I felt I had to write this addendum to yesterday's blog because I felt there was still so much more to say about why we get, (for the lack of a better choice of words), the 'bottom-of-the-barrel' selection of the world's choice of cars.
It's wrong of me to create the image that what we have here in North America is a poor selection of cars. We do, after all, have over 40 brands of vehicles for sale in Canada. But my primary point was to ask, and then answer, why do WE in Canada have to accept only the choices the automotive industry offers us based on American economics.
I'm sure the few posts I've put up lately may seem like 'Yankee-bashing', but that's not my intent. My intent is to make you aware that there's so much more out there; so many choices that I'm sure we'd welcome; so many things held back from us just because our population is too small.
How that makes sense, I couldn't say. I know that that's the why but that doesn't mean it makes sense. Here's an example of what I mean: last year I was in Mexico, more precisely the Yucatan peninsula, and the vehicles I saw there were just so 'interesting', even if only because though they are essentially ordinary daily-drivers for the Mexican populace, they had cars there that wouldn't be in North America for another half-year! To be more model-specific, they had the BMW 1-series and they were everywhere. But this car had yet to bow in North America.
I don't intend to be offensive but why is it that Mexico had these vehicles before we do, before the American market had them?! Economically, Mexico is far poorer than North America, so again, how did it make sense for that BMW and Peugeots and Citroens and other such vehicles to be in Mexico before the rest?! Now that, I can only guess at.
It's a wonder that the Ariel Atom (shown in thumbnail pic above this posting), was introduced to Canada at all, much less even within the same year that it came out in the UK. And although it is 29,000 British pounds in the UK and is nearly $80,000 here, it is still an astonishing car. Zero-to-sixty in 2.9 seconds! That's faster than a $2,000,000 Ferrari Enzo!!!
But would that matter to the ordinary person? Probably not... until you look at this special fact: In places like the UK, the balance of Europe and elsewhere, cars like the Renault Clio, (saw them by the dozens daily too), cost only about 8000-units of the respective country. So, in the UK for example, this Renault would cost about 8000 British Pounds. Using the generalization that the UK's currency is roughly 1-pound (UK) is $2.2 (Canadian), then that car is suddenly $16,000 here. Is that horrific? Is that reason enough to not bothering offering it to us? Nope!
Heck, we have plenty of $16,000 cars, (though there are fewer and fewer still as time goes on), the Nissan Sentra for example; the Pontiac Wave (Suzuki Sidekick re-badged); the Chevy Optra5 (re-badged Daewoo Lanos), etc. I would have used Honda if the Civic were still a reasonably-priced car but that no longer the situation.
Nevertheless, my point is, the European manufacturers I listed above would only have 'excuses' for not bringing their vehicles to our shores. Even considering the price-gouging that's been the norm on car pricing up until this past summer, they would still easily sell their cars here.
Don't be swayed by any previous that some of these cars have for when they were once here. That's right, Citroens, Peugeots, Renaults, they were here before. But they will equipped to handle how our infrastructure is supported in the winter, re: ROAD SALT!
Just go looking for a Renault Clio and note how many episodes of Top Gear that that car made an appearance on. And it's bloody fast too! Renault could learn from BMW's example when they re-introduced the Mini, which was quite probably one of the biggest gambles in recent automotive history. But it was a massive success and continues to be so. I've driven one of the base model cars and though it's nothing spectacular in Automatic mode, throw it into Tiptronic and shift going into a tight s-curve and you will be blown away by this miniature front-wheel-drive 'BMW'! I have never driven such an athletic front-wheeler ever.
But I digress. My focal point is that I believe Canada and Canadians are ready for more selection; more quality; some quirkiness; perhaps even out-rightly better cars.
Will it happen in our lifetime where our automotive borders will be lowered? Probably not. But who can say with any certainty?!
I for one, would love to see a day when a Clio were to drive by, followed by an Alfa Romeo 8C and then an Ariel Atom.
But that's just a car-guy's dream.
No comments:
Post a Comment