正文
Let us review the cars designed in Europe at a time when the domestic cars are still suffering from their reputation from over a decade ago and Japanese car makers are in deep water.
First of all, car purchase should be a personal evaluation process influenced by personal need, prior experience and scientific analysis, coupled with marketing and media noises, hearsays, and sometimes emotions.
If you have ever driven in Europe, your first surprise on cars is their tiny size. A Honda Civic is considered a mid to large size car there.
Your next surprise is when you fill up your gas tank. Petrol prices range from $7 per gallon in UK this week to over $10 per gallon in Holland during the peak of 2008.
When a fill up cost close to $100 for a small car, the priorities shift. You can observe the following interesting things in Europe.
1. Most cars have small engines. Anything larger than 1000 cc can be proudly displayed next to the logo
2. Nearly all cars have manual shift tranny, in order to compensate the tiny engines, and to save about 10% on fuel
3. Many cars do not have air conditioning to avoid the load on the engine, and to save gas
4. Instead, many cars have a sun roof or moon roof for the summer.
With the limited purchasing power, to the majority of locals, European cars mean VW, Vauxhall, Opel, Fiat, Ford, and other compact models.
BMW and MB also have a market share in this section of the market, with their 3 series and below, and C class and below, respectively.
Where are the nice cars? If you exclude the hand made super cars in Italy, then from Maybach and Rolls Royce all the way down to the BMW 5 series and MB E class are made for two groups of consumers.
First is for the locals with whom money is not an object. The Queen is one of them.
Second is for exports, particularly for the largest market in the world, the US.
So when talking about European cars, be specific about the make and model.
Try to avoid treating an average not-so-wonderful car there as a high end treasure here.
First of all, car purchase should be a personal evaluation process influenced by personal need, prior experience and scientific analysis, coupled with marketing and media noises, hearsays, and sometimes emotions.
If you have ever driven in Europe, your first surprise on cars is their tiny size. A Honda Civic is considered a mid to large size car there.
Your next surprise is when you fill up your gas tank. Petrol prices range from $7 per gallon in UK this week to over $10 per gallon in Holland during the peak of 2008.
When a fill up cost close to $100 for a small car, the priorities shift. You can observe the following interesting things in Europe.
1. Most cars have small engines. Anything larger than 1000 cc can be proudly displayed next to the logo
2. Nearly all cars have manual shift tranny, in order to compensate the tiny engines, and to save about 10% on fuel
3. Many cars do not have air conditioning to avoid the load on the engine, and to save gas
4. Instead, many cars have a sun roof or moon roof for the summer.
With the limited purchasing power, to the majority of locals, European cars mean VW, Vauxhall, Opel, Fiat, Ford, and other compact models.
BMW and MB also have a market share in this section of the market, with their 3 series and below, and C class and below, respectively.
Where are the nice cars? If you exclude the hand made super cars in Italy, then from Maybach and Rolls Royce all the way down to the BMW 5 series and MB E class are made for two groups of consumers.
First is for the locals with whom money is not an object. The Queen is one of them.
Second is for exports, particularly for the largest market in the world, the US.
So when talking about European cars, be specific about the make and model.
Try to avoid treating an average not-so-wonderful car there as a high end treasure here.
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