The stereotypes about British engineered and/or assembled cars (and their... "quirks") are well-known in the US, in my experience. Perhaps you've heard of those in particular?
Yeah, I was about to respond with this too. British cars have been infamous for terrible reliability for a long time. It's frequently joked that Jaguars became more boring, but much more reliable, when Ford bought them.
You mean British cars are considered bad in the US or the UK? Any imported car would be worse in the US, because additional import costs and harder to get service for compared to local ones. It doesn't necessarily mean that the car is bad as a car.
For another example, French cars are among the best and most popular in France, cheaper and easier to get service for. If you asked a few people there to name some American cars, they probably wouldn't be able to.
European guy speaking here. I think he meant in the UK and more general, in Europe. Sometimes, it's a point of pride as well. I heard an investor guy on the radio years ago, saying he drives Ashton Martin because it looks fantastic and is unreliable -- it made driving an adventure.
I meant that they're considered unreliable (different than "bad") in general regardless of location. Your reasoning really doesn't hold for Japanese cars in both the US and most of Europe, in my experience. Import costs are rather trivial for cars between the US and EU/EEA. Most of the reputation of the unreliability of American and European is actually warranted (which is why it's generally shared across the ponds) and the rest tends to be due to national biases.
Why is this downvoted? It's absolutely true, and disproves the parent's point. Japanese cars are probably the most popular here (I'll take his word for it, it certainly looks true just looking at the cars I see on the road, and if it isn't true, it's close), and they aren't expensive to fix at all. Parts and service aren't a problem at all.
The parent obviously doesn't remember the terrible reputation British cars got in the 70s.
It doesn't disprove anything. Some Japanese manufacturers have a good supply chain and service to the US, it doesn't preclude that plenty of other brands don't.
The supply chain wasn't the problem with British cars, the problem was the engineering was terrible. They were renowned for being extremely unreliable.
Really? When I lived in France there were Ford dealerships all over, or at least I was surprised by their frequency. I saw a lot of Fords on the road as well iirc.
There is a fair amount of Fords, that's the only US brand available there. I am not sure what are typical American cars, but Jeep and Chevrolet for example are non-existent here.
There are a rapidly increasing number of Teslas, a decent number of Jeeps, a bunch of Chevy/Opel rebadged cars, and even the occasional Ram pickup truck where I live in Switzerland.
>There are a rapidly increasing number of Teslas, a decent number of Jeeps, a bunch of Chevy/Opel rebadged cars, and even the occasional Ram pickup truck where I live in Switzerland.
What is wrong with the Swiss? Jeeps and Rams are literally the worst, most unreliable vehicles made by American manufacturers. It's pretty well-known that any pickup truck is better than a Ram. If you have to have an American pickup for some odd reason, Fords and Chevys are both much better. Jeeps are also terrible vehicles. Of course, both Jeep and Ram are made by Chrysler, which has the very worst ratings of all the mainstream car manufacturers. Why are the Swiss picking the very worst American brands?
