adz wrote:
@PMC
I'm surprised that HSV/Monaro has such a following in the UK, what with the availiability of such rare and exotic European cars...I guess we finally did something right :-D
Holden HSVs have a very good image in the UK, they're seen as honest, capable and immensely entertaining cars which is a little suprising given Vauxhall (GM's British arm) has a talent for marketing very ordinary cars.
Rare and exotic European cars tend to be expensive, costly to run and subject to snobbery, a BMW driver is generally perceived as suffering from penis envy. The HSV on the other hand is refreshingly free of such baggage and is likely to be bought by someone who knows about cars. The HSV gets the thumbs up over here every time.
As for Ford, the equivilant to HSV was originally Tickford, but that has since been replaced by Ford Performance Vehicles.
Now that Ford seem to be taking hold of the Australian V8 Super Cars series, their popularity is skyrocketing :-D
Bring 'em over here!
Our equivalent of the Holden Commodore is the Vauxhall Omega, which gets either a 2 litre four cylinder, a 2.5 or 3 litre six. You guys get a V8 and it costs half as much over there...
The Ford Falcon has no direct counterpart here as the ugly Scorpio died seven years ago. There's a trend for downsizing at the moment as people are going for small, front wheel drive hatches and niche cars like Peugeots, Renaults, VWs and Hondas. Rover is marketing a V8 saloon in both Rover and MG guises, and now Vauxhall offers the Monaro so hopefully things are looking up!
