Looking The Part - Chinese Social Site Mocks Canadian Ambassador For Driving A Camry?

there is something to be said for modesty

"These Chinese appear to be as much of a badgewhore driven society as the Germans."

As a German, I take offense to that statement. Seriously, you're one stupid dumbass whose probably never been abroad and has no idea how other markets work.

We want quality and reliable products like anyone else. And guess what? Our cars are quality products and they're reliable. If they weren't we wouldn't buy them or continue to buy them. It's that simple.

Our local brands know what we want. Their cars are well-suited to our markets and our tastes. It's that simple.

Oh, and for a luxury brand to have a badge that actually has some prestige to it is important here. Brand prestige and brand reputation are important in this market and our brands are known for producing good cars. Period.

I am typical "Eurotrash"? Hey troll, you don't know me, so shut up.

I grew up with European (mostly German) cars in my family and I've never experienced any sort of major problem that could be deemed as a serious reliability issue. And our cars never left us stranded. Never. And we kept our cars for an average of ten years or more.

Once again, if our cars were so unreliable and of poor quality, people wouldn't buy them. The fact that people continue to buy them and aspire to own German cars is a slap in the face to your BS comments.

Up here, the bestselling car is actually the Honda Civic, or at least it was for 2011.
http://www.goodcarbadcar.net/search/label/Canada%20Best%20Sellers?max-results=5

Thanks for the laugh, NoMoreObama2012.

I am not sure what you are on about. My Grandfather has an old Mercedes which has outlasted everyone else's cars in my family, American, Korean, Japanese, etc. I also recollect Porsche being the most reliable car in a well respected study. Also, the only way Clarkson could make a 911 "not-work" was by dropping it into a Caravan full of Inflammable Gas, which basically nothing can survive.

***You are a badgewhore...always will be. Your comments don't prove that you're not.****

When people here shop for a luxury brand, the luxury brand has to stand for something. Go to the Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche etc. museum and see what those brands are about.

Your precious overpriced Toyota (Lexus) can only dream about such heritage. Lexus was designed for North America. It's a failure here. Hell, even Hyundai is now offering a luxury car in America and it sells. That would never work here. A luxury brand status has to be earned through decades of innovation, competitive motorsport participation, classic cars etc. etc. etc.


***Plus, honestly, German Engineering sucks. Its to complicated and that causes many issues. Everything Germans do...way to complicated for themselves to fix...thats why you guys hide behind your POS heritage badges.***

Really? Explain to me then why people lust after German cars. If German engineering is so bad, then why do people keep going back for more? Why can our carmakers charge so much for a German car and people worldwide will still buy it year after year. Huh? Explain that me.

You're full of shit. Period.

You say that "A luxury brand status has to be earned through decades of innovation, competitive motorsport participation, classic cars etc. etc. etc."

Look, Wimmer. Every brand, European or otherwise, had to start somewhere. Would you honestly expect a relatively new brand (Acura, Lexus, Infiniti) to instantly spring up with a complete lineup and racing teams in four different leagues? Of course not. Lamborghini got its start building tractors, and today's LFA, G, and TSX, to name some examples, are dazzling achievements made after much less time with which to hone their respective brands' skills. All three of those brands are challenging the elite Germans with Japan's take on luxury. Meanwhile, Cadillac is busy burning rubber in its friggin' awesome CTS-V. To say that European cars are any better than American and Japanese ones is bigotry.

@ FromThePassengerSeat

I agree. History and heritage has to start somewhere, but to me Lexus, Acura and Infiniti simply cannot compare to the brand prestige that a brand like BMW, Mercedes or Citroen has for example. These brands, to name a few, have over hundred years of history and achievements that made their names so great and desirable.

Let's compare Lexus to Mercedes here for a moment in terms of brand prestige. Walk through the Mercedes museum and get a glimpse of all those classics, cars with technologies that changed the automotive world, all those technical/safety achievements, new niches their cars created (the first vans, buses, trucks etc.) all those racing cars from one hundred years of racing and so forth. Are you really going to tell me that the brand prestige of Lexus is on the same level? I don't think so. Lexus makes good cars, but they lack the cache and brand prestige to be even considered an appealing luxury brand here.

Let's not forget that the Japanese luxury brands were specifically created for the US market. They're really only successful there. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Benz and Daimler were already a global brand selling their products to the elite on all continents.

Okay, so if a brand's history, rather than the quality of its current products, is your main concern, what's your problem with, say, Cadillac? It's an ancient brand with a rich history of making luxury cars. Lincoln's Continental was once the iconic rich man's car as well. Those two, unlike the Euro luxury brands, don't have a history of racing because that job was left to its cousins, Chevrolet and Ford, whose non-plush images were and are more in tune with racing, especially with the Mustang, Camaro, and Corvette on the scene. The Europeans sent luxury cars racing instead because they didn't have a cut-buck counterpart to do it for them.

And some Japanese luxury cars sold here are badged as Nissans and Hondas rather than Infinitis and Acuras in other countries. The TSX is known in Europe as the Accord, for example, and the G is the Skyline in Japan. These are worldwide brands.

When I went to university, all the expensive BMWs in the parking lot were driven by Chinamen.

BrownsGoBack, even though I agree with you up to a point, you also have to keep in mind that our own kids here in the West have gone lazy and want everything without having to work for it. I am quite sure you will agree...and by BrownsGoBack, are you referring to Hispanics? Indians? racist much?

"kids here in the West have gone lazy"

They're demoralized. When we were much more like Finland (homogeneous) we were on top of the world in every category. Btw, watch the Youtube video linked to in my profile and make note of the last words spoken in the video.

They are demoralized because they are outsmarted by the smarter new competition? The Chinese and the Indians. The last time I checked in universities (trust me, I have been in a few), most upcoming Doctors (Science guys) were Indians and Engineering (Math) guys were Chinese etc. with our "Americans" slacking off. The only ones born here doing well are the first generation ones whose immigrant parents push them hard.
As regards to Finland, Finland is a small socialist country that has never been a superpower and never will be. Whatever it is, we are still the only super power and will remain for a while (Thanks to the colorful immigrants bringing brains from all over the world). just my 0.02 cents. Cheers!

^You always end up talking shit about Asians Chinese Indians etc. are you jealous of the fast growing and upcoming new economies?

I assume you're talking to me. If China is fast growing, it's because the West is responsible for building up modern China by building factories there, transferring technology to them through joint ventures and educating their students at western universities.

schadenfreude ...

Wrong, just because many consumers lease the luxury brands does definitely not mean that no one would buy. It is an advantage to be able to flip in and out of cars every three years and that is exactly what leases allow consumers to do. Just because you are now too cheap to buy/lease one does not mean those out there doing what you wish you could do are fools.