Continental Chaos: GMs Failed Attempt to Conquer Europe 

We apologize for what GM did to Holden. We too liked Holden and wanted the Ute to come to the US.

@@1antisupercat At least Holden were permitted to design and build left-hand-drive cars (even if the export volumes of these cars were stymied for various reasons), Ford Australia were never given that luxury by Ford HQ. 😟 A left-hand-drive Falcon and left-hand-drive Territory... What could have been? -- In any case, say Chevy and Ford did not have the Impala and Taurus in North America, would Americans really have bought American-made versions of the Australian-designed Commodore and Falcon instead? Or would they be considered too small compared to B-Bodies and Panthers?

@@TassieLorenzo that’s a really good question. In modern times with few sedans made by gm and ford, probably not. But maybe 15 years ago I’m sure they would sell.

@@1antisupercat Yeah, Utes are cool.

Pontiac G8:was a Holden Engineered gem. All other Pontiac made models at that time stunk. Shared platforms with Buick , the Buick models were known for reliability. Pontiac equivalents were lemons.

Not even the Corvette or CTS V ? 😭

I wasn't a buyer back in those years so I can't relate to trends at the time, but all of the designs appear..boring or too similar to trusted brands? Why would anyone be interested in buying those models.

What about the buick riviera!? Lol

I saw Mercs, Beamers and Audi's ;) Briefly a Citroën.

@@tybo103 I'd like a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gen Riviera, nothing after '73. But it would probably be a rust bucket or way out of my price range.

Yep, I believe Marchionne squeezed 2 billion dollars out of GM in the divorce

@@JK061996 Marchionne was such a Master mind. Not only they squeezed out money from GM in the mid 2000s. They paid zero money for Chrysler back in 2009

​@@engineer_alvand now they are making millions out of then failed brands like Jeep and RAM

​@@matmcdif only he lived long enough to oversee the resurrection of Lancia 😢

@@matmcd that's correct. FCA could've lived on Jeep and Ram alone. Fiat is only immensely popular in Italy and Brazil. In other countries they're a medium sized player at best including most of Europe. That's why I give even more credit to Marchionne, he played out his cards very well despite technically having not enough money to buy Chrysler

It wasn't too many divisions, the problem is they were all competing with each other instead of rival automaker's products. The compacts of the early 60s is a case in point. A compact Chevy was fine, but compact Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, and Buicks, standard Chevrolet was still number one? Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The Acadians and the Beaumonts were sold in some parts of Europe as well.

The Parisienne was a Pontiac specific to the Canadian market as none were sold in the US. They were rebadged Chieftains which were manufactured till the 1958 model year

@@lindaeasley5606 All Canadian full-size Pontiacs up until 1968 or so were actually full-size Chevrolets wearing Pontiac sheetmetal (some of which was actually Canadian Pontiac specific in order to fit the slightly shorter Chevy architecture). Engines, transmissions, chassis, inner body structures and more were shared with Canadian-made Bel Airs, Impalas and such, thereby avoiding import tariffs. And the Parisienne eventually DID make it south of the border: Starting in 1983, one year after Pontiac USA dumped the B-body Catalina and Bonneville and stuck the Bonneville name on a facelifted G-body LeMans under the assumption that gas prices were going to stay high forever, the Parisienne sedan and wagon went on sale down here. Sedan sales continued through '86, while the wagon ran through '89.

@@lindaeasley5606 They rode on shorter Chevrolet chassis with Pontiac sheet metal and lacked the US "wide track".. ungainly looking..

@@MarinCipollina I have seen many, and they look OK to me. Not as good as a Wide-Track car, but still a nice stylish looking car.

Originally, that was true, but by the later 50s, Cadillac prices rose more slowly than most other cars, so by the 70s, Cads were no longer so expensive that only the well-to-do could afford them.

Don't forget the European divisions of Chrysler. (Talbot, Simca, ect)

Wasn’t Lancia bundled with FIAT at that time?

@@agn855 Fiat took over Chrysler, after they left Daimler and now Fiat and Chrysler are together in Stellantis

GM did Holden dirty by basically closing their manufacturing plants in Australia, and then completely shutting down the brand entirely like they did to Oldsmobile and Pontiac.

Of all GM brands Holden/HSV sold well as performance cars/utes, HSV was rebadged Vauxhall, HSV/Holden should been GM performance global n customers get choose if they wanted rebrand Vauxhall or Pontiac.

@@jamieshields9521 we had both the Holden Monaro and the VE Commodore sold as Pontiacs and a Chevrolet and the VF Commodore sold as a Chevrolet in the US, but they didn’t sell enough (because they didn’t advertise the damn things!) in their eyes to justify the cost of shipping and manufacturing them in Australia. But all the ones that did sell have a cult following and are thoroughly enjoyed.

As far as I know they didn't even sell all that well in the US

America is fail

I don't know how someone can consistently find parking big enough for a Hummer in an American car centric city. Having one anywhere near a European city is the most inconvenient thing I can think of

@@davidmhh9977 as an American, I can confidently say these things were jokes even when new- and everyone knew it. They were laughably bloated and with Fuel mileage in the single digits, it was a car that was sized for a person's ego. I don't think the flex was "I could afford one" so much as it was "I could afford to run one"

They managed to sell some in Russia. Even had assembly line in Kaliningrad. And those ones assembled in Kaliningrad could be driven on standard license because of some weight reduction measures, they were able to get it under 3500kg

Its funny cause then GM rebadged Holdens in Korea as Daewoo. Shambles

Maybe GM thought Chevrolet had no brand image in Europe, since the cars had never sold well here. But of course Chevy had an image: big, American, outrageous. Not small, Korean, everydayish.

Some of those Daewoos made it to Canada as Chevys as well, but not to the US

So bizarre. They should have waited til they actually had some new models rather than rebadging the dreadful Daewoo models, especially as some were only recently launched.

​@@GetBuckAUare ypu even heterosexual

Aren't they all tho?

@@daTribbleMakervarying degrees. GM likes to take those types of negatives to the max

​@@daTribbleMakernot at all. More fortune 500 companies than ever are being run by engineers and PhDs now.

@@ILoveTinfoilHats Looks like it, considering how much non-essential tech is put into the cars to the point that you cannot run a car because it's doing a software update, or you have a fucktonne of sensors for fuck knows what and when one breaks (and they always do), your repair bill is well into the 4 digits. Yes, I'm talking here about the G*rmans

engineer in echonomics and not in car manufacturing... tell me this, why would a car guy enginner choose a T hose made of platic instead of metal? no other argument than economics because that part will have to be replaced after warranty and yet instead of replacing just the T you have to replace the whole hose assembly wich costs you more money@@ILoveTinfoilHats

Well smarty....the real Volvo GAVE every car maker 3 point seatbelts ...free! Didn't patent them so only they could use them . GM builds crap.....with few exceptions. BTW ... I love my "Chevy" Daewoo Aveo. 😊

I'd love to hear about safety that doesn't do anything. Like I've heard designers raised the skirt line of cars because it makes drivers *feel* safer but doesn't actually translate to better crash tests.

Were 5mph bumpers in the US even for safety? Thought it just was insurance reasons. Less broken head lights, rear lights, indicators, etc.

That surely gave volvo alot of mention

Get a motorcycle

Thats true.Opel developed and designed cars for the US market first and then had to redesign them to fit the european taste. Because of the uitlized R&D capacities for GM they had to rely on other capacities like the former Daewoo divison in Korea for the development of the Karl or the first Mokka.

Predatory corporate practices... you don't see that anywhere.

@@Louis-dm2ct and now with their current offerings, nearly a third of the lineup of Chevrolet, and literally half of Buick’s lineup (a sad 4 vehicles) all comes out of GM Korea now!

@@Louis-dm2ct I kind of dig the sort of american-cues on Opels, especially with the RWD cars they made, made it more distinct from the rest of the german cars, even if they were cheaper feeling despite being well assembled. But what was kind of amazing was the fact that the GM's tactic was so devastating to Opel, despite them selling cars really well up till the 2000's, that they were still making huge losses.

They for sure did the same with Saab. They developed a lot of transmission komponents, 4WD, 6-speed gearbox (F40) a lot of turbocharged engines never even seen in a Saab. Safety structures and features for Epsilon platform and much more. I know because i know people that worked there for 20-30 years.

Daewoo helped destroy Holden

​​@@mervynstent1578Holden was already dead at the 80's using Opel's as there main chassis for most of the cars. And later just got rebadged Opels and Chevrolets.

@@jgn593With exception of Commodore

Chevy probably had some fanbois in that dept. Their grandpappy drove a Chebby. Their daddy drove a Chebby. They drove a Chebby. Their kids all were forced to drive a Chebby. They brag at lunch that they got their neighbors to buy a Chebby. By God! Those uncivilized Europeans! They need to drive Chebbys!!! Remember that Daewoo you drive and really like? That's actually a Chebby, go buy a Chebby so we can all collectively stroke ourselves over the overrated Bel Air!

buy Deawoo was even better than Chevrolet, they had really good cars

The funny thing is, I'm a Cadillac owner (in Europe) and I feel a little bit offended when people assume it a rebadged Saab.

Yes, seemed like GM's philosophy with Saab was "change the shape of the headrest, that makes it a new model!"

Anything GM touching goes to 💩

The real reason I think why the 92X ever happened it's because GM owned half of Subaru's parent company at the time

Well yes, but GM also kept Saab afloat. They were already going bankrupt when GM bought them

That was the more ugly version of the six saab bls as a cadillac was a terrible idea

@kobra6660 but when it was a quarter of the price for a 9-3 in cadillac dress, economic always win

​@@jaimelane6999I had the same sort of experience with a Renault Val Satis. As ugly as a brick with skin grafts. Cost 39k new, brought one in 2006 which was 14 months old with 9k on the clock from my local Renault dealer as a approved used car.....£9995! Dealer had it stock since it was 9 months old and couldn't shift the thing. I snapped his hand off. Kept it for 10 years and put 175k on it, sold it to a Val Satis enthusiast in 2016 for £10k. Literally 10 years of motoring for bugger all money. It was the V6 Diesel too so it went like stink and pulled like a train. Fun times.

Your use of emojis is infuriating

Ask any Detroit Lions or Cleveland Brows fan. They Know......They know

that about sums it up.

The manchester united of car brands

⁠@@terminallygray good news, the Lions won their second playoff game in the history of the NFL and Superbowl a couple days ago… their first one was in 1991. They also won by a single point.

To be clear, Europe has a bunch of protectionist market policies that artificially kept American cars from selling, not just GM. If US cars were sold with the same taxes and prices as Euro brands, European brands like vw, alfa, seat, skoda, audi, bmw, renault, citroen, saab, peugeot, and etc would've lost 70% of their customers. There are many great examples of how terrified European brands are of having to compete with American brands on a level playing field, but my favorite examples are these 3. 1 - Chrysler ME 412 - Look up the history of the car and why Mercedes killed it off in 2004. I'll sum it up for you. Chrysler was owned by Mercedes at the time, and Mercedes was about to release the SLR McLaren. At the same time Chrysler used a Mercedes engine, and created a car under less time, for less money, which performed better than the SLR McLaren in every possible way, in power, 0 - 60, top speed, handling, etc. Shortly it would've absolutely humiliated Mercedes, and naturally it was killed off. 2 - SSC Ultimate Aero TT vs Bugatti Veyron - When the Veyron came out it was the fastest car in the world, then a few years later they released the Veyron SS which was a few mph faster than the original Veyron. Why? Because after the original Veyron came out, SSC released the Ultimate Aero TT, which was again, a better performing car than the Bugatti, and it had a higher top speed. Of course Bugatti couldn't handle the humiliation so they made the Veyron SS which was 50% more expensive than the original, but hey at least they reclaimed the top speed title. 3 - Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300s - Europe has nothing that competes with the Chargers and 300s. A 4 door V8 sedan for around $40K. Europe, has, nothing. I already looked through competitors and the *closest* rival for Chargers is the C63 AMG, which starts at $65K, and the closest one in size that competes with it is the E63 AMG, which is even more expensive. If Chargers and 300s were officially sold in Europe, without any of the nonsense taxes and fees applied to them, no sane person would ever buy $65K+ Mercedes vehicles. Theres more examples too, like how 9 out of 10 pickup trucks in the Netherlands are the typical American trucks like the RAM 1500 and F150. I honestly hope the US starts treating European brands with the same policies, lets see how well Euro brands do in the US after that. And you heard this from a European who lives in the EU.

@@DesertStateInEU that's the same Japan and South Korea does to protect their market. GM was allowed in Korea because they bought Daewoo but Japan will tax the heck of every foreign brand trying to sell there

​@@DesertStateInEUWhy did FORD manage to thrive in Europe then?

@@Skddjf Ford is not "thriving" in Europe, its being choked just like all other US brands. The fact that European models like the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, Mondeo, and etc are present means nothing. Those are not real competitors for Mercedes, bmw, audi.

GM is still really popular here in Kuwait, my dad recently got a 2021 Tahoe, you see them in every neighborhood it’s the quintessential family car.

At the same time they were producing the Chevrolet Tracker (rebadged Suzuki Vitara) and Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Frontera (rebadged Isuzu), which was also sold as Honda Passport 😅 They had a whole fleet of mismatched SUVs that shared nothing in common with each other.

I think most people only like the hummer h1 military model.

In Germany there’s a saying that _"You've to own a petrol station (and a piece of land for parking) to be able to afford a🦞"_ ….besides that other assumption - that the size of your d*ck is inversely proportional to the size of your car. So… guess who bought that tank?

Really? I have papers for all of my three Cadillac BLS and none of them say Saab 9-3. I am not saying that its not a saab.(It is, and yes I am insane for having three of these cars)

The Astra K to Astra L jump was phenomenal. The french really did a good job on improving perceived quality in the last decade too, while Opel was beyond stagnant with their chinsy horrible interiors.

Come on, Opel is still unreliable...like everything from PSA. All polished turds.

@Discofelsi also Opel/Chevrolet dealer here. Cant agree more on that. Not only are the cars unreliable. Also the dealer/diagnostic software for the PSA stuff are still crap, some parts of it are still only available in french.

@@phunkstar7347 couldnt agree more .. I also work at a opel dealer. the new cars are horrible to work on.... I still cant believe these things sell better than the old GM models.

In the USA the added cost of diesel offsets the fuel economy of a diesel, so they are not so popular here.

@@scrambler69-xk3kv , imho they shouldn't have been popular in europe either, they were more expensive, taxed heavier (especially when LEZ became a thing), the only reason people bought them was because diesel was slightly cheaper than petrol at the gas station, when that changed...diesels basically went the way of the dodo

Lancia is a brand I haven't heard of in a couple of decades.

@@scrambler69-xk3kv No, they just royally screw it up every time diesel is brought to cars. Diesel VWs aren't rare, even post dieselgate, but there was still dieselgate. Before that the crappy olds GM diesel motor (which were also pretty common).

@@TheChill001 Why are they still around then? Electric fanboy?

I am an American, 28 years old....my last car was a 1996 Camaro Z28 6 speed manual convertible... loved that car but was a money pit. I now drive a 98 Nissan Sentra with 5 speed manual transmission because I am poorer now than I used to be since inflation 😂 I will be moving to Sweden eventually since my fiancé is Swedish.

Earlier this week I saw a Chrysler Stratus, a pretty rare sight on European roads

Imagine the abomination a readapted 300c would be! An american turned E-class, re-europised.

so the cruz...a korean build, opel engineered car...yeah the "" really fit there since in truth GM didn't really sell many "actual" american cars by that point, given most of the engineering was done by Opel and Saab, with GM ruining the endresult with their incessant cost-cutting

The Chevy Cruze was made in the USA.

I feel like a king driving the only Cadillac in my Belgian town.

Check yourself before you wreck yourself. Yes... the Pontiac Transport is the same as an Olds Silhouette. What you probably didn't know was that the Pontiac Transport came on sale here in the US in 1990 along with the Olds minivan. arrivederci

@@terminallygray I knew that they were closely related but the Trans Sport sold in Europe from 1994 was identical to the Silhouette, you can tell by the front bumper

I drive a Cadillac CT5 as daily driver, it isn't that expensive to run, getting parts isn't hard either. But mine isn't a V6 so taxes are somewhat cheap. I don't know how the taxes on a 3.6L are in Italy.

And you could get that Trans Sport with a manual in Europe. Was automatic only in the states.

@@lab1042 A manual attached to a Quad4!

Fr, I own a couple gm cars and it really can be a love-hate relationship

I currently have a 2017 Chevy Bolt and a 2017 Cruze RS hatchback. Both cars are efficient and fun to drive. I have had good luck with GM, Mazda and Nissan vehicles.

I WAS a GM fanboy....until..... they took all that money from Uncle Sam, blew it on booze, blackjack and hookers. Then they sobered up, decided to make EVEN LOWER quality cars than the ones they were building before bankruptcy. They don't even sell the Chevy Volt anymore. The king is dead, long live the king.

Pretty sure they call that stockholm syndrome

​@@mikewysko2268the cruse is a Opel Astra with a different body. That's why it's good. 😉

It's been like that for over 4 decades. What is it that Toyota and Honda do that GM can't do, even on their best days.

@@terminallygray Honda can't build trucks. Toyota makes a nice half-ton but it was designed for America and they still can't make 3/4 or full ton trucks.

GM did the same thing in Australia with Holden Government has enough of hands outs, GM pulls out and leaves nothing! 🤬

I think GM management functions on the principle of a sucker born every minute. Their cynicism about their buyers, and their total disdain for the automobile, is unrivalled.

John - you can take the mask off now. 👍🏻

⁠@@vincedibona4687 Vince - we have LASIK and PRK these days, you can take off the glasses now. 👍

It;s an old photo. @@vincedibona4687

I own a never version, I service mine at a US car importer, the only Cadillac dealer is on the other side of the country as well.

I really wish that they'd give engineers more of a run of the place. I say this as I deeply miss Pontiac

GM makes great products when their leadership gets out of the way of its engineers. Then their leadership starts to get ideas and it all ends in tears.

The engineers know full well how to properly design a good car. It is the cost-cutters who destroy them.

Agreed

GM runs away from success as if they were on fire 😅

Yes and no, sure they made a lot of shitty decisions, but where Lincoln/Ford doesn't even make Sedans anymore GM decided to do what BMW, Audi and Mercedes were doing and made their own CTS/CT5 I've tested the E class, 5 Series and CT5 and I have to say Cadillac made one hell of a car. I'm the only Cadillac owner in my European town because of it...

There were many hummer h2, small Chevrolet daewoo rebrands and some cts on my area between 2002-2012. I also wanted to buy an CTV back then.

@@m4rsianer I would actually still love a CTS-V sedan with the six-speed manual. That would be a fun car.

GM was strong in Switzerland too , I collect GM brochures from 80/90/00s, In Switzerland most of the US GM lineup was available in EU spec.

It's interesting that you say the price was 26K DM. I always thought that EU member countries got rid of old currency and adopted the Euro as a replacement.

@@terminallygray Euro currency didn't come into circulation tell the start of 2002. Before that it was only traded on markets etc, and would show up on menu's along side the home currency so people would get accustom to the pricing difference in euro's. So most of those GM's @rudiknaus4139 bought were still in DM's.

@@terminallygray you are right! The price was 26000 € 😎👍🏼

Nah. You are just a sad little fanboy. The new cadillacs don’t even have apple carplay

With the final Holden sold in the U.S. as the Chevrolet SS, an impressive sports/sleeper sedan that everyone would mistake for a Chevrolet Impala@@jacqueslecouer5715

@@jacqueslecouer5715 The Ford Capri "The car you always promised yourself" was sold as a Mercury in the USA, It is mow 37 years since the last ones were made but I still don't think any manufacturer has ever had the same combination of desirability yet accessibility since, even if my mundane VW Golf has similar performance to a Capri 2.8i.

I've seen a couple HHRs here in Denmark and even talked with the owner of one in a supermarket parking lot, I genuinely like that car's styling

I think if GM sold the Oldsmobile Aurora it would have failed spectacularly. Have you looked at it? It is hideous! It looks like a snail where a German luxury car ran over...twice! This design would never have caught on in Europe. Those tail lights look like they belong on a spaceship! Where would they have gotten their inspiration from? In the early 1990s, we didn't have such cars here in Europe. Yes, we did have the soapbox-styled Ford Sierra, but it took two to three years for us Europeans to actually give up and just buy the thing. We also had the Mondeo, but, just like the Sierra, that car initially also had some difficulties selling. No, the best European forward-looking designs were by companies like Opel. Or Peugeot. Or Saab.

Not everyone shares your opinions, ban. 👍🏻

Agreed the Aurora is fantastic

GM sold the Alero here in Germany .. I had one, too, the design was ahead of its time but the 3,1 l V6 engine and the electronics were not reliable.. 😎

Let's not forget the Aurora needing a truck tester to get it's crash test done properly.

What how are they interesting 😂

The only bridge I know between the two brands is the Saab 9000 and the Alfa Romeo 164 sharing the same body (also with a Fiat Chroma and a Lancia Thema)

There was a "strategic accord' for cost sharing and development. What happened was that the Holden-designed and built 3.2 litres V6 ended inside the 159/Brera ALFA models (with an ALFA designed head) where it was reviled as an unworthy successor to the ALFA Romeo Busso V6 (one of the best sounding V6 ever). The ALFA 159 chassis, too, was developed with GM owned SAAB - in theory for a D/E segment car - and had resulted about 150 kg (330 lbs) heavier than its direct competitors... So it, too, was a bit reviled by the few remaining ALFA petrol heads. Funny thing, if I remember well GM ended up paying 1 or 2 billion $ to close the collaboration with FIAT group. (Note: I suppose that, in a few years, we will know how the guys from Torino screwed over the PSA group in the creation of Stellantis... Because I cannot believe that the French managed to avoid the fate of all who got in bed with FIAT).

In fact the Alfa 939 cars (159/Brera/Spider) were based on a GM platform and had Holden gasoline engines (2.2 and 3.2). Also the new Fiat Croma was related to the BLS and 9-3, which were offered with the 1.9 Multijet turbodiesel engine.

@@JK061996 the Alfa-developped "TDI"-type engines were the best in the world, and still largely are. The Saab and other cars used this one. The GM deal effectively killed the classic "TS" 16v engines in Alfa and replaced it with what arguably is the world's first direct injection gasoline engine, the JTS. Sadly that engine lost all of the personality of the TS and the DI added a host of problems with carbon buildup. One of the gearboxes shared among most GM cars at that time was the M32 (with all of its problems).

The Alfa 159 was due to get an equivalent Saab and Cadillac sibling.

Two Opels were sold in the USA, the first for many years were German, then due to costs we were then sold the Japanese Isuzu sourced opels.

Opel sales through U.S. Buick dealers actually started in the late 1950s with the Rekord P1. Around the same time, the F Series Vauxhall Victor was offered here through Pontiac dealers; that experiment ended in 1960 or so, making those Victors the first and last Vauxhall-badged cars sold in the U.S.

The accountants are the real engineers at GM. Occasionally, they take a nap and a decent car gets produced.

They did, I owned several in the 1960's and 1970's. Dead reliable never missed a beat with minimal maintenance. Stated just fine in life threatening temperatures. Loved them.

​@@BillLaBriewell except at Saab. The last true engineering company.. that's why they didn't go that well with GM

Cars like the Vectra and Astra were OK. They sold pretty well and didn't have a significantly worse reputation for quality than other European cars (despite certain disastrous aspects like the M32 gearbox failure, engine failure on VXR/OPC models etc).🙂

@@gorkzop Remember when the “new” 900 was just a rebadged Cavalier? That was funny.

@@Jack_Russell_Brown Thank you for sharing and confirming what I said with more details as well. It is appreciated.

I remember 2012 they have a Facelift of the 5th gen Camaro. And in Brand apanking new 2011 Camaro 6.2 Automatik = Euro Version was am sale for 31000 EUR!!!!!, even ten years later you're get at least 25000 EUR for the same car used

Ain't it the truth. I saw a FI 1957 Bel Air on the road today, Turquoise w/white top. Still looks great after all these years.

In Germany at least these days cars are mainly black or dark blue or dark grey. White is uncommon, but some are silver. If it does have a color it's usually something dark, such as brown.

Thanks. Interesting why white is not so popular in Germany. Hmmmm @@Slazlo-Brovnik

@@daviduliana4447Here in the U.K. a white car is almost always the most basic version of the model - I’m really not quite sure why that is. There is also the social stereotype of “White Van Man” (again the base model) usually a self-employed tradesman (of dubious qualification) or jobbing delivery subcontractor - who may not be too scrupulous about quality control or filing his tax returns. So white vehicles don’t have a great image.

Oh. Interesting. @@davidpaterson2309

Doesn't Stellantis (nowadays Fiat's mother company) still have a factory in Poland? For years, I saw trains of Fiat 500 and Panda rolling through Austria from Poland to Italy. That's all history now?

@@uncipaws7643 No, that factory in Warsaw was called FSO and was making Polski Fiat 125p - something like a Lada 2106, later Daewoo and Chevy. Panda and 500 are from Tychy and Bielsko-Biala, now Fiat Auto Poland [FAP]. Before '93-94 it was called FSM and producing Fiat 126p and Cinquecento.

@@obywatelcane6775 The FSO was that straight-edged hatchback with the sloping rear and the high stance, right? I kinda liked those, there were some of those in my hometown in Belgium since we had a Lada/FSO dealer (yeah, one of those guys who opened up during the initial boom of iron curtain cars)

@@TheChill001 That hatchback was called "Polonez". It was still a Fiat 125p from the '60s with a new body. My father had one '83 Polonez and I had a '96. Their major problem was rust. Otherwise they were good cars. Cheaper to buy than even Opel, easy to repair, plus they really liked LPG 🙂Unfortunately in Poland they pour a lot of salt on the roads duing winter and that steel was just shitty, you couldn't do antyhing about it.

GM, since the 70s, has been run by cost-cutters who know little about a car other than how to start the engine and aim the thing.

I was actually working at the time and I stopped what I was doing to go and take a pic of it 😆 it was only a few weeks after seeing the equally rare Saturn Relay, a rebadged Chevy Uplander minivan.

I recently drove a Buick Encore as a rental, in fact a rebadged Opel Mokka.

Chevrolet Astra in Mexico

It sucks because Australia sold its soul to China.

Remembering what a POS the Camira was when new (my father had two of them, a JB and a JD, as company cars, and they were among the cars I learned to drive in), it is no wonder that Holden couldn't survive selling the ZB Commodore. Of course, GM forced a lot of questionable cars on Holden over the years. I can't think of any captive imports they received from the mid-80's onward that were actually good.

To glownie dla tego ze byliśmy wtedy stosunkowo biedni dlatego tansze daewoo się sprzedawało

It‘s a common sentiment. We have a guy running a self defense dojo in our street who bought one. Everyone hates it. (Germany)

@@MaticTheProtoI have to say, I'm not surprised that Hummers do well with the "guys who run self-defense dojos" demographic, regardless of the country.

@@MrTJPAS yeah :(

That's why the Avto VAZ renamed Lada Niva for Lada 4x4.

General Motors isn't run by car enthusiast anymore and its really sad. They simply ignore the concept of building vehicles that herd customers into their showrooms. GM is desperately out of touch.

​@@garymotley8196Yeah, they are more out of touch than Ford and Mopar combined.

@@fortheloveofnoiseExactly... At least Ford and Mopar build some vehicles that actually bring some excitement to the table.

They say small cars do not sell in America, but Hyundai, Kia, Toyota Nissan sell their small cars here just fine. Call it Corp. greed, seems they only wish to sell vehicles that include a mortgage here.

@@scrambler69-xk3kvin addition, those trucks and SUVs are the highest profit vehicles, at least for now.

@@pmscalisi especially when they don’t even attempt to market lower trim levels and build nothing but the most expensive top of the line models.

Actually it doesn't sell but not because it's a bad car but because of regulations. Porsche can export it's cars to any European country for the price of a truck driver and gas. A Corvette needs a shipment of 10.000euro and 33% import fees on the resale value of the car including the price of shipping. So you end up with two cars that cost the same and then Porsche wins because of its interior and finish, the thing that makes a corvette great is that its a budget car that can beat a Porsche. If it isn't a budget car anymore, it loses its USP.

They were chased out of Japan.

Especially the SAAB SUV that was a rebadged Trail Blazer with an inline 5cyl Isuzu engine.

Cimarron may not have been as distinctively Cadillac as it might have been, but it was in no way a "trash" vehicle. It was reliable and dependable. The BIG PROBLEM is you could have gotten the same reliability and dependability with the Pontiac J2000 or Chevy Cavalier versions for half the money.

@@MarinCipollina That was my point. AND Ed did a great review of that some time ago.

The Caddy Catera was nice and had got a decent fuel econoym. And the CTS was very similar, especailly with the LA3 and the larger LY7.