Photo gallery: "American" cars you can't buy in America

I would like to see the Caddy’s and some of the Ford’s to come Stateside. The BLS are Hot!! The Spark, Galaxy, Focus coupe- Cabriolet and S max would be welcome additions to the Domestic line-up. There seem to be better styling on the Euro specs compared to some of the models than what we have here. I also would like to see the added turning light to be incorporated into the U.S. model. Thanks for the pics!!!

It’s easy to get excited about many of these, but then you look at, for example, the lukewarm reception that the Contour (I drive an SVT model, great car) and Pontiac GTO had and it makes you scratch your head.

If you look at some of the Australian Ford Falcon V8 models, you would think they would kick butt over here, going up against the 300M, but who knows.

WOW! Some of these cars are really sharp. When are we getting these kinds of cars in our country? They appear to be “right sized” and more economical.

Interesting.
I was really surprised that Ford and GM produce so many cars and trucks for other countries that are on completely different platforms from similar size and similar purpose vehicles sold in the USA.
This seems to underscore the truth of something that Ford’s new CEO said recently: Ford can save huge amounts of money by using fully developed cars (rather than developing new cars from scratch) from its foreign operations, and that even more money can be saved by reducing the number of platforms and unique parts used in its worldwide operations.
The many different platforms that GM uses worldwide seems even more inefficient and wastful than Ford’s situations.
The wide range of products that these companies produce around the world make these companies look like their American headquarters have given free rein to their foreign divisions, in spite of the wastefulness and duplication of effort that such freedom brings.
No wonder they have financial problems.

Thanks for the pictures!

It is intersting to see the GTO/Lumina. What an odd in-breeding of cars. The Lumina originally wanted to be a Monte Carlo (remember that from somewhere in the mid/late 90’s?). Now it is sharing the platform of the Holden/Pontiac GTO? I just never associated the average-sedan/minivan-image Lumina name with a v-8 musclecar.

Opel and Holden build some sharp-looking vehicles (Chevy Astra (new), Chevy Vectra, Chevy Lumina (coupe), Cadilac BLS, Buick Park Avenue).
Plus, some of the 42 cars mentioned also offer economical gasoline and diesel engines that are not available here. *sad* Bring them over here!

Hey I didn’t know you couldn’t get Pontiac Wave or Pursuit in the US. We have them in Canada. We also has GM’s Asuna lineup in the 80’s. Maybe you can get these now, but I heard US also didn’t have Toyota Echo hatchback, and a Jaguar wagon.

Then again, you guys had the Pontiac GTO and I’d much rather have one of those then anything else in this article.

I am so conflicted with so many emotions right now. All these decades I was angry that I had to buy a VW or the like to get a sharp quality economical automobile. Our choices were clearly limited by the likes of bean counter disasters for the most part with the domestics. This nails it for me. The car makers with the so called home grown logos only cared about maximizing their cash flow. We have all been herded, misled, manipulated by the factories media advertising machines. I guess now we should have demanded that instead of 5 mile per hour bumpers we should have demanded cars of a certain GVW. And it is a free market. The big boys are free to manage the message and we are free to buy their crap and hype after having it pounded into us day in and day out. We have really been screwed since the 70’s. I don’t feel any better for having said this. But I am glad I said it.

The Galaxy is a minivan, Ford had the GALAXIE, which gave us the Thunderbolt….where’s THAT car?

I DON’T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CHINA GETS THE BUICK PARK AVENUE?!?! LUCKY!!!!! I WAS A HUGE FAN OF THE LESABRE, CENTURY, AND PARK AVENUE!!!. And who would think china would get a buick version of the defunct chevrolet optra sedan called the buick excelle? I bet it has the standard features of a midsize sedan or a luxury sedan like the buick lucerne.

The question “Why don’t American automakers sell those European cars in America?” is one I hear often — and it’s a question I’ll answer in an article coming up next week.

Aaron

Scott, the Buicks sold here in China are much more luxurious than what’s offered state-side. For example, all the larger Buicks (Excelle excluded) are designed with chauffeur in mind so they have more legroom in the back, DVD screens in the headrests and controls in the back for radio, HVAC, etc.

As for the other comments about how well these would sell in the US, I can tell you that outside of Buick in China and Chevrolet in Thailand, most GM, Ford and Chrysler products sell very poorly in Asia. Why? Because Toyotas and Hondas have surpassed them all in value and quality. Why pay $60,000 for a Cadillac CTS in Korea when I can get a Lexus for the same price? The Holden Lumina is offered in Thailand but they sell a few dozen a year while the Camry sells that many in a few minutes.

take a good look and you will notice that 90 percent of the cars shown here are Australian made vehicles from the australian ford subsidiary and the General Motors Holden subsidiary…chevrolet’s they are not…Australian Holden and Fords are also exported to the middle east and asia under the names of say the buick park avenue which is originally a holden statesman…

hey anybody heard about that new 2007 chevy lumina coming out in the middle east i was wondering if that car is going to ever come out in the U.S. cause i am a huge lumina fan :>

You neglected to include the 4-door compact pickups which seem to be available everywhere in the world except the US and Canada.
If you want a 4-door pickup in the States, you’ll just have to suck it up and buy a larger, thirstier and more-profitable (for them) full-size pickup.

for example:
http://www.ford.co.uk/Commercialvehicles/Ranger

If you want to see the best Austrlaia has to offer check out the Ford F6E, or GT-P or the XR series of Falcons. Holden builds some powerful cars aswell like the W427 and the Monaro (Pontiac GTO). The car industry down here is great, we get the best of Europe, America, Asia and our own cars. Australia is a car lovers paradise.

The #1 reason American cars are junk is because they are built by people that do drugs and drink on the job. Japanese and German cars are built by professionals that love their jobs and have pride in their work. America lost that decades ago thanks to cocaine and crack. I’d rather push a Japanese car than drive an American car.