . What cause such demise , US cars companies weren't expansionist enough , they didn't try to sell outside the US enough , they were doing too greedy cars for non-US markets . i remember once i was in Florida my dad rent a Beretta it was a small car but a very comfortable a very nice car , what did they miss . I learned that Ford was slowly approching a difficult balance (i'm glad France bought lot of Ford for its gendarmerie forces) but Chryler and GMC were in very bad shape (Chrysler one year ago was almost certain of bankruptcy) .Chevrolet Volt(gendarmerie has 1000 Ford vans , 478 new for 2008/2009 and thousands of Focus and Galaxy)

[Guest neworder]

I thought the death of Pontiac was a travesty, such a cool brand. Didn't care about the death of Saturn much. My favourite American cars come from the Chrysler/Dodge stable, 9 times out of 10 they look awesome and are pretty cool. The Intrepid, Old style Sebring, 300C, Charger, LHS, Concorde, RAM, even the current Avenger model, super cool cars. Unfortunatly Fiat has bought them, so god knows what's going to happen.

[maynard]

I thought the death of Pontiac was a travesty' date=' such a cool brand. Didn't care about the death of Saturn much. My favourite American cars come from the Chrysler/Dodge stable, 9 times out of 10 they look awesome and are pretty cool. The Intrepid, Old style Sebring, 300C, Charger, LHS, Concorde, RAM, even the current Avenger model, super cool cars. Unfortunatly Fiat has bought them, so god knows what's going to happen.[/quote']What was the sporty one in the 80's that Deedee drove on Hunter?

[Stinger390X]

Although I am a die hard Ford Fanatic, I am reluctant to say that I believe European car design is a decade ahead of North America (oh boy let the flames begine here!!!!)I am an avid watcher of BBC's "TOP GEAR" which is a great show from Britain that showcases many types of vehicles makes and models. There are so many small manufacturers making fabulous products in small numbers and the designs far surpass any of the "big three" (Ford Chev and Chrysler, for those of you not familiar with that term.)There was a time in Norht America when there was the big FOUR! Yes our beloved American Motors. I owned two Javelin's a 69 and a 72', a Gremlin and dare I say it...a Pacer too! ( I made it into a tubbed out street rod)The cars we get over here are not as nice in styling as the European models and even for example Ford of Australia has some very innovative ideas! I love Holdmans too by the way!Customers want style, power and reliability and unfortunately most companies can only fit one or two of these on thier bill of credits. Very few have all three.

[jpaul1]

Although I am a die hard Ford Fanatic' date=' I am reluctant to say that I believe European car design is a decade ahead of North America (oh boy let the flames begine here!!!!)I am an avid watcher of BBC's "TOP GEAR" which is a great show from Britain that showcases many types of vehicles makes and models. There are so many small manufacturers making fabulous products in small numbers and the designs far surpass any of the "big three" (Ford Chev and Chrysler, for those of you not familiar with that term.)There was a time in Norht America when there was the big FOUR! Yes our beloved American Motors. I owned two Javelin's a 69 and a 72', a Gremlin and dare I say it...a Pacer too! ( I made it into a tubbed out street rod)The cars we get over here are not as nice in styling as the European models and even for example Ford of Australia has some very innovative ideas! I love Holdmans too by the way!Customers want style, power and reliability and unfortunately most companies can only fit one or two of these on thier bill of credits. Very few have all three.[/quote']your post sounds a bit "strange" to my ears because i always thought european cars shapes got their inspiration from american cars . American cars design has always be very innovative not only in the early years (50s/60s) but US cars companies never tried to sell in other countries . for example Renault never tried to take part of US market but tried in lot of other countries included countries like Germany or the UK were concurrency was hard . Renault never had great cars in term of luxury or comfort but they sold cheap and useful cars than have low fuel consumption knowing full well that its more easy to do every day work route in a small basic car than in a huge BMW . US cars if they made us dream suffer since the 90s of a bad ecological reputation too , they were very comfortable but had huge fuel needs and the the US cars companies never took that in consideration has their products were for US market only , and when it was time to think about fighting the concurrency on their ground outside the US they just couldn't do it excepted Ford . Ford has been selling in Europe for ages . Ford made benefits in 2009 and is going to sell small models (Fiesta,Ka) in the US . i'm glad Chevrolet and Buick survived but i'm sad for Pontiac they made cool models such the TransAm maybe Pontiac were too focused on sportscars too .?Twingo

[Guest neworder]

Well I live in the UK, although I was defensive of American cars above don't get me wrong, owning a European car is better, they are more fun to drive, much better built and the styling is good. However, I admire the aggressive U.S styles from Chrysler/Dodge a great deal, you don't get aggressive styling from Euro car makers, or rarely do anyway. In a perfect world when I'm a bit older I'll have my euro car to commute daily, and a Chrysler 300C to bring out on Sundays!

[airtommy]

i was browsing wiki and i was shocked because i learned some legendary US cars companies have disappeared (Oldsmobile' date='Plymouth) and others were planned to be definitely stopped like Pontiac . [/quote']Those brands are nice for nostalgia, but they have been little more than marketing gimmicks for several decades. If you had to pick one exact point when GM's brands jumped the shark, it would be 1982 with the debut of the Cadillac Cimarron / Oldsmobile Firenza / Buick Skyhawk / Chevrolet Cavalier / Pontiac J2000. At that point even the car magazines could no longer pretend that GM's different brands were somehow unique.The US car companies pretty much blew it in the 1970s-80s when they were making huge easy money and got extremely fat and happy. They got so far behind in terms of engineering as well as style that they lost their "cool" factor and now nobody will buy an American car even if it's well rated.Just to pick one example: Remember in the 1980s when 5-speed manual transmissions started replacing 4-speeds? GM was so many years behind the Japanese and Europeans in making a 5-speed it was kind of pathetic. Same with the 3-speed automatic vs 4-speed.And this was NOTHING like our current outsourcing of manufacturing to China. It had NOTHING to do with cheap labor. Japan had a very high standard of living, high taxes, and high wages the whole time they were taking over the automotive industry.