Man this is a sticky subject… but in short, @gogm — your friend is dead wrong.
For starters, there isn’t such a thing any more as an “American car” or a “German car” or a “Japanese car”. Most vehicles today are designed globally, by teams of engineers, designers, and product planners all over the world.
For instance, the Buick Verano is sold as the Opel Astra in Europe; the Astra has something like 16 percent of compact car market share in Germany. It was developed globally by GM.
Another example is the new Buick Encore that will be sold as the Opel Mokka in Europe. This car’s development was headed up by engineers in Michigan, but a significant amount of input was made from GM’s engineers around the world.
Now, one thing to consider is that Chevy was not a truly global brand under the old GM. In Europe, Chevys were rebadged Daewoos and Suzukis — terrible vehicles for the most part. With the new GM, the same Chevy cars and crossovers are sold all over the world. In 10-15 years, I predict Chevy will match Opel in sales in Europe. In other words, whoever you were talking to was referring to “how it was”… not “how it is” — old school vs. new school.
And don’t even get me started on VW. They do great on their home turf but don’t even hold a candle in sales or popularity to mainstream brands like Chevy or Ford in the States.
Other than that, what @Brian_E said 😀
