Cars and National Identity

"lorem ipsum" (nothing123456789) 08/18/2013 at 10:17 • Filed to: Jalopnik

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Different countries all have their various stereotypes, earned through decades of domestic and foreign policies. America has the stereotype of being overweight war-mongers: this is because the government enacts various subsidies and taxes that make unhealthy food more ubiquitous and cheaper than healthy food, and because they’re always at war with someone. Germany has the reputation of being cold, calculating, and ruthlessly efficient because of, well, Nazis, and because they’re somehow one of the only European countries managing to stay solvent in tumultuous economic times. Italy has the reputation of being charming, romantic, and more than a little insane, developed through a rich culture of art and architecture, and not actually unifying into a country until relatively recently. France is chic, laid back, and somewhat offensive, a reputation garnered through decades of being at the forefront of fashion, wine, cigarettes, and pissing off tourists. Sweden is clean, minimalist, and beautiful, albeit a little reserved, a stereotype earned by their signature architecture and because Scandinavians are a little strange. Nice to look at, but just a little strange. Japan is massively advanced and strong, a status gained by being pioneers in science and technology, and by having a well-developed national infrastructure and a well-organized government.

One would imagine that the stereotypes of most nations can be recognized in their respective auto industries. For example, if Nation X has the stereotype of being weak and stupid, you might imagine that they’d build underpowered, poorly packaged superminis. I don’t think this is the case. Look at America. We have an absolutely terrible reputation. Nearly all of the world hates us, no matter if their governments are allied with ours or not. They think we’re fat, dumb, and aggressive. That would mean our cars would all be like a 1996 Dodge Viper made out of lead. On the contrary, the current state of our auto industry is absolutely brilliant. Cadillac is allergic to producing anything that can’t rival the Europeans in terms of refinement and performance, nearly all of Ford’s cars are the best in their class, both the C7 and the new Viper speak for themselves, Jeep still produces some of the best off-road vehicles in the world, and Tesla is the undisputed leader in electric car manufacturing. Following false logic, Germany should produce cars with no panel gaps that never break down, but…well, actually, they do produce some of those. They also, however, produce some of the craziest cars ever made. The SLS AMG, the BMW i8, the Audi RS6, the Porsche 918, or that Polo five-door with a 1.2 liter diesel. Insane. Just insane. France isn’t making cars that smoke Gauloises and drink a bottle of Burgundy a day, either. Citroens today aren’t nearly as edgy as Parisians are, and Renaultsport isn’t really a brand that would surrender in WWII. Japan stubbornly refuses to produce self-driving supercars, so, bar a couple of exceptions, most of their cars are kind of boring.

I know what you’re thinking: both Sweden and Italy tend to produce cars with the characteristics of their national stereotypes. So does Britain: antiquated, charming, and a little snobby, or fussy—it matches a lot of their cars perfectly. Obviously, there is no rule or pattern here, but can anyone think of a county whose stereotype doesn’t fit their auto industry?

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > lorem ipsum 08/18/2013 at 11:44

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China comes to mind. You'd think of them as obsessive, honourful and proud. In fact their cars fit well with the "Communist car" stereotype: a terribly built and engineered offshoot/ripoff (depending if they have or haven't got a licence) of Western products.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > lorem ipsum 08/20/2013 at 04:40

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Very interesting.

I'd argue that the reputation of America as a country is that they're big and brash and loud (and maybe a little bit cheap).

If you look at many of the cars built for the American market, that holds true. Most trucks sold in America are around twice the size of pickups anywhere else. The 3.7l Camry is considered a grocery-getter rather than a stonking performance variant.

The Camaro, Challenger and Mustang are all big loud designs with big loud engines. Hell, even the 'normal' sized cars like the Ford Fusion are the size of most big luxury saloons in the rest of the world.

What's more, all of these cars can be had for an appreciable amount less than if they were designed and built anywhere else. That's both a blessing and a curse, as far as I'm concerned.