Usa, Do You Want French Cars??

[rranger]

Originally Posted by MJay

Americans , its really strange that you dont have those beauties on your car market!! I know that you are strongly habituated on yours chevys, caddys etc... However, what about to start something NEW?? I'm not a Renault/Citroen/Peugeot seller trying to sell them in the US, I just know that Americans are car lovers...

This is one of those moments where a little bit of history is in order. The US, as much as Americans purportedly "love" their Chevys, Caddys, etc., had many more European brands (including French) up to about 1980 (when the Japanese simply destroyed all other foreign competition except for the Germans and Swedes).

The problem was that the Northern US, which is where most Fiats, Alfas, Peugeots, and Renaults (not to mention the full range of unreliable British Leyland crap - MG, Triumph, etc.) were sold, has very harsh winters where lots and lots of salt is used on the roads - and crater-sized potholes develop. None of these cars were up to the harsh demands of salt, and all would pretty much rot out or fall apart after about three or four years (excluding, maybe, Peugeot 504s/505s). Citroens, which were also sold here, were just plain weird.

The result was that Americans turned on European cars big time (other than the German and Swedish luxury cars). For example, it literally took about two decades for VW and Audi (after the disasterous Rabbit and Fox) to get a substantial presence in the US. Fiats and Renaults were particularly bad - junk boxes that broke down constantly.

P.S.: I know that things have really changed. I completely agree with you about Peugeot/Citroen. I had a Peugeot 308 rental in France and absolutely LOVED it! I would buy one in a minute if it were available in the US. I also like the look of the new Citroens, though I haven't driven any. Not sure how I feel about Renault/Nissan. But, the problem is that Toyota, Honda, the other smaller Japanese brands and the emerging Korean brands have taken all of the "air" out of the US market for European brands (and, to some extent, they've done the same in Europe itself).

[outafocus]

YES! I would love to have a Peugeot diesel.

[jlawrence01]

There are a LOT of Peugeots sold in the Mexican market. When I was in McAllen, TX, I would see several a day.

I would be tempted to try a Peugeot 207 but I am afraid that I would be sadly disappointed with teh quality.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by rranger

as much as Americans purportedly "love" their Chevys, Caddys, etc.

Ironically, the names Chevrolet and Cadillac are both of French origin.

[my54ford]

probably not but I tell ya, I've been bombing around for the last week in a New Skoda wagon and I'm impressed!

[MKE-Ed]

I had a friend back in the mid 1980s that purchased a Renault 18i sport wagon and it was a very nice car at that time. I remember it had Recaro seats and a top of the line Blaupunkt stereo system. It was only a 4 cyclinder, but it did have good gas mileage. The only thing that I didn't like about it was that it cost 21K. That was a lot of money for a car like that back then.

[sailordave]

Originally Posted by pch1013

Ironically, the names Chevrolet and Cadillac are both of French origin.

It's not about the origin of the name. It's about origin of company. Louis Chevrolet was from Switzerland and was a race car driver. Mr. Durant was the founder of GM who was ousted from the company and founded Chevrolet with Louis Chevrolet. Mr. Chevrolet didn't like the cars nor Mr. Durant so he left the company. Durant was so successful, he joined Chevrolet with GM and once again took over the company.