FAQ's and Observations: American cars on the streets of London

[lurtch]

Hello All,

During my recent four days in and around London I saw the following vehicles:

a Jeep Cherokee,  2 new black Corvettes,  34 Ford pick-up, a Ford explorer,  a
Chrysler 300 taxi.,  a late model Mustang

There seemed to be NO pick-up trucks anywhere on the streets or motorways.  Are
there any? Do the farmers use something else?

I saw nice new SL's  a dozen times.  Also numerous Boxters and Audi roadsters.
There were also a lot of new Peugeot's.


Almost completely absent were  vehicles native to the UK.  We all know about
the high-end stuff:  Rover, Jaguar , Bentley ,  Aston-Martin and Rolls Royce,
but what other cars do the British still  manufacture?


I also saw a new Griffin roadster, but it was very ordinary looking. Also
interesting was a group of Sunbeam-Talbot owners out for a Sunday driving event.

I was informed that Vauxall has been a GM product for a long time, and there
were lots of those. There were a lot of Ford badged cars but they were
unfamiliar to me. I saw only a very few Hondas, Nissans, and Toyotas

Returning from Stonehenge on the M4.  I was able to get a quick shot of the
M-B star on top of one of the London dealerships. How many dealerships are
there?

I sighted two of our vintage Mercedes products in the Knightsbridge area:    I
glimpsed a nice Pagoda at a stoplight and then minutes later  our coach was next
to a 280SE 3.5. in the traffic flow back to Victoria Station.

[Larry & Norma]

Well most Farmer's seem to use tractors and trailors which can slow us down on the country roads plus the usual 4x4's.
Sadly the 'British' cars you quote are no-longer British owned even if manufactured here. We have factories for Japanese
and other cars dotted about.
 Most Cities will have a Mercedes dealership so I guess we are talking many dozens.

Stonehenge, I used to play on and around those stones as a youngster, then someone decided that they
could put a fence up and make money out of tourists, really took off.

[JamesL]

My car lives in the country in Suffolk and we have a range of stuff locally: my neighbours have an old Mitsubishi 4x4 (and a tractor), another a Ford Fiesta (and a tractor). Another has a Toyota 4x4, a tractor, a Sunbeam Lotus (we all get given them as 21st birthday presents), a range of tractors (mainly backhoes) and a Bugatti type35. Chap round the corner has a 1960s S1 Landie (Land Rover) that has never left the parish (about 10mx 10m)

Land Rover is the archetypal "truck" and, as a "car" (not a utility vehicle) have not caught on well other than as in "SUV" (Discovery) mode for richer farmers, school mums and wannabe country types.  Indeed, where you were, the SUV has a nickname "The Chelsea Tractor". Too big and wide for the area it inhabits, drinks gas, driven by small people with lots of agression and widely derided as unfit for purpose/location (some jealousy in that!) Cayennes, Range Rovers, Audi Q7s, Volvo V70s, VW Tuaregs, LandCruisers...... and the occasional Escalade etc

We don't do cars: indeed, Morgan is now about it, since Bristol went belly up (but has been taken over, I understand today).

Vauxhall = GM. Ford = Ford but both with a smaller set of platforms for Europe. Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth/Olds etc, mostly imported by specialists although I think you can buy Jeep/Chrysler through dealers. I don't think Renault, Peugeot and Citroen are found in the US, nor really Fiat or the full VW range (including SEAT and Skoda brands). Chrysler sent over the Neon... Ford's first non-US operation was, I think in the UK, certainly first in Europe but most cars are sepcific to Europe. You had "our" Escort, have "our" Focus and we have "your" Galaxy but I've never seen a Mondeo, or S-Max or Ka in the US.

If you think this is confusing, wait til Garry weighs in with Holdens....

Most folk here think of an E-class as a big car (size-wise) and so most folk are somewhere between a Smart and a C-class: They fit in our parking bays and down our streets. I have seen F150 type things get stuck and cause traffic jams in central London as they are so big/don't turn easily

If it helps: Audi A3 = VW Golf = VW Beetle = SEAT Leon = Skoda Fabia (underneath). So you could consider the new Beetle as a Golf in lingerie

Your first pic is MB-Brentford. They have a Pagoda in the top window at the moment (visible from the highway) and it's a loaner from MB-World at Brooklands.

[Cees Klumper]

Whenever I am in the US I am always amazed at the number of pick-ups driving around. I think it reflects a more 'do-it-yourself' and small contractor type economy. In Switzerland, where I live now, utility vehicles like that are more purpose built rather than car+truck that a pick-up tends to represent and it was the same in The Netherlands and in France. I like pick-ups, in fact am trying to buy one at the moment (El Camino) but they are definitely rare.
When I was in London a few weeks ago, I noticed many expensive cars. As in lots of Aston Martins and Porsches, the odd Ferrari and so on.