At similar price Japanese cars were better for decades though. But Germany had Luxury cars that if you paid the extra price, Germany had the better car. AFAIK Germany never had a decidedly bad brand.
UK Had Vauxhall, Italy had Alfa Romeo, and France had Simca. Those cars had about half the average life span of a VW, but Volvo used to top that rank even over luxury brands like Mercedes. In the 80’s the average lifespan in Denmark of a Volvo was 22 years, compared to an average of 13!
That doesn’t really matter, it was from the 60’s to the 90’s, and air cooling was out by the 80’s even for VW.
French cars still have the highest rate of flaws within first year of ownership. British brands have improved, but they’ve also all been bought up, mostly by Germany. But Vauxhall simply went under due to the poor quality, they were often rusty already when you drove it from the dealership! Vauxhall was bought by Opel (GM), and since that Vauxhall were merely rebranded Opel cars. Which were of way way higher quality. Today the brand is owned by Stelantis after CSA bough Opel from GM. So quality has probably dropped, because Stellantis is currently run like a clown show.
AFAIK neither Alfa Romeo, Simca or Vauxhall used air cooling. And compared to VW, it doesn’t matter if you compare to water cooled or not. And I could also have compared to Volvo, in which case the 3 bad brands would look even worse.
No that’s not true, cars of the 60’s and 70’s rusted way faster, and their mechanical quality was not nearly as good as modern cars. Average car quality has steadily improved, so despite way higher safety regulations, they still last as long.
At similar price Japanese cars were better for decades though. But Germany had Luxury cars that if you paid the extra price, Germany had the better car. AFAIK Germany never had a decidedly bad brand.
UK Had Vauxhall, Italy had Alfa Romeo, and France had Simca. Those cars had about half the average life span of a VW, but Volvo used to top that rank even over luxury brands like Mercedes. In the 80’s the average lifespan in Denmark of a Volvo was 22 years, compared to an average of 13!
PS:
! is for exclamation mark, not factorial.
Air cooled or water cooled?
That doesn’t really matter, it was from the 60’s to the 90’s, and air cooling was out by the 80’s even for VW.
French cars still have the highest rate of flaws within first year of ownership. British brands have improved, but they’ve also all been bought up, mostly by Germany. But Vauxhall simply went under due to the poor quality, they were often rusty already when you drove it from the dealership! Vauxhall was bought by Opel (GM), and since that Vauxhall were merely rebranded Opel cars. Which were of way way higher quality. Today the brand is owned by Stelantis after CSA bough Opel from GM. So quality has probably dropped, because Stellantis is currently run like a clown show.
AFAIK neither Alfa Romeo, Simca or Vauxhall used air cooling. And compared to VW, it doesn’t matter if you compare to water cooled or not. And I could also have compared to Volvo, in which case the 3 bad brands would look even worse.
And there was a steep decline in vehicle longevity thereafter.
No that’s not true, cars of the 60’s and 70’s rusted way faster, and their mechanical quality was not nearly as good as modern cars. Average car quality has steadily improved, so despite way higher safety regulations, they still last as long.
Damn right.