How the American Car Failed in Europe 

So, how much does a Mustang or Escalade cost in your part of the world? PS, when it comes to CLASSIC American cars, it's a completely different story. In The Netherlands, cars older than 40 years are considered classic cars where you don't pay any road tax and a special low price insurance. Maintenance and fuel are up to you of course. This actually makes The Netherlands, along with Sweden and Germany some of the countries where you'll find the most American classic cars in the whole of Europe!

Europe designed its cars to fit its roads, America designed its roads to fit its cars.

Road taxes based on weight makes perfect sense because weight directly affects how much wear and tear a vehicle puts on the road.

Did you ever see a French village? If you live in one of these villages, you will understand why we don't use American cars. These are too big to handle on the streets and to be parked in car parks. But there are still idiots who buy big American pick-ups and annoy everyone with them!

And frankly these days American cars have the reputation of being plastic buckets that fall apart if you look at them too intensely. Even the few ones that are sold here aren't at all considered competitive with their European rivals.

Funny thing that those "small American cars" were still huge next to European cars. Had bit of a giggle when I first saw AMC Pacer in a museum, with 3.8 litter engine, described as a response to energy crisis.

My dad drove exclusively American cars, until he visited Europe in the late 1960s, rented a Peugeot 404, and was amazed at the responsive handling and solid construction. He continued driving American cars -- although not particularly large ones, like an AMC Rambler -- until he test-drove a VW Jetta in 1985 and said it was the best-driving car since that Peugeot. He bought the Jetta for my mom and a Golf for himself (which was actually American-made, in VW's Westmoreland, PA plant).

In the1970's the Netherlands reacted to the oil crises by cancelling planned urban highways crossing the major cities, and embarking on a policy prioritising sustainable transport, particularly bikes. This didn't lead to much lower levels of car ownership, just reduced the number of trips. For example, most Dutch kids make their own way to school and after school activities by foot or bike from a young age, so no parental taxi service required.

To be fair American cars are just too big and are absolute gas guzzlers. To quote Gabriel Iglesias "You can't be a badass in a car that kills gas like I kill tacos.". Gas is considerably more expensive in Europe than US and in all honestly we don't really need big cars. To my understandings Americans just hit a Wallmart or something and do a grocery run for a whole week in one go. We don't really need to do that since even in the countryside we have stores within 5-10 minutes by foot or bike. And if you really need to transport some bigger stuff you can always get one of those small car trailers, you hook it up to the back of your car when needed and when it's not you just leave it at home.

For example in Italy having a car bigger than 1.8/2.0 liter Is pricey not only for gas prices but also from taxes like for example the "superbollo" wich Is a tax that you pay for Cars that have more than 250hp

There is a surprisingly large amount of big US pickups and SUVs in Sweden - but Sweden is also quite hillbilly by European standards. It's some kind of "working class, newly rich"-symbol.

Fun fact about that woman in the "Thank you Marshall" picture. That's my grandmother

I live in the Netherlands and I get "almost hit" by a Tesla about 3 times a day. My average cycling trip is 10 minutes twice daily...

A friend of mines dad moved to Spain in the 80's for several years and brought his prized 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1, he said the reaction in Spain from the locals was if a space ship showed up.

Here in Greece, we had to import American cars as a compensation for the financial aid we received after WW2. They were usually used as taxis, but most prominently as hearses. To this day all American classics look like a hearse to older people. Station wagon =long hearse. Muscle car=fast hearse. Once you know this, you can't unsee it 😂

Back in the 90's, the cost in taxes to import a Dodge Viper to my country was equivalent to buy a Porche Carrera.

In Romania, asian brands such as Toyota, Mazda and Hyundai seem to have replaced Volkswagen and Ford. They offer better price/quality ratio and are still selling naturally aspirated 1.5l and above engines, while european brands are pushing on 0.9 3-cylinder turbo engines that most people hate.

Vehicles were primarily designed for their home markets and American vehicles aren't suitable for European driving conditions. That's why American manufacturers either established European specific divisions like Ford or purchased European manufacturers like Opel/ Vauxhall or Rootes.

when my Dad was stationed in Germany in 1969 he shipped over a 1963 Chrysler Imperial Le Baron. We lived off base and found it was almost impossible to drive around in. He sold it to another GI and bought a Renault(I'm not sure which model).

German here. My father had a big family and always needed big cars. When our American neighbor moved back to the United States, he offered my father his huge Oldsmobile. My father was thrilled with the trunk. There was plenty of room for our extended family's Aldi shopping. When my mother heard about the plan to buy this car, she immediately intervened. Her reasoning: We're not pimps after all.

Gasoline is over twice as expensive in Europe, as it is in the US

Hello Turkish guy here, 2022 Cadillac Escalade 6.2 V8 costs about ~20 million Turkish liras which equals to ~600 thousand dollars while 2021 Ford Mustang 2.3 EcoBoost costs about ~8 million Turkish liras which equals to ~240 thousand dollars. Oh and btw average income per year is 13.000 dollars so that is fun.

German here. We only really pay the usual import fees and 19% of tax onto the base price. There is no extra emissions tax as far as I know because the normal tax is calculated with emissions and displacement in mind. So a base mustang is like 55 grand WITHOUT any deductions/rebate the dealer might give you. Add transport fees and such and you might end up at like 58 grand at MOST. Usually transport willl cost like 800-1000€, plus like 200€ of DMV fees to actually get it registered. Why is it this cheap here? Because Ford actually imports them themselves. We have some US-cars on their side but also a lot of EU market vehicles here.

15:25 yeah my words. It’s laughable how much less Americans have to pay for gas than us and still have the gall to complain.

Totally neglected the fact that American cars are well known for being very poorly built, having poor handling and being very low quality. US companies want to claim they are better now, but Tesla is a perfect example of how Americans are incapable of building cars. The Chinese built Teslas are significantly better built than the US ones. So, when European cars are higher quality, built better, more reliable, cheaper to buy, and cheaper to run, why would any European buy then when domestic options are fundamentally better.

Brazilian here. There are something like 27 different manufacturers building cars here, but almost all of them are "cheap" econoboxes, some more upscale than others. So, if you want anything fancier than a Fiat or a Jeep Renegade, you gotta go for imports. And the rule of thumb here is, you take the original sticker price, in dollars, euros or pounds.....and then you add another zero to it. That's it. So, a $50,000 Mustang will set you back at least 500 thousand BRL. A $400,000 Ferrari 296? That's a 4 million car right there. And the road tax is based on the car's sticker price, rather than it's weight or size. These can go from 2-4% of the sticker price (which includes several taxes on its own, by the way), depending on the state. There's a guy here who owns a Porsche 918, and he's paying 418,000 BRL PER YEAR of road taxes. That's 70,000 euros. Every. Single. Year. And, because the car is appreciating in value, so are the taxes that he is paying. That also applies for the common folk too, since we're in an endless economic crisis and our money loses value by the day. So yeah, it's quite fun.

After I moved to Denmark in 2005 one of the first cars I noticed parked on my street was a very clean 1985 Pontiac Grand Prix. An old man that lived across the street drove it. I tried to talk to him, but he didn't speak English and my Danish was pretty poor at the time. He understood a thumbs up and "nice car" so that was good enough!

As a Brit it always surprises me how many American cars there are in continental Europe. The additional barrier of left hand drive position really makes US cars rare here.

"America adapt itself to a car, yet in europe, car had to adapt to europe"

Most American cars I see are from the US military who allow service people to ship their cars over, or they are military cars with US government plates.

Big issue in the UK is the position of the steering wheel, and the size, and the cost, and fuel consumption lack of spares, having nowhere to park it......

In the 1950's the most advanced car in the world was launched - the Citroen DS. Carmakers such as Rolls Royce and Mercedes soon licensed the advanced suspension system. Citroen offered the suspension to GM. However they declined and used the money on more dollops of chrome. European cars in the 1960's had overhead cam engines, fuel injection, independent suspension, and disk brakes, bucket seats and good handling characteristics not to mention very good fuel economy. American cars were using low tech gas guzzling carburettor v8 engines, lousy drum brakes, sluggish auto gearboxes, and could not go around a corner without hanging the rear end out.

Here in Brazil it was no different. The national industry took a long time to consolidate, my great-grandfather had a blue and white BelAir (but he was a great solo entrepreneur in the shoe industry) cars were absurdly expensive, only people of the highest class could have them during the 50s and 60s The vast majority were imported, they arrived in the country by ship, they ran on streets with precarious conditions (obviously an American car doesn't expect to run on a rally road in an underdeveloped country), they broke down, and their parts were expensive and difficult to find, It was also difficult to maintain them as there was a lack of specialized and qualified labor. They needed a lot of fuel, and this was expensive and of poor quality. He died early, and my great-grandmother quickly exchanged that Belair for a Ford Corcel (Ford do Brasil acquired Willys and some Renault projects, among them, a more beautiful variant of the Renault 12, called Corcel) the new car was small, but very more economical and robust, with extremely simple mechanics and easy to repair. Even the cheap European models didn't arrive exactly as they did from Europe (when brands decided to manufacture them here), we had the Ford Escort, but it was just an Escort body, all the mechanical parts were still based on this Renault 12. The most expensive car in the country was for a long time the Ford Galaxie and Ford Laudau (it was basically the 1966 American Ford Galaxie, which was later remodeled to look like a 1966 Lincoln Continental). Simple cars that were considered ridiculous by Americans, such as the Dodge/Chrysler Dart, were considered here to be large, luxurious and very expensive sedans. Ford Maverick (69 American Ford Maverick, Ford Comet) was a luxury sports car. The closest thing a worker could find would be the VW Bug, we never had that American facelift with the curved windshield, our VW Bug was always that little car with the appearance of the 40s, but even though it was expensive (cheaper than the overwhelming majority, but still, the buyer had to work for a few years to get one) it was the most popular car in the country. The oil crisis arrived in Brazil in the 80s, and it was at that time that big cars started to disappear. The brands ran out of luxury options, so they started to manufacture one or another European model, repositioned as high luxury, such as Chevrolet Monza (Vx Ascona), VW Santana (Passat B2) and Ford, instead of bringing the Ford Granada, opted to once again, using the Renault 12 (Ford Steed) platform to create a "mini grenade" body, called DelRey. This was positioned as a successor to the Ford Galaxie/Landau. Things improved a little during the 90s, many things changed in the country, a new currency was established, imports were freed, the middle class was bigger and stronger, so decent cars began to arrive in the country, imported and also models that brands decided to manufacture here (such as Opel Corsa, Vectra, Astra, Omega, Ford Fiesta, Escort, Mondeo, Fiat Tempra, Marea, Punto, Peugeot 206, Various Citroens...) But even today, a car costs absurdly expensive (an average worker needs to work for 5 years to buy a simple car) Models considered cheap (teenager's car) in other places in the world are luxury models here (like Corolla , Civic, Fit, Polo, Golf, Fiesta, Fiat 500, Kicks...)

I'm jealous of all the practical compact car options you guys have in europe. In north america, every jackass and their grandmother drives a fullsize pick up just to commute to the office.

I remember reading a car yearbook (from I forget which dutch magazine), cars were listed by manufacturer in alphabetical order. Ford (Britain), Ford (Germany) and Ford (USA) were treated as seperate companies, implying they used different dealer networks etc. Also, "Thames Television" was the name of the London ITV Station, not a program

Die satirische Chrysler en Cadillac advertenties zijn hilarisch.

As a European I would say we see a decent amount of Tesla's on our roads

Its a good day when Ed uploads

I bought a 2006 mustang last year here in the netherlands, paid 20k for it, got into an accident just before Ascension-day, insurance said it was to expansive to fix for them so I got the money of them and fix it myself. And I can now say from experience..... parts are a bitch to get. Accident was on the 8th of May.... got final part two weeks ago on 3rd of July... But I still do not regret it.

My Grandpa was born in Persia and his first car was a 1954 Ford from the Persian police but he also drove a 1958 Plymouth with the pushbutton transmission. When he immigrated to Germany to study his first car in Germany was a VW Bug. Later in his live when he was already working for Trütschler he drove a Dodge Dart and then switched to Mercedes Benz

we have a saying in the UK that the only American thing about English Ford is the badge 😅

The Chrysler 300C was relatively successful in Germany!

Wow, Netherlands are so expensive. Your Mustang costs twice as much as in Czechia and you have to pay like three times more taxes. For passenger cars we dont pay the road tax and there is just a small one-time emission tax (only for cars with less than Euro 3 emission standard)

I've noticed quite a few modern US pickup trucks driving around the Northern Dutch countryside. I know they're not the Japanese or European versions because they sound like they got a black hole gurgling down all the gasoline.

It’s similar to how the ford f-150 never gained acceptance in Brazil because it was just too big and impractical while the ford ranger and even smaller compact ford courier and ford pampa trucks were a huge success there…

I'll admit I was shocked when I traveled to Europe a few years ago and saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee in central Amsterdam and a couple of Corvettes on the road. My first thought is "how did they even fit that thing down the roads." In the States Ford doesn't sell a car besides the Mustang, everything else is trucks and SUVs and most of our trucks have grown to ridiculous sizes to the point where my daily is a Kia Stinger, a rather low car, and I've nearly been hit a few times by people driving pickups who actually couldn't see me because the trucks are so tall they look right over my roof.

I remember in the 1970s/80s Switzerland had an unusually high number of US cars compared to Germany. Not sure what factors were involved.

Thanks for that Jacobse & Van Es reference. 😄

I have driven full-size US cars in Denmark since 1983. US cars were quite common throughout the 1960's and 1970's, but already i the 1970's it was like hell getting them through inspection at the state run inspection halls. You had to turn off a lot of things, like safe track brakes, aut. parking brake release, courtesy lights, cornering lights, red side marker lights on the rear had to be yellow or were painted over, full-width tail lights going around the corner of the rear fender, were painted black on the corner, front turn signal and parking lights could not be the same bulp, the aut. seatback release had to be disengaged, and of course red turn signal on the rear was a no go along with seal beam head lights. Personally I rebuilt all this back after the visit to the inspection hall. Only had to make sure I didn't have a police car behind me, when I was making a turn. It got easier, when the inspection halls were privatised and you could avoid the "Kings of the Inspection Halls." Things have also been eased by EU legislation, why seal beams and red turn signals are legal again on cars over 35 years.

In Germany the Ford Mustang GT V8 goes for around 67.000€ and are seen sometimes on the Autobahn. But for that kind of Money you get an Audi A6 S-Line with a 2 Liter engine instead of a 5 Liter engine, and you pay taxed accordingly to the Engine displacement in Germany. But of course only 265 Hp but 4WD.

Brazil is also a tax nightmare, I'm gonna use the Hyundai HB20 as an example (because it's the nicest popular car you can buy here), without taxes it would cost R$43.878,00 (€7.396,59), with taxes it costs R$79.490,00 (€13.399,77), and considering the minimum wage here this year (every year it is readjusted) is R$1.412,00 (€237,87), you are paying almost two cars, one for you and one for the state.

Whoever said that American cars are gawdy cars for gawdy people. Nailed American culture right in the nuts.

Greetings from Munich 🍺🇺🇸😜 As an US car fan i drove many many of them and yea, the costs with the big displacement (tax per year) and the poor support for repairs always was a problem, but i enjoyed the rides so much! I miss the years of 1978 / 79 when we had an US Car boom here in Bavaria and every GM / Opel dealer offered Malibus, Monte Carlos, Camaros and Caprice Classics.. 🇺🇸 My first one was a 1979 Malibu Classic Coupe 4,9 V8 with that Color combination showed here as a limousine ❤🏁👍🏼

There's another category of American car buyers, some cars that have been totalled and deemed not roadworthy in the US het shipped to Eastern Europe, repaired just enough to make it seem drivable (even though they shouldn't be road legal since stuff like the chassis or the crumple zones still have damage), and then reimported to western Europe to be sold as just regular used cars for a bargain

I live in Finland, where American cars are still somewhat common, i for one own a 1991 Chevrolet Caprice classic, and my father owns a 94 Jeep Grand Cherokee, 1991 Ford Bronco II and a first generation Mitsubishi Eclipse (those were built in the States). My dad has had over 35 American cars so far, his first being a Chevy Citation, and my 1st American car was a 93 Pontiac Grand Prix. You can still get American cars fairly cheap if you know what to look for, also my small town of about 6000 people, is littered with American cars like Hummer H2's, Various GM and Ford Pickups, and your average Chrysler minivans, neons and 300Cs.

There is another group of people who buy American cars, and motorcycles, that are in Sweden called "raggare", I guess one translation would be akin to "cruisers", bikers are often put in the same category, people who like to impress girls and other people with cool cars, jeans, leather vests, slick hair. Most of which live by the motto "supa, knulla, slåss" (zuipen, neuken, vechten in Dutch, translated to English is loses meaning). These are part of a culture that are not exactly car people, but the culture itself has a connection to certain brands and models, not exclusively American but largely so and mostly old models 40s to present.

6:10 Just to be clear: European roads and parking spaces aren't small --- American cars were too wide.

Speaking for Germany: with the introduction of the Mini Van for the Family car, the Chrysler Corporation and GM were in late 80´s and early 90´s back in the game. The Pontiac Transport (1990-1996) ( Oldsmobile Silhouette ) was sold in good numbers via Opel Dealerships. Chrysler got a step further and set up an whole new network of dealerships - all gone by now. The Chrysler Voyager was very well sold in Germany for years. All these cars (GM an Chrysler )were even fitted with orange turn signals on the rear end and Halogen Headlamps specifically manufatured to meet the regulations. But it was like a one hit wonder , they only lasted to the end of the 90´s. Then Chrysler sold their Dodge Ram Products, but never came near the sales figures with the Vans. Good on sale was the Jeep Cherokee line as well. Renault offered it in Germany too, but not with that result as Chrysler did. It rocketed off in the 90´s. You could see a lot of Jeeps back then. It was widely accepted. Then the Chrysler 300 c, it started well off, but was never a total sales hit. Ford USA was never that much active. Today here an there you can see a new Mustang or Charger or Chevrolet , but this it not considered as "mass transport".

Japanese luxury divisions like Lexus, Infiniti, and Genesis (which is Korean) also have no important role in Europe, while they are common in the US.

Fun fact: The most sold car model in Sweden and Norway 2024 is American: Tesla Model Y. It seems a bit restrictive not to regard it as “American” just because it’s an EV. It’s like not regarding Jaguar as British because it isn’t steam driven.

I didn't expect a Flodder reference lol... so the Flodders hepled to kill American cars in europe? on brand!

0:37: A Corvette parked next to a......Wartburg??????

I remember a road test of the first Oldsmobile Toronado (1970?), in a British motoring magazine. A police officer pulled over the driver and asked, 'Are you sure you're in the right country, sir - or even on the right planet?' A beautiful car, in my eyes, but completely impractical for most British roads - quite apart from the fuel consumption.

American car's were too big for tiny European streets. And gas is an issue. European cars are diesel

Problem is most American cars are crap.

J In the UK American cars were surprisingly popular until around 1957 and Chryslers "Forward Look" when the big 3 competed to make their offerings "Longer-Wider-Lower" and made them too bloated for UK roads. Like in the Netherlands, by the mid-60's "Yank Tanks" became associated with Gangsters, Flashy Showbiz people and Lottery (Pools) winners. The old well-off middle and upper middle customers shunned them and by the late '60s they hardly sold any here.

Most American cars in Europe, that weren't sold in the European Market originally, are either ex-US forces or Copart specials.

It‘s not that bad in all of Europe. In Germany a Mustang isn’t severely more expensive than a Golf GTI. Also if you import American cars you just pay basic import taxes as on all other foreign cars. But the reason most people over here don‘t buy US Cars is because of their bad reputation in terms of built quality, fuel consumption and ride quality. Which is kind of true compared to german cars, but by far not in the way most germans think. I drive a US car, some of my friends do too and we‘re all happy with them and everybody riding with us is surprised, that the cars actually handles like a normal car, doesn’t fall apart when slamming the door and just take about 4 Liter more of fuel per 100km than german counterparts. And the fuel money you spend will come back in repaircosts, thanks to mike and franks, rockauto and so on.

A mustang costs in Germany "only" 60.000 Euro!

Just like Jeremy said on the Grand Tour - We all like American cars, yet we'd be embarrassed to be seen in them

American cars, especially compact cars, sold reasonably well in Europe 50 years ago because of their durability. Now the situation is different. German and Japanese cars have better build quality, better fuel efficiency and are cheaper.

in germany for example, there are some legal loopholes, like if its an oldtimer (older then 30 years) you can basically drive any car with as big of an engine as you want and only pay minimal taxes, pickup trucks are considered work vehicles and so they can be taxed by max load capacity which will be 3.5t and so a dodge ram with a big engine can be taxed lower then the average suv in europe. Now for the expensive fuel, any sane person doesnt drive these gas guzzlers on "gasoline" but lpg, which is about half the price of gasoline

I live in France and the taxe is calculated by the “fiscal horses” (chevaux fiscaux) when you buy it. For example, where I live, in the Vaucluse (84) department, one fiscal horse worths approximately 50 euros. I have a Duster with 6 fiscal horses : 6x50€ = 300€ to add to the original price. This taxe is different in every departments in France. The cheapest are the Oise department (60), Allier (01) and Seine-Maritime (76). That’s why when you rent a car in France, we can spot tourists by the number 60/76 and sometimes 01 on the registration plate. It’s more economical for rental cars companies. Taxes are also based on CO2 emissions. We call it “bonus/malus gouvernemental”. This taxe can be extremely high. In 2024, a Toyota GR86 costs 33 900€. You have to add the 60 000€ emissions taxes.

I’m from Denmark and it’s probably the most expensive country in the world to buy and own a car, The taxation on “normal” cars are around 150 %. EV’s are at the moment exempt from tax up to a certain value. That said, since I acquired my drivers license in 1980, I’ve been owning and driven multiple US cars. I’d always stuck out in the crowd when I arrived in a nice Camaro or El Camino, that was my daily driver. Since around 2010 I have driven Mercedes as daily driver, but always had at least one US car on the side for fun and to have a dose of V8 occasionally😊 I not rich and through my working life I have had a normal salary, but I’ve used all my money on my cars and I repair them myself. This has cost me 2 marriages and now I’m enjoying my retirement as a single, surrounded by my beloved cars!😅

Heerlijk, die geur van sarcasme die van deze video afkomt 😁En grappig om o.a. oude foto's van (het inmiddels failliete) Hessing voorbij te zien komen!

I just paid 7 dollars a gallon for 91 octane (murikan) 95 RON (EU standard) super unleaded yesterday to fill up in a very rich part of Calabasas. With our ridiculous fuel taxes in CAlifornia, we are catching up.

Dude, your knowledge of American cars and American car history amazes me! Especially at your age and your nationality! I would sure appreciate if you would take a couple of minutes to tell me how you developed into this. Much respect to you Sir!

Speaking as an American, born in 1971, I never understood the vinyl top and waterfall grill thing either

There is an exception to the rule: TESLA! The model S is a full size American car, that ended up being assembled at plants in Europe with the same design and shape as the original american cars. Something that has not been seen since the Ford model A.

Je maakt er altijd wel veel werk van! Petje af.

As an American, …. You did a fantastic job. And great humor 🚗🤣

In my opinion one american car that had a sense in Europe was the 1970s Dodge 3700 GT, the Dodge Dart 6 cylinder made in Spain by Barreiros Dodge, Spain at the time was a land isolated also from Europe, and the Dodge seems a luxury spanish car, Dodge 3700 GT was also a beautiful sedan

Okay, I’ve always scratched my head about the obsession around the kislux book totes and their practicality, but this one is adorable!! Congratulations

As an American, the monthly road tax is crazy. In my state, road tax is based on age of the vehicle. For cars over 17 years old, it's $26...per year. So that's what I pay for my 1997 Honda.

Sweden has always had an immense enthusiast market, especially outside the inner cities, and it is definitely easier to get a new Mustang or Corvette or Dodge here; they are not exactly rare. Uncommon, but not rare; a modern muscle car is in this town with 40 000 ppl in it more common than a Porsche, at least. What you DON'T see is the American Family Hauler. Audis, Volvos, Mercs and of course larger Skodas / VWs all over the place, but nobody buys a modern American every day car. Virtually all American cars sold are the muscle cars (and the occasional EV Mustang).

When cars were built for a specific region of the world. There was more intrigue. Cars from 'over there' were interesting, and therefore, they were more desirable. Once companies started building so-called 'world cars', all that changed. Now every car is the same no matter where you are. And regardless of brand, they have the same basic features and styling. This is why the late 80s and early 90s is when all car companies started having trouble. They were so determined to sell the same car everywhere, they made everything the same. Boring. This is why I only like cars made from the 80s and older. 60s to 80s, to be precise.

Lol at the camera joke 😂

I have just 1 qualm about this video; americans were never seen as liberators of europe. The kannucks, kiwis and aussies were. along with powers from within, like the english, scottish and many resistance forces. Even the elements had a bigger part in defeating the nazis in europe than the U.S.americans. you guys were much bigger players in the pacific theater.

I think the last iteration of the Ford Scorpio was meant for the American market but was accidentally sold in Europe, and then we all vomited to death.

The Escalade starts in Germany as a brand new vehicle at €114.000. I don't think we have this huge fee and taxes are with 19% a bit lower. Price included the 19% sales tax. The Mustang 5.0 starts at €51.000 including tax.

In Finland, car and road taxes are based on the vehicle's fuel consumption and emissions. The MSRP for a new Ford Mustang GT Fastback in the US is about $45k, which is about 40k€. In Finland, the same car starts at 95k€, of which 38k€ is car tax. Additionally, the owner would have to pay around 470€ each year in road tax. Fuel costs would also be considerable. The Mustang GT has a combined fuel consumption of 12 liters/100 km. An average Finnish motorist drives about 15000 km each year, so they would consume about 1800 liters of fuel. At the time of writing (August 2024) gasoline costs about 1.8€/liter, or $7.56/US gallon, so the annual fuel bill would add up to 3240€. We can clearly see that the Ford Mustang is not suitable for the Finnish market, simply for the fact that taxes make the car cost as much as a small apartment, and because it would cost almost 4000€ (excluding servicing and insurance) each year just to drive as much as an average Finnish motorist. There's basically no demand for vehicles like this. They are purely toys for car enthusiasts. Just as a curiosity, the best-selling non-electric car in Finland in 2023 was the Toyota Corolla, followed by Skoda Octavia. Shockingly, an American car was the best-selling car outright, but it was the Tesla Model Y.

You forgot to mention that they have horrible handling and build quality.

You forgot to mention the biggest downside of owning an American car; they’re not that good. You already have better cars in your home market.

I’m a simple man. I see Ed, I click!

centrist / left-leaning, but fairly unideological central european here (from germany -- i apologize in advance for my abysmal fellow citizens and government): this is a really nice illustration of what trump meant when he attacked european car import regulations to the detriment of american products recently.

Ed, I'm addicted to your channel. Fantastic!!! 👍

In 1980 in the Netherlands, from what I remember, only the neighborhood butcher drove American cars. He had a 1979 Mustang that he traded for a 1980 Montecarlo. The doctor drove a Citroën CX Pallas. Most others drove European cars, old ladies drove DAFs (inexpensive automatic, easy to drive little cars made in NL). No cars were older than 10 years and people were starting to buy more Honda Civics , Toyota Carinas, Daihatsu Charades and similar Japanese cars. But US cars were considered ostentatious perfect for blue-collar well-paid jobs like garbage collectors and butchers.

I live in Florida, your comment about the $8 gas was good! 🤣

There are quite a lot of RAMs around in Germany. And some Mustangs and Chargers. But that’s all nowadays. A friend of mine got a Silverado.

In denmark in ‘ye olden days (70s-90s) people used to call american cars “dollar-grins” because they were so expensive to own. I’m pretty sure they’ve only become more expensive now that they mostly make trucks and other massive cars. Combine this with your inability to park anywhere with a car that size, and the inability to drive it in inner cities due to its emmissions output… Basically more momey than they’re worth.