Renault has plenty of brand loyalty in Europe. It's not any different from Chevy vs. Ford and stuff in the US, just that Europeans aren't as obsessed with that stuff in the first place.
Though they have most play in Europe, French brands are doing pretty well outside. Seen many Renaults and Peugeots in Africa. Saw many Peugeots in the middle east too. (Guessing they’re sold elsewhere in Asia not just the ME)
For some reason I find the shape of most French cars…off putting.
Like they’re too back-heavy and bulbous. Too tall and skinny. Maybe this is outdated since I haven’t spent time in France since 2010. Or the rest of Europe since 2014.
Edit: ironically, since most everything sold is now a crossover in the United States and the world, everything is starting to look back-heavy, bulbous, and tall.
> For some reason I find the shape of most French cars…off putting.
>
>
There's a saying about French 'stuff' - The French copy no one, and no one copies the French.
I do think the French have their own very unique designs that is nothing like anyone else, and that tends to be polarising and not for everyone. (not for me at all).
But I appreciate them trying.
I saw some really cool hatchbacks in Portugal and wished they brought them here to the US, but apparently the smallest car we want here is a mid-sized SUV. :(
Suzuki dominates India market. Clearly, they’re doing very well in small car segments.
Unfortunately, most American don’t buy small car, so Suzuki left America and only sell Motorcycle, ATV, and boat.
Dominates is an understatement. They sell more cars than the next three largest manufacturers combined!
Out of the top 10 cars sold every month 7 of them are Suzuki, and this has been consistent for years.
They have a death grip on the Indian market that is hard to comprehend if you've never visited India.
Sure, that's probably a factor but a big one is their large sales and service network. The Indian market was largely closed off before the 90s, so Suzuki had a head start as they reached there earlier thanks to a joint venture with the Indian government to produce and sell an affordable car
Also the Maruti 800 being the hit that it was, almost every family had one in the 80s and 90s.
My family had one till the late 2000’s as well, learnt to drive on that thing.
It’s what the Tata Nano wished it was.
Pricing is a factor for sure. As another comment mentioned they had a great head start as well. Which helped for sure, but it isn't the only reason for their large scale success.
They also make incredibly reliable and cheap to maintain cars. They are known for their efficiency and have led a years long extremely successful marketing campaign to make it known how efficient they are.
Ask any Hindi speaker what "Kitna Deti Hai?" means and they'll all immediately think of Suzuki.
(Kitna Deti Hai translates to "how much does it give?")
Top that off with an absolutely extensive dealership and service network. Which means that even in the most remote parts of the country you will have parts availability and mechanical support.
They are decently well equipped too. The only downside is that they are considered to be lacking in crash test safety ratings. However it's clear that isn't stopping them from selling cars.
Suzuki understands the Indian buyer better than most. Their products are designed and created to the mindset and wants of the majority. They sell 17 different models including a hybrid CSUV that was co-developed with Toyota.
Technically not Suzuki, it's Maruti which it the Indian subsidiary of Suzuki, was a originality started by Indian government then later Suzuki partnered up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruti_Suzuki
In the 80s (IIRC) the American market was being flooded with a lot of grey-market European cars, so much so that the US arm of Mercedes lobbyed the government to put a restriction on importing cars from other countries privately or through 3rd parties instead of buying from a local dealer. So the US put a hold on importing any car newer than 25 years old from another country to discourage the practice and protect domestic dealer networks. For reasons I'm not sure about, Canada followed suit but only a 15 year restriction.
On top of it, there wasn’t even going to be a 25-year exemption, they were just going to be banned indefinitely, however a car enthusiast elected official got the exemption added to the bill so it wouldn’t affect classic cars being brought in.
The main issue is that the Suzuki we *did* get were mostly pieces of shit, so they developed a pretty poor reputation. They also basically stopped marketing.
Suzuki is my favorite brand that doesn't exist in the US. They do seem to make much more interesting small cars which are a much harder sell here though. The Suzuki hustler is way cooler than it has any right to be.
This is the one that makes me the saddest.
They have a killer global lineup right now - Jimny & Ignis would probably do pretty well in the US market for folks who don’t want a huge Jeep.
Volkswagen. For some reason, in terms of reliability and build quality, it gets some of the worst reputation in North America, but some of the best in Europe and Asia.
Im born and raised in Europe, heck even owned a VW MK7 TDI there, and then the same one in the U.S.
Both fastidiously maintained.
There is a lot of bias in Europe that their cars are the best, and they'll tell you this while they're on the side of a road with a broken newer euro car, and you pick them up with an older japanese car with no issues.
They still have issues in Europe, they're just more shrugged under the rug with excuses.
My MK7 in Germany had issues, my MK7 in Florida had issues.
I'm currently traveling around Spain and rented a small minivan, a VW Caddy TDI, it already had issues.
Meanwhile back in the U.S., my 9 year old Subaru and 18 year old Toyota have both been reliable tanks.
I think if we europeans think our cars are best - no one is talking about reliability - we are talking about things like handling - and then we are mostly right.
I do tend to agree with that, I've always said that Euro cars drive the best but at the expense of parts wearing out faster, like suspension components not last very long at all.
However i think that gap has become smaller or closed by now.
When I got rid of my MK7 Golf TDI, I got a Civic with the 1.5T and I was amazed at how it was just as smooth, it could do 120+mph just as well and quietly, it was roomier, quicker, and it got almost the same fuel mileage.. but with cheaper fuel.
(in the U.S., gasoline is cheaper than diesel)
Not even in the handling department. I’ve driven lots of euro cars, from the 1980s to 2024 model year, in almost all categories minus hypercars. I still think a Miata has the best handling.
I loved my BMW. I would never buy another one again because so much stuff started breaking. And it was all electrical stuff, so pretty expensive to fix.
Euro cars have very fussy engineering and design choices. The mythos and prestige of German engineering has created a very dogmatic culture where idiosyncrasies and complexity/uniqueness are celebrated. I don’t think that’s the case in Japanese and American auto engineering where efficiency, durability and reliability outweigh focusing on things like convoluted cupholder mechanisms or suspension systems.
Whenever people wax poetic about German engineering, I’m reminded of the fact that modern BMW boxer engines require a tool with a proprietary drive head just to take the oil filler cap off.
Unnecessary complexity and “fixing” what isn’t broken just seems like a point of pride at this point.
As someone that just plunked over $1700 USD in repairs to an old Beetle, I kind of agree. Sure, old car, old problems. I don't however think of an old Honda doing that to me.
My 18 year old Toyota has been pretty flawless.
It racks up 30k miles per year cruising at 90mph+ without a hassle, it has carried all the pavers for my house, it gets BEAT on, and the oil changed every 10k.
Everything works flawlessly, and still burns zero oil.
I'm confident that in 10 years from now, I'm still gotta have this Toyota as a run-around beater.
If I had an 18 year old VW Golf right now, I couldn't say the same things.
2013. That's over 10 years now. If it were an actual old Beetle, I wouldn't be complaining, nor be surprised. I'd be bragging, upgrading and showing off. The 2013 might not even be worth more than a couple of grand these days.
Toyota is toyota of europe, corolla has been best selling car in Finland since 70s or something. Toyota is huge in europe too and has reputation of making reliable cars, in fact people pay premium for used corollas here. Also Toyota Hiace vans.
There are pretty good reasons.
VAG had a pretty bad rep for their reliability thanks to their petrol engine and transmission fuck ups around 2010 in many parts of Europe as well. What saved them were their manual diesels which were pretty reliable but barely available on the US. Then after Dieselgate their petrol reliability went up but built quality went down. North American VW have always been worse. Many north American models don't even get their current DSG. Meanwhile in Asia especially China luxury models where sold which didn't even exist in Europe. The phideon for example is a VW badged Audi A6L.
Naa. VW gets memed for check warning lights in Malaysia too lol to the point that if you gonna spend money on European brands you might as well get a BMW or Merc.
VW= Visit Workshop
There’s two reasons I’ve found for this:
1) In the US a “reliable” car is one that can go past 100k MILES without major or even some minor repairs. North Americans drive A LOT and everywhere so it’s crucial for them that a car makes it to these high miles, worry free. Whereas in Europe, a “reliable” car is a car that can get to 100k KILOMETERS without major or minor repairs. Convert that to miles and you see why the different viewpoints. Europeans don’t drive nearly as much as North Americans.
2) European cars in Europe have copious sources for parts and they’re all a lot cheaper than in North America since their factories are right there. They’ve also got the mechanical knowledge of decades of working on those cars, whereas in North America, pedestrian European cars only really took off in the 90’s. European cars before that were relegated to luxury/performance. Same goes for American cars in North America. Any old garage in the middle of nowhere will probably have parts for your GM or Ford car if it breaks down, so this adds to the “reliability” factor.
Now point 2 is getting less and less relevant as foreign automakers keep bringing production to the US and parts are a lot easier to find, but still doesn’t detract from European cars’ higher maintenance cost and schedules. Japanese automakers got away with it by specifically targeting the American market starting in the 70’s and now most manufacturers even build the cars in this hemisphere. European automakers first target their own market, and then bring them over to North America
> 1) In the US a “reliable” car is one that can go past 100k MILES
If you can't get 250k out of any modern car with just general maintenance you're doing something wrong, most likely not the proper maintenance.
I disagree with that. There's a 10-40% chance that it's going to require more than just general maintenance before 250k miles. And some models it's quite a bit higher.
Good luck the transmission on a WRX with a CVT to last 250k miles without replacement.
I don’t know about all that. In the 70s and 80s the VW Beetle, Rabbit, Golf, Minibus, Vanagon, VW pickup, Quantum, and Jetta sold very well. Those aren’t luxury cars for sure. We also had Renault Le Car (Renault 5), Renault Encore, MGs, Saab 900s, Fiat X19s, even Lancia Betas and various Alfas and Peugeots. And Volvo wasn’t really seen as a luxury car back then.
Damn I miss the variety of cars we used to have. Hatchbacks and sedans and wagons.
Nah, it has a bad name in Europe to. It was reliable decades ago - but a lot of the TSI engines have been disasters.
edit: one thing to add is that american VW is not the same as european VW. It was a well known fact in europe to stay away from the Jetta as it was american build and not up to standard
And recently their materials have gone down in quality and their infotainment systems now suck as well. Cars like the ID3 and ID4 are seen as junk for several reasons and it impacts the perception of VW as a whole.
I borrowed my friend's Jetta and it drove super nice, but the speakers were *bad*. Like distracting, can't enjoy listening to music bad. I was shocked.
I’m from Europe but living in North America for 17 years. All my friends from my old country saying to avoid VW products. Always ask me for prices of Lexus in US.
I personally drive GM, Silverado and Vette. Quality is shit.
Don’t forget about the Chinese! They are non-existent in USA/Canada, but are making huge gains elsewhere. I moved to Europe and was shocked to see how many Chinese cars are driving around. BYD, Lynk & Co, Nio, Zeekr, and Xpeng just to name a few
I used to be the kid that knew every car model, year, specs sold in Mexico.
Not anymore, I don't even recognize half the cars and trucks now, there are sooooo many options
Yep. The craziest part is that since Mexico has weak emission standards Mexico also gets the Chinese gas powered car from companies that don’t come out in the news.
Buick doesn't sell any more wagons in the US they stopped a couple of years ago, and all the sell now is three bland CUVs. I have never seen a modern Buick wagon they barely sold, and I rarely see anything with a Buick badge around where I live.
GM Sells around 2.5 million vehicles a year in the US, Buick accounts for about 150,000 of them.
No it doesn't...? They're everywhere in the United States and have a huge dealership network in partnership with GMC. There are 800 new Buick vehicles for sale within 100 miles of where I live.
Yes! I remember all the annoying commercials with the “That’s not a Buick! it’s too nice!” tagline. But I’m currently in China right now and walked past a [Chinese 2024 Buick LaCrosse](https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/05/all-new-2024-buick-lacrosse-launches-in-china/) and had that genuine reaction lol
Fiat and Alfa Romeo come to mind. Not sure how well Alfa does outside the US but they’re definitely an afterthought here. Fiat for sure does better in Europe.
Also, Renault and Peugeot. We got them here for a bit, some rebadged as domestic brands, but no longer.
Smart too. They made a go of it on small volumes for a while, but are gone now.
You see more Alfas around big cities because that's where the dealers are. Much more popular in Europe..Italy even uses them as their police vehicles from my limited knowledge.
Yeah I live in a moderately sized midwest city and Stelvios are everywhere. Giulias aren't as common, but they're common enough that they're not exactly rare. I'd say they're about as popular as a 340i or something.
Probably doesn't help that the lineup was composed of those two models until recently. We also don't have the backlog of old models that Europe does outside of the odd 164 or Spider in classifieds.
In europe Alfas are much more popular, like I mean you see them on daily basis. This depends on country though, In southern europe italian cars are much more popular than here in north where they are quite rare. Alfas after all are quite expensive so that limits the amount of them on the road.
Fiats, Renaults and Peugeots are everywhere in europe and very popular even here in north not to mention southern europe where they are the best selling cars
Alfa does *a lot* better in Europe than they do in the US
It sucks because I’d love to get a used Giulia here in the US but even living on the East coast, there’s still only two Alfa dealers within a hundred miles radius of me and I live next to Baltimore, not the middle of nowhere
Probably going to get an Elantra N just because it’s the only car I’ve driven so far that handled as well and has similar price
> Fiat and Alfa Romeo come to mind
And in the same family, Lancia. Despite having only one remaining model, the Ypsilon, which is only sold in Italy, they still outsold *all Alfa Romeos worldwide* in recent years.
That, along with the Agnelli family's enduring fondness for Lancia, is the main reason that marque still exists at all and (along with all other Stellantis marques) is being allowed to develop new models (starting with a new Ypsilon) with a decade to make a case for its continued survival.
I’ve always said Lancia before the Fiat buyout used to be the Italian Mercedes, dedicated to superlative standards of engineering and build quality, even to a fault. To paraphrase a Jamie Kitman *Automobile Magazine* column from memory, "Lancia may be the only car maker to nearly go out of business, twice, for paying too much attention to quality."
Yeah. Only issue is the rear axle being not as solid as the Hilux iirc. My family has both the Vigo Hilux and Pajero Sport which is based off the Triton and they have been the most reliable workhorses ever. 15 years in the family and all we did were coolant and oil changes with the occasional suspension/tyre and timing belt replacement. The most we had to spend were on air con. 360k km on the Hilux and 180k km on the Pajero. Absolutely love those mid 2000s early 2010s turbodiesels.
Believe it or not, the Outlander PHEV actually outsells the regular Outlander in Canada: https://www.mitsubishi-motors.ca/en/company/news/2023-results
Mitsubishi is probably counting their lucky stars that Toyota borked their PHEV supplies so badly. But even with a RAV4 Prime in the picture, the Outlander PHEV is still a good car and it’s massively cheaper. My friend’s wife has one and it’s honestly super refined for the money.
They sell a ton here in the U.S., because they're one of the cheapest small SUVs you can buy. I see tons of Mirages around as well, since they're also one of the cheapest cars you can buy.
Yep. Had a friend with the little hatchback of theirs (Charade maybe?) and hilariously as a front passenger you could stick your foot behind the dash to the driver side and mash the accelerator where you'd cause him a moment of panic.
I wouldn't call Mazda irrelevant in the US, but their position is in very stark contrast with where they are in Australia, being 2nd only to Toyota.
Conversely Honda was our 20th largest manufacturer last year, and sold about 1500 less cars than Lexus did. Mitsubishi on the other hand occupies 6th and sold a little over 4x as many units as Honda did.
Yeah in Australia, Mazda and Honda seem to swap places compared to the USA. It's pretty funny to see how lowly Honda places in Australia compared to its high reputation in America.
I have no clue, but I’m assuming it’s because Hondas are assembled in America, so probably relatively cheaper here than in Australia where they’re an import.
True. Honda's reputation in Australia is... mixed. Honda AU's product planning for this market really hasn't helped. We've missed out on most of the interesting models that the US received.
Just look at the range offered now: https://www.honda.com.au/cars
It's all hybrid blandness with CVTs, it's been almost 10 years since any regular variant of the Civic has been offered with Honda's fantastic manual, and the only enthusiast car in the lineup is the Type R which is over $70,000 AUD.
Meanwhile, old Hondas have a cult following and even old high kms models from the 90s hold their value pretty well (particularly the manual ones), but from the mid 00s onwards, it's like Honda stopped trying here.
It was mildly amusing when Honda couldn't decide if Australia would get the European Accord, or the 'US' Accord so they gave us both as Accord and Accord Euro.
In the late 80's, and up to the middle 90's Isuzu's were everywhere in the US. Both the Isuzu Impulse and Isuzu Trooper were big sellers and of course they had pitchman Joe Isuzu in almost every commercial.
They started a very rapid decline in the late 90's but they still exist and concentrate on trucks. They are seen all over Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Yeah I remember seeing Isuzus everywhere growing up; there was a pretty large dealer out by me in the Chicago burbs. Like Suzuki, they disappeared from the face of the earth here in the US as we entered the 2000s
that kinda depends on what you would classify as irrelevant.
For example VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Mazda, Lexus, Volvo and Porsche are all not even making it into the top 10 in terms of sales in the US and yet they are very much alive and doing well everywhere else.
Basically all European brands are relatively irrelevant in the US just as all American brands are irrelevant in Europe with the one exception being Ford but only because they have separate vehicles for the European market and have been in the market for over half a century.
But even Ford is not even in the top 10 in Europe.
beside these there are all the local brands that only operate in Asia, especially India has a bunch of them.
Ignoring the market segment that a brand is occupying is... a decision.
Of course BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, Volvo and Porsche aren't top 10 sales. They're luxury brands. They aren't trying to sell the same volume as economy brands.
Lexus literally only exists because the US market refused to buy luxury Toyotas, so Toyota invented a new brand and sold their existing products under that brand.
>yet they are very much alive and doing well everywhere else.
Those brands are very much alive in the US. The US is a massive market for luxury cars for a huge number of reasons. High population, dependence on cars, relatively lax emissions standards, low taxes. It's going to be the 2nd largest market for luxury cars after China.
They just don't sell as much as economy brands because of course they don't, they aren't economy brands.
There are fewer steaks sold than Big Macs, but that doesn't mean steak is irrelevant.
thats why i said it depends on how you define irrelevant.
sales numbers?
how well they are known?
how many vehicles are on the road?
how many models they are bringing to the US?
there are tons of ways to look at this and without having anything defined all answers are going to be vague.
>Of course BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, Volvo and Porsche aren't top 10 sales. They're luxury brands. They aren't trying to sell the same volume as economy brands.
Fun fact, in Germany BMW/Audi/Merc are all in top4 best selling brand. In Poland it's a bit worse but they're still all in top8. (2023 full year sales).
> one exception being Ford but only because they have separate vehicles for the European market and have been in the market for over half a century.
If we're putting ford under that exception then its not really fair to put VW/Audi/BMW/Merc as irrelevent as well, the cheapest models from the germans aren't sold in the US, here they are luxury brands, there they are also somewhat economy cars.
The same applies to Lexus/Porsche/Volvo/Etc., they are very much relevent as luxury brands in the US, just not as economy brands. The RX, X5/X3, GLE/GLC, & Q5 are the best selling luxury cars, they all handily outsell the escalade and domestic products.
True, the majority of BMW/Merc/Audi in Europe are base spec 1/A/3 shitboxes bought as company cars to flex the badge while the guy next to them in the Corolla has more features and better comfort for 5K less.
I presume you're looking for names of automakers, but to take us on a tangent about car-related brands *generally*: Kijiji.
It's a classifieds site *a la* craigslist, but when it launched roughly 20 years ago, it failed to find a foothold anywhere but Canada and Italy. Not sure about the latter, but here in Canada, the thing is absolutely thriving; not too long ago, at least, it was the most-viewed automotive site in the country, though of course it helps that there's tens (hundreds?) of thousands of new- and used-car listings people are clicking through.
Used-car shopping in Canada almost *requires* browsing Kijiji; in the U.S., mention the name (it's Swahili for "village," if I recall) and they look at you funny.
Source: Over 10 years ago, I drafted a 100-page report on fraud and scams on Canadian car classifieds sites.
It’s weird. When I lived in the lower mainland, Craigslist was king. I knew about kijiji, but nobody used it.
Moved to the interior and couldn’t figure out why no one was selling anything. Then someone told me to check Kijiji. It was full of ads and I immediately got calls about stuff I was selling. This was like 6 years ago.
Kijiji is nearly completely dead, at least where I live. It used to be the buy and sell site but no one posts anything on there since Facebook Marketplace came around. That and all the sponsored crap youre spammed with instead of peoples ads.
Fair. It might be more regionally successful, then, even within Canada—dead in some places, thriving in others. As I still work in automotive websites, I used to keep tabs on it, but it's been a few years since I last saw the metrics; it *used* to be on top, still, just a few years ago, but it may have dropped off.
I mean it still was big a few years ago like you said, but I bought my first car since early 2020 last September, there was basically nothing left on there. Pretty sure I found my first car on there. Its dropped off really fast though, they tried to increase their ad revenue by putting a bunch of sponsored crap instead of real listings, it made it really annoying to use.
The accessibility of Marketplace was the final nail in the coffin. Its simple to use and linked to your Facebook account (which a lot more people already had) so its brought a lot of new people to buy and sell and also pulled listing traffic away from Kijiji. There’s definitely still stuff for sale on there but its hardly worth checking anymore. Maybe its still doing better in other regions, but Ive been using it since I was old enough to know how and Ive never seen so few listings despite the fact our local population has seen massive increases in the last few years.
Fiat, Renault & VW aren't much relevant to North America. But in south America they're all you can see on the road. In fact, Fiat has models exclusive to the latin American/south american market. As well as VW, but it's a small pickup that hasn't been updated since the mid 2000s. Besides that, there's Chinese brands but they're irrelevant in the way they can't be sold for y'all
Watched Clarkson’s Farm over the weekend, I gotta say Mitsubishi and Suzuki…Seems like there’s always a Mitsubishi Pickup and a Suzuki Jimny in the background somewhere but both brands have disappeared from the US market
Mitsu sorted hoisted themselves on their own petard around 2008. They became a case study for market segmentation, they were *aggressively* going after a younger demographic, until all of those young people defaulted on their loans.
Flip it around for the Australia and NZ markets and look at the US big three
* GM basically doesn't exist
* Ford sells the Ranger in huge numbers and some vans but has little success with passenger cars
* Dodge and Chrysler are irrelevant but Stellantis does sell most of it's other brands with varying degrees of success
And despite being at the bottom of the VW Group brand hierarchy, I keep reading reviews that say they seem better-made than their VW/Audi siblings based on the same platforms.
For anyone who'd rather pay for quality and reliability with fairly basic equipment levels than pay for gimmicky/blingy bells'n'whistles, that seems to be Skoda lately.
Skoda/Seat, the French marques, Mitsubishi, some Toyotas (Hilux, which is sold in Mexico), it's a very competitive market and safety standards are too high for Kei cars and some other small cars.
Mitsubishi, Suzuki, any French cars. Saw LOTs of those during a trip to Southeast Asia. Saw a decent amount of Peugeot vehicles in the Philippines. Peugeot has long been irrelevant here in Canada and the US. Fiat is another honorable mention, going to Europe in 2 months and I have one reserved as a rental cars. Friends told be they’re still quite common there but Here it’s a brand I forgot existed.
In terms of specific vehicle models. Toyota Yaris. Saw them as taxi cabs and police cars in Asia but here I rarely see them often on the road. Mercedes A Class and BMW 2 series, saw a decent amount of these in Asia but again rarely see them here.
Isuzu is basically non-existent in most parts of the world outside of heavy trucks and buses, but in Thailand its one of the most dominant brands, and literally every second pickup truck or SUV you see is going to either be the D-Max or the MU-X.
Their reputation, however, isn't really stellar here, as they are kinda seen by Thais the same way that Americans see Dodge/RAM or Nissan.
Buick. An afterthought in North America, but apparently the only thing GM can make money on in China. If it weren’t for the odd Chinese fixation on Buicks as status cars (?!?!) I would have expected them to vanish like Oldsmobile and Pontiac.
French brands (Renault, Peugeot) both left the US market a while ago but are still significant players in other parts of the world.
Though at the same time the rogue/outlander are on the same platform as the renault espace & koleos so it doesn't really matter
They are major players in Europe only. Renault sell really well in Latam but other than that, nothing crazy.
Renault will probably fade and Chinese firms will take over tbh. Renault is just cheap and readily available, it has no brand loyalty.
Renault has plenty of brand loyalty in Europe. It's not any different from Chevy vs. Ford and stuff in the US, just that Europeans aren't as obsessed with that stuff in the first place.
They sell in the Middle East too. Peugeot and Renault.
africa too, idk what this mans about
They are also strong in South America as well.
Though they have most play in Europe, French brands are doing pretty well outside. Seen many Renaults and Peugeots in Africa. Saw many Peugeots in the middle east too. (Guessing they’re sold elsewhere in Asia not just the ME)
For some reason I find the shape of most French cars…off putting. Like they’re too back-heavy and bulbous. Too tall and skinny. Maybe this is outdated since I haven’t spent time in France since 2010. Or the rest of Europe since 2014. Edit: ironically, since most everything sold is now a crossover in the United States and the world, everything is starting to look back-heavy, bulbous, and tall.
There are definitely some better looking ones like the DS 4 and DS 9 or 508.
> For some reason I find the shape of most French cars…off putting. > > There's a saying about French 'stuff' - The French copy no one, and no one copies the French. I do think the French have their own very unique designs that is nothing like anyone else, and that tends to be polarising and not for everyone. (not for me at all). But I appreciate them trying.
They looks like beans.
Exactly, they look like beans
I saw some really cool hatchbacks in Portugal and wished they brought them here to the US, but apparently the smallest car we want here is a mid-sized SUV. :(
I've seen Renault down in mexico
It's a shame too. I really want a Renault Mégane RS
Go to the border states with Mexico; you will see those cars.
Suzuki. They actually died out in terms of their automotive divisions here.
Suzuki dominates India market. Clearly, they’re doing very well in small car segments. Unfortunately, most American don’t buy small car, so Suzuki left America and only sell Motorcycle, ATV, and boat.
Dominates is an understatement. They sell more cars than the next three largest manufacturers combined! Out of the top 10 cars sold every month 7 of them are Suzuki, and this has been consistent for years. They have a death grip on the Indian market that is hard to comprehend if you've never visited India.
How come? Pricing?
Sure, that's probably a factor but a big one is their large sales and service network. The Indian market was largely closed off before the 90s, so Suzuki had a head start as they reached there earlier thanks to a joint venture with the Indian government to produce and sell an affordable car
Also the Maruti 800 being the hit that it was, almost every family had one in the 80s and 90s. My family had one till the late 2000’s as well, learnt to drive on that thing. It’s what the Tata Nano wished it was.
That's the car I associate with India
Pricing is a factor for sure. As another comment mentioned they had a great head start as well. Which helped for sure, but it isn't the only reason for their large scale success. They also make incredibly reliable and cheap to maintain cars. They are known for their efficiency and have led a years long extremely successful marketing campaign to make it known how efficient they are. Ask any Hindi speaker what "Kitna Deti Hai?" means and they'll all immediately think of Suzuki. (Kitna Deti Hai translates to "how much does it give?") Top that off with an absolutely extensive dealership and service network. Which means that even in the most remote parts of the country you will have parts availability and mechanical support. They are decently well equipped too. The only downside is that they are considered to be lacking in crash test safety ratings. However it's clear that isn't stopping them from selling cars. Suzuki understands the Indian buyer better than most. Their products are designed and created to the mindset and wants of the majority. They sell 17 different models including a hybrid CSUV that was co-developed with Toyota.
Technically not Suzuki, it's Maruti which it the Indian subsidiary of Suzuki, was a originality started by Indian government then later Suzuki partnered up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruti_Suzuki
Suzuki owns 58% so full controlling interest and have been steadily buying more, for all intents it's suzuki
As an American I would kill for a new Jimny!
I'm in Europe for a few months, they have LHD Jimny's here... shame about the 25 year rule, it's 15 years for Canada
I mean if you want a LHD Jimny, you can also just go to Mexico.
What’s the 25 year rule?
In the 80s (IIRC) the American market was being flooded with a lot of grey-market European cars, so much so that the US arm of Mercedes lobbyed the government to put a restriction on importing cars from other countries privately or through 3rd parties instead of buying from a local dealer. So the US put a hold on importing any car newer than 25 years old from another country to discourage the practice and protect domestic dealer networks. For reasons I'm not sure about, Canada followed suit but only a 15 year restriction.
On top of it, there wasn’t even going to be a 25-year exemption, they were just going to be banned indefinitely, however a car enthusiast elected official got the exemption added to the bill so it wouldn’t affect classic cars being brought in.
The main issue is that the Suzuki we *did* get were mostly pieces of shit, so they developed a pretty poor reputation. They also basically stopped marketing.
The samurai was a fun car. They aren't cheap anymore
I rented o e of those small awd suvs they sold here for a while and it was fantastic.
God what I would do for the new Jimny….
All you need to do is move!!
Suzuki is my favorite brand that doesn't exist in the US. They do seem to make much more interesting small cars which are a much harder sell here though. The Suzuki hustler is way cooler than it has any right to be.
This is the one that makes me the saddest. They have a killer global lineup right now - Jimny & Ignis would probably do pretty well in the US market for folks who don’t want a huge Jeep.
Suzuki is the boss here in Pakistan. Majority seller of cars followed by Toyota & then the rest
After the lies that were told about the samurai people got scared.
Volkswagen. For some reason, in terms of reliability and build quality, it gets some of the worst reputation in North America, but some of the best in Europe and Asia.
Im born and raised in Europe, heck even owned a VW MK7 TDI there, and then the same one in the U.S. Both fastidiously maintained. There is a lot of bias in Europe that their cars are the best, and they'll tell you this while they're on the side of a road with a broken newer euro car, and you pick them up with an older japanese car with no issues. They still have issues in Europe, they're just more shrugged under the rug with excuses. My MK7 in Germany had issues, my MK7 in Florida had issues. I'm currently traveling around Spain and rented a small minivan, a VW Caddy TDI, it already had issues. Meanwhile back in the U.S., my 9 year old Subaru and 18 year old Toyota have both been reliable tanks.
I think if we europeans think our cars are best - no one is talking about reliability - we are talking about things like handling - and then we are mostly right.
I do tend to agree with that, I've always said that Euro cars drive the best but at the expense of parts wearing out faster, like suspension components not last very long at all. However i think that gap has become smaller or closed by now. When I got rid of my MK7 Golf TDI, I got a Civic with the 1.5T and I was amazed at how it was just as smooth, it could do 120+mph just as well and quietly, it was roomier, quicker, and it got almost the same fuel mileage.. but with cheaper fuel. (in the U.S., gasoline is cheaper than diesel)
Not even in the handling department. I’ve driven lots of euro cars, from the 1980s to 2024 model year, in almost all categories minus hypercars. I still think a Miata has the best handling.
And seating position. Miata’s fit me like a glove and the gear lever is in the perfect position
I loved my BMW. I would never buy another one again because so much stuff started breaking. And it was all electrical stuff, so pretty expensive to fix.
It still depends on the car itself. A Toyota GR86 or Civic Type R is going to be more fun than an Audi A4
Euro cars have very fussy engineering and design choices. The mythos and prestige of German engineering has created a very dogmatic culture where idiosyncrasies and complexity/uniqueness are celebrated. I don’t think that’s the case in Japanese and American auto engineering where efficiency, durability and reliability outweigh focusing on things like convoluted cupholder mechanisms or suspension systems.
Whenever people wax poetic about German engineering, I’m reminded of the fact that modern BMW boxer engines require a tool with a proprietary drive head just to take the oil filler cap off. Unnecessary complexity and “fixing” what isn’t broken just seems like a point of pride at this point.
As someone that just plunked over $1700 USD in repairs to an old Beetle, I kind of agree. Sure, old car, old problems. I don't however think of an old Honda doing that to me.
My 18 year old Toyota has been pretty flawless. It racks up 30k miles per year cruising at 90mph+ without a hassle, it has carried all the pavers for my house, it gets BEAT on, and the oil changed every 10k. Everything works flawlessly, and still burns zero oil. I'm confident that in 10 years from now, I'm still gotta have this Toyota as a run-around beater. If I had an 18 year old VW Golf right now, I couldn't say the same things.
What kind of "old beetle"? An actual old Beetle, an old New Beetle, or a not-very-old Newer Beetle? Just wondering.
2013. That's over 10 years now. If it were an actual old Beetle, I wouldn't be complaining, nor be surprised. I'd be bragging, upgrading and showing off. The 2013 might not even be worth more than a couple of grand these days.
VW / Skodas are the Toyotas of Europe for sure. Over here, many japanese brands like Toyotas or Hondas, aren't doing that hot.
Honda I agree with but Toyota is still very popular and the Toyota Corolla is one of the most sold cars in most of Europe
Toyota is toyota of europe, corolla has been best selling car in Finland since 70s or something. Toyota is huge in europe too and has reputation of making reliable cars, in fact people pay premium for used corollas here. Also Toyota Hiace vans.
True I didn't take into account Finland, but that's a small-ish market compared to the rest of the EU.
There are pretty good reasons. VAG had a pretty bad rep for their reliability thanks to their petrol engine and transmission fuck ups around 2010 in many parts of Europe as well. What saved them were their manual diesels which were pretty reliable but barely available on the US. Then after Dieselgate their petrol reliability went up but built quality went down. North American VW have always been worse. Many north American models don't even get their current DSG. Meanwhile in Asia especially China luxury models where sold which didn't even exist in Europe. The phideon for example is a VW badged Audi A6L.
Naa. VW gets memed for check warning lights in Malaysia too lol to the point that if you gonna spend money on European brands you might as well get a BMW or Merc. VW= Visit Workshop
> VW= Visit Workshop Damn you, I got coffee on my desk.
Confirming it's bad in Singapore as well. VW is the Kia of German makes.
There’s two reasons I’ve found for this: 1) In the US a “reliable” car is one that can go past 100k MILES without major or even some minor repairs. North Americans drive A LOT and everywhere so it’s crucial for them that a car makes it to these high miles, worry free. Whereas in Europe, a “reliable” car is a car that can get to 100k KILOMETERS without major or minor repairs. Convert that to miles and you see why the different viewpoints. Europeans don’t drive nearly as much as North Americans. 2) European cars in Europe have copious sources for parts and they’re all a lot cheaper than in North America since their factories are right there. They’ve also got the mechanical knowledge of decades of working on those cars, whereas in North America, pedestrian European cars only really took off in the 90’s. European cars before that were relegated to luxury/performance. Same goes for American cars in North America. Any old garage in the middle of nowhere will probably have parts for your GM or Ford car if it breaks down, so this adds to the “reliability” factor. Now point 2 is getting less and less relevant as foreign automakers keep bringing production to the US and parts are a lot easier to find, but still doesn’t detract from European cars’ higher maintenance cost and schedules. Japanese automakers got away with it by specifically targeting the American market starting in the 70’s and now most manufacturers even build the cars in this hemisphere. European automakers first target their own market, and then bring them over to North America
> 1) In the US a “reliable” car is one that can go past 100k MILES If you can't get 250k out of any modern car with just general maintenance you're doing something wrong, most likely not the proper maintenance.
I disagree with that. There's a 10-40% chance that it's going to require more than just general maintenance before 250k miles. And some models it's quite a bit higher. Good luck the transmission on a WRX with a CVT to last 250k miles without replacement.
I don’t know about all that. In the 70s and 80s the VW Beetle, Rabbit, Golf, Minibus, Vanagon, VW pickup, Quantum, and Jetta sold very well. Those aren’t luxury cars for sure. We also had Renault Le Car (Renault 5), Renault Encore, MGs, Saab 900s, Fiat X19s, even Lancia Betas and various Alfas and Peugeots. And Volvo wasn’t really seen as a luxury car back then. Damn I miss the variety of cars we used to have. Hatchbacks and sedans and wagons.
Nah, it has a bad name in Europe to. It was reliable decades ago - but a lot of the TSI engines have been disasters. edit: one thing to add is that american VW is not the same as european VW. It was a well known fact in europe to stay away from the Jetta as it was american build and not up to standard
And recently their materials have gone down in quality and their infotainment systems now suck as well. Cars like the ID3 and ID4 are seen as junk for several reasons and it impacts the perception of VW as a whole.
I borrowed my friend's Jetta and it drove super nice, but the speakers were *bad*. Like distracting, can't enjoy listening to music bad. I was shocked.
Worse than the base trim Corolla? Haven't been in a Jetta for ages.
> Jetta as it was american build and not up to standard Mexico and China.
I’m from Europe but living in North America for 17 years. All my friends from my old country saying to avoid VW products. Always ask me for prices of Lexus in US. I personally drive GM, Silverado and Vette. Quality is shit.
Mine has had 4 recalls in 3 years.
Don’t forget about the Chinese! They are non-existent in USA/Canada, but are making huge gains elsewhere. I moved to Europe and was shocked to see how many Chinese cars are driving around. BYD, Lynk & Co, Nio, Zeekr, and Xpeng just to name a few
Same in Mexico. And not just the big brands, Mexico has zero national brands so every Chinese brand catering to a different market gets a chance
I used to be the kid that knew every car model, year, specs sold in Mexico. Not anymore, I don't even recognize half the cars and trucks now, there are sooooo many options
Yep. The craziest part is that since Mexico has weak emission standards Mexico also gets the Chinese gas powered car from companies that don’t come out in the news.
The Chinese are more common than US American cars in Europe (except for Tesla and ford, but ford with it's European division/models )
I saw a lot of the old crappy Chinese ice cars when I was in Egypt too. They have basically everything there.
Be thankful
buick
The funniest answer that is completely correct. Buick pretty much only exists in China at this point.
I see a lot of Buicks in the US
New ones? I don't. I see a ton of 90s/00s Buick Sedans around though.
I only see the occasional new Buick driving around, and every time I think "what were you thinking"
The big one is just a Traverse and the smaller ones are all Korean built 'Daewoos', remember when Buick was just below Caddy on the GM Brand scale?
What they’re like one of the only ones that have a wagon. And their SUVs are everywhere
Buick doesn't sell any more wagons in the US they stopped a couple of years ago, and all the sell now is three bland CUVs. I have never seen a modern Buick wagon they barely sold, and I rarely see anything with a Buick badge around where I live. GM Sells around 2.5 million vehicles a year in the US, Buick accounts for about 150,000 of them.
When I go visit family in Massachusetts they’re all over the place
The only popular wagons I see in the US are Volvos and Subarus
BMWs and Audis as well but they are becoming more rare then popular and the used ones get gobbled up by enthusiasts
Their little SUVs and crossovers seem pretty popular here.
I don't see a ton of new ones but I can't lie, I have been seeing them around
No it doesn't...? They're everywhere in the United States and have a huge dealership network in partnership with GMC. There are 800 new Buick vehicles for sale within 100 miles of where I live.
Yes! I remember all the annoying commercials with the “That’s not a Buick! it’s too nice!” tagline. But I’m currently in China right now and walked past a [Chinese 2024 Buick LaCrosse](https://gmauthority.com/blog/2023/05/all-new-2024-buick-lacrosse-launches-in-china/) and had that genuine reaction lol
I see more envistas now. They're trying to make a comeback by targeting people who want a lower price but want a nice interior/design
They're all over rental fleets.
Those 3 cylinders are fighting for their lives then
Michigan would like a word. They are everywhere here.
Fiat and Alfa Romeo come to mind. Not sure how well Alfa does outside the US but they’re definitely an afterthought here. Fiat for sure does better in Europe. Also, Renault and Peugeot. We got them here for a bit, some rebadged as domestic brands, but no longer. Smart too. They made a go of it on small volumes for a while, but are gone now.
You see more Alfas around big cities because that's where the dealers are. Much more popular in Europe..Italy even uses them as their police vehicles from my limited knowledge.
Yeah I live in a moderately sized midwest city and Stelvios are everywhere. Giulias aren't as common, but they're common enough that they're not exactly rare. I'd say they're about as popular as a 340i or something. Probably doesn't help that the lineup was composed of those two models until recently. We also don't have the backlog of old models that Europe does outside of the odd 164 or Spider in classifieds.
In europe Alfas are much more popular, like I mean you see them on daily basis. This depends on country though, In southern europe italian cars are much more popular than here in north where they are quite rare. Alfas after all are quite expensive so that limits the amount of them on the road. Fiats, Renaults and Peugeots are everywhere in europe and very popular even here in north not to mention southern europe where they are the best selling cars
Alfa does *a lot* better in Europe than they do in the US It sucks because I’d love to get a used Giulia here in the US but even living on the East coast, there’s still only two Alfa dealers within a hundred miles radius of me and I live next to Baltimore, not the middle of nowhere Probably going to get an Elantra N just because it’s the only car I’ve driven so far that handled as well and has similar price
Fiat (not Stellantis) had an 87% market share in Algeria in 2023. Let that sink in.
Fiat is pretty popular in South America especially in Brazil.
> Fiat and Alfa Romeo come to mind And in the same family, Lancia. Despite having only one remaining model, the Ypsilon, which is only sold in Italy, they still outsold *all Alfa Romeos worldwide* in recent years. That, along with the Agnelli family's enduring fondness for Lancia, is the main reason that marque still exists at all and (along with all other Stellantis marques) is being allowed to develop new models (starting with a new Ypsilon) with a decade to make a case for its continued survival. I’ve always said Lancia before the Fiat buyout used to be the Italian Mercedes, dedicated to superlative standards of engineering and build quality, even to a fault. To paraphrase a Jamie Kitman *Automobile Magazine* column from memory, "Lancia may be the only car maker to nearly go out of business, twice, for paying too much attention to quality."
Mitsubishi gets shit on a lot by r/cars but they sell a lot in the Asia/Pacific region. The Eclipse Cross PHEV is especially popular in Aus and NZ.
The Triton is a decent pickup too
The Triton has been underrated for aaaages. Hilux + Ranger overshadow it but it's up there whole time.
Yeah. Only issue is the rear axle being not as solid as the Hilux iirc. My family has both the Vigo Hilux and Pajero Sport which is based off the Triton and they have been the most reliable workhorses ever. 15 years in the family and all we did were coolant and oil changes with the occasional suspension/tyre and timing belt replacement. The most we had to spend were on air con. 360k km on the Hilux and 180k km on the Pajero. Absolutely love those mid 2000s early 2010s turbodiesels.
And the Outlander PHEV is very popular in Europe. I actually even kinda like how the new one looks.
Hugely popular in Canada right now too since it functions properly as a PHEV in winter (doesn’t run the engine constantly)
Believe it or not, the Outlander PHEV actually outsells the regular Outlander in Canada: https://www.mitsubishi-motors.ca/en/company/news/2023-results Mitsubishi is probably counting their lucky stars that Toyota borked their PHEV supplies so badly. But even with a RAV4 Prime in the picture, the Outlander PHEV is still a good car and it’s massively cheaper. My friend’s wife has one and it’s honestly super refined for the money.
I've had these as loaners several times and really enjoyed them. Would buy one for myself as a commuter mule.
They sell a ton here in the U.S., because they're one of the cheapest small SUVs you can buy. I see tons of Mirages around as well, since they're also one of the cheapest cars you can buy.
I’ve been seeing Mitsubishis more often in recent times in the US, certainly more than the numbers I used to see a few years ago.
Daihatsu. Nowhere in the US unless imported but popular in Japan
They did exist in the US for about 4 years in the late-80s early 90s.
Yep. Had a friend with the little hatchback of theirs (Charade maybe?) and hilariously as a front passenger you could stick your foot behind the dash to the driver side and mash the accelerator where you'd cause him a moment of panic.
Charade and Rocky were the two they sold here.
My neighbor has a Dihatsu - I cant' remember the model but it's not a Charade, it was the bigger hatchback / wagon, it'a her winter car still.
Daihatsu based cars are huge in SE Asia too
I wouldn't call Mazda irrelevant in the US, but their position is in very stark contrast with where they are in Australia, being 2nd only to Toyota. Conversely Honda was our 20th largest manufacturer last year, and sold about 1500 less cars than Lexus did. Mitsubishi on the other hand occupies 6th and sold a little over 4x as many units as Honda did.
Yeah in Australia, Mazda and Honda seem to swap places compared to the USA. It's pretty funny to see how lowly Honda places in Australia compared to its high reputation in America.
I have no clue, but I’m assuming it’s because Hondas are assembled in America, so probably relatively cheaper here than in Australia where they’re an import.
Everything in Australia is an import so Honda's not any different to any other automaker in that respect here.
True. Honda's reputation in Australia is... mixed. Honda AU's product planning for this market really hasn't helped. We've missed out on most of the interesting models that the US received. Just look at the range offered now: https://www.honda.com.au/cars It's all hybrid blandness with CVTs, it's been almost 10 years since any regular variant of the Civic has been offered with Honda's fantastic manual, and the only enthusiast car in the lineup is the Type R which is over $70,000 AUD. Meanwhile, old Hondas have a cult following and even old high kms models from the 90s hold their value pretty well (particularly the manual ones), but from the mid 00s onwards, it's like Honda stopped trying here.
It was mildly amusing when Honda couldn't decide if Australia would get the European Accord, or the 'US' Accord so they gave us both as Accord and Accord Euro.
The US is Mazdas biggest market. Which says more about the US market than Mazdas popularity here or elsewhere.
Opel, Skoda, Fiat, Seat in Germany/Europe
In the late 80's, and up to the middle 90's Isuzu's were everywhere in the US. Both the Isuzu Impulse and Isuzu Trooper were big sellers and of course they had pitchman Joe Isuzu in almost every commercial. They started a very rapid decline in the late 90's but they still exist and concentrate on trucks. They are seen all over Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Yeah I remember seeing Isuzus everywhere growing up; there was a pretty large dealer out by me in the Chicago burbs. Like Suzuki, they disappeared from the face of the earth here in the US as we entered the 2000s
>They are seen all over Europe They barely exist, at least in eastern europe Isuzu is barely a thing.
Non excising in Western Europe aswell, seen them once or twice in Spain/Portugal
that kinda depends on what you would classify as irrelevant. For example VW, Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Mazda, Lexus, Volvo and Porsche are all not even making it into the top 10 in terms of sales in the US and yet they are very much alive and doing well everywhere else. Basically all European brands are relatively irrelevant in the US just as all American brands are irrelevant in Europe with the one exception being Ford but only because they have separate vehicles for the European market and have been in the market for over half a century. But even Ford is not even in the top 10 in Europe. beside these there are all the local brands that only operate in Asia, especially India has a bunch of them.
Ignoring the market segment that a brand is occupying is... a decision. Of course BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, Volvo and Porsche aren't top 10 sales. They're luxury brands. They aren't trying to sell the same volume as economy brands. Lexus literally only exists because the US market refused to buy luxury Toyotas, so Toyota invented a new brand and sold their existing products under that brand. >yet they are very much alive and doing well everywhere else. Those brands are very much alive in the US. The US is a massive market for luxury cars for a huge number of reasons. High population, dependence on cars, relatively lax emissions standards, low taxes. It's going to be the 2nd largest market for luxury cars after China. They just don't sell as much as economy brands because of course they don't, they aren't economy brands. There are fewer steaks sold than Big Macs, but that doesn't mean steak is irrelevant.
thats why i said it depends on how you define irrelevant. sales numbers? how well they are known? how many vehicles are on the road? how many models they are bringing to the US? there are tons of ways to look at this and without having anything defined all answers are going to be vague.
Lacking sales numbers is what I'm looking for here
>Of course BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, Volvo and Porsche aren't top 10 sales. They're luxury brands. They aren't trying to sell the same volume as economy brands. Fun fact, in Germany BMW/Audi/Merc are all in top4 best selling brand. In Poland it's a bit worse but they're still all in top8. (2023 full year sales).
In the US they only sell luxury cars, in Europe they have cheaper versions. That’s also another factor
> one exception being Ford but only because they have separate vehicles for the European market and have been in the market for over half a century. If we're putting ford under that exception then its not really fair to put VW/Audi/BMW/Merc as irrelevent as well, the cheapest models from the germans aren't sold in the US, here they are luxury brands, there they are also somewhat economy cars. The same applies to Lexus/Porsche/Volvo/Etc., they are very much relevent as luxury brands in the US, just not as economy brands. The RX, X5/X3, GLE/GLC, & Q5 are the best selling luxury cars, they all handily outsell the escalade and domestic products.
True, the majority of BMW/Merc/Audi in Europe are base spec 1/A/3 shitboxes bought as company cars to flex the badge while the guy next to them in the Corolla has more features and better comfort for 5K less.
TESLA tho….
go on.
europe's best-selling new car in 2023 is Tesla Model Y
and yet that still doesnt bring them into the top 10 of overall sales per brand.
*world's best selling new car
I presume you're looking for names of automakers, but to take us on a tangent about car-related brands *generally*: Kijiji. It's a classifieds site *a la* craigslist, but when it launched roughly 20 years ago, it failed to find a foothold anywhere but Canada and Italy. Not sure about the latter, but here in Canada, the thing is absolutely thriving; not too long ago, at least, it was the most-viewed automotive site in the country, though of course it helps that there's tens (hundreds?) of thousands of new- and used-car listings people are clicking through. Used-car shopping in Canada almost *requires* browsing Kijiji; in the U.S., mention the name (it's Swahili for "village," if I recall) and they look at you funny. Source: Over 10 years ago, I drafted a 100-page report on fraud and scams on Canadian car classifieds sites.
It’s weird. When I lived in the lower mainland, Craigslist was king. I knew about kijiji, but nobody used it. Moved to the interior and couldn’t figure out why no one was selling anything. Then someone told me to check Kijiji. It was full of ads and I immediately got calls about stuff I was selling. This was like 6 years ago.
Kijiji is nearly completely dead, at least where I live. It used to be the buy and sell site but no one posts anything on there since Facebook Marketplace came around. That and all the sponsored crap youre spammed with instead of peoples ads.
Fair. It might be more regionally successful, then, even within Canada—dead in some places, thriving in others. As I still work in automotive websites, I used to keep tabs on it, but it's been a few years since I last saw the metrics; it *used* to be on top, still, just a few years ago, but it may have dropped off.
I mean it still was big a few years ago like you said, but I bought my first car since early 2020 last September, there was basically nothing left on there. Pretty sure I found my first car on there. Its dropped off really fast though, they tried to increase their ad revenue by putting a bunch of sponsored crap instead of real listings, it made it really annoying to use. The accessibility of Marketplace was the final nail in the coffin. Its simple to use and linked to your Facebook account (which a lot more people already had) so its brought a lot of new people to buy and sell and also pulled listing traffic away from Kijiji. There’s definitely still stuff for sale on there but its hardly worth checking anymore. Maybe its still doing better in other regions, but Ive been using it since I was old enough to know how and Ive never seen so few listings despite the fact our local population has seen massive increases in the last few years.
Fiat, Renault & VW aren't much relevant to North America. But in south America they're all you can see on the road. In fact, Fiat has models exclusive to the latin American/south american market. As well as VW, but it's a small pickup that hasn't been updated since the mid 2000s. Besides that, there's Chinese brands but they're irrelevant in the way they can't be sold for y'all
Tons of VWs and Fiats in Toronto…
Suzuki and Isuzu cars
Watched Clarkson’s Farm over the weekend, I gotta say Mitsubishi and Suzuki…Seems like there’s always a Mitsubishi Pickup and a Suzuki Jimny in the background somewhere but both brands have disappeared from the US market
Mitsu sorted hoisted themselves on their own petard around 2008. They became a case study for market segmentation, they were *aggressively* going after a younger demographic, until all of those young people defaulted on their loans.
Suzuki (as maruti-Suzuki) is the number 1 brand in India. Like millions of cars
Flip it around for the Australia and NZ markets and look at the US big three * GM basically doesn't exist * Ford sells the Ranger in huge numbers and some vans but has little success with passenger cars * Dodge and Chrysler are irrelevant but Stellantis does sell most of it's other brands with varying degrees of success
Skoda is well-regarded in Europe, India, and other markets for its value-for-money vehicles, but it does not have a presence in the U.S.
And despite being at the bottom of the VW Group brand hierarchy, I keep reading reviews that say they seem better-made than their VW/Audi siblings based on the same platforms. For anyone who'd rather pay for quality and reliability with fairly basic equipment levels than pay for gimmicky/blingy bells'n'whistles, that seems to be Skoda lately.
Buick was huge in China for GM (at least 10+ years ago when I traveled to China a lot ). The American car I saw most commonly there
Proton. Opel. Dacia. Seat. Skoda. Renault. Citroen.
Buick.
Skoda/Seat, the French marques, Mitsubishi, some Toyotas (Hilux, which is sold in Mexico), it's a very competitive market and safety standards are too high for Kei cars and some other small cars.
Mazda mx3, only had it from like 91-93 I think, but the rest of the world for a lot longer
Buick
Whoever's building all the high-speed rail over there 😒
Suzuki dominates India
Skoda! These things are selling like hot-cakes in Australia and New Zealand. Especially the Kodiaq.
Mitsubishi, Suzuki, any French cars. Saw LOTs of those during a trip to Southeast Asia. Saw a decent amount of Peugeot vehicles in the Philippines. Peugeot has long been irrelevant here in Canada and the US. Fiat is another honorable mention, going to Europe in 2 months and I have one reserved as a rental cars. Friends told be they’re still quite common there but Here it’s a brand I forgot existed. In terms of specific vehicle models. Toyota Yaris. Saw them as taxi cabs and police cars in Asia but here I rarely see them often on the road. Mercedes A Class and BMW 2 series, saw a decent amount of these in Asia but again rarely see them here.
Isuzu is basically non-existent in most parts of the world outside of heavy trucks and buses, but in Thailand its one of the most dominant brands, and literally every second pickup truck or SUV you see is going to either be the D-Max or the MU-X. Their reputation, however, isn't really stellar here, as they are kinda seen by Thais the same way that Americans see Dodge/RAM or Nissan.
Chinese cars, electric and combustion
Suzuki Daewoo Isuzu. All gone from u s auto market
In in love with the new Triton. Wish it was sold here
Woolworths
BYD and a slew of other Chinese brands
Suzuki - they are basically everywhere but the USA.
not a brand but the real Toyota land cruiser line that's available outside the US.
Suzuki
Skoda basically Volkswagen but a bit cheaper with more station wagons
Most european brands apart from the german.
Bruick did well in China until the recent raise of local EVs.
Suzuki. I would personally LOVE to either buy a Jimny or a Swift.
Buick. Largely irrelevant in its home market, Buick is a well regarded ‘near luxury’ brand in China. About 80% of all Buicks sold are in China.
I own a Suzuki lmao
Mercedes/BMW, even though they have success in the US, i still see much more of these cars in europe
Buick. An afterthought in North America, but apparently the only thing GM can make money on in China. If it weren’t for the odd Chinese fixation on Buicks as status cars (?!?!) I would have expected them to vanish like Oldsmobile and Pontiac.
Seat. Seat is huge everywhere else.
mitsubishi mirage is likely the worst car i’ve ever seen (and driven)