Big CarWhen the Qashqai was introduced to Australia, Nissan changed the name because they were worried it would be called the Nissan “Cash Cow”. But that’s precisely what the Qashqai has become – a runaway success, and a breakout hit for Nissan’s embattled European operation. It’s a rare story of a successful British designed and produced mass-market car in the 21st century, and a car that’s not only been a hit in the UK, but around the world. David Twohig knows more than most about the Qashqai’s development, being the General Manager in charge of bringing it to life. He’s been kind enough to sit down for an interview, and if you want to learn more about his work on the Nissan Qashqai, Renault ZOE and Alpine A110 he’s got a new book out called “Inside the Machine” – there’s a link in the description.
Music: Addict (Instrumental) - NEFFEX (from the YouTube Audio Library) The Blue Danube - Johann Strauss II (from the YouTube Audio Library)
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Nissan UKs last stand - the Qashqai storyBig Car2022-06-24 | When the Qashqai was introduced to Australia, Nissan changed the name because they were worried it would be called the Nissan “Cash Cow”. But that’s precisely what the Qashqai has become – a runaway success, and a breakout hit for Nissan’s embattled European operation. It’s a rare story of a successful British designed and produced mass-market car in the 21st century, and a car that’s not only been a hit in the UK, but around the world. David Twohig knows more than most about the Qashqai’s development, being the General Manager in charge of bringing it to life. He’s been kind enough to sit down for an interview, and if you want to learn more about his work on the Nissan Qashqai, Renault ZOE and Alpine A110 he’s got a new book out called “Inside the Machine” – there’s a link in the description.
Music: Addict (Instrumental) - NEFFEX (from the YouTube Audio Library) The Blue Danube - Johann Strauss II (from the YouTube Audio Library)
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#bigcarWhats the Best Value Sports Car?Big Car2024-01-19 | I put out a poll to the community to ask what was the best value sports car, if you excluded the Mazda MX-5, which to be honest would be my go-to choice. You came up with some really good suggestions, so I thought I’d go through each one, giving you their performance stats versus the price. So, imagine you’re given £40,000 ($50,000 USD, €45,000, $73,000 AUD) to get a three year lease on the sports car of your dreams, and anything left over you could blow on what you’d like – a holiday, or another sports car! Which of the following would you get?
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#bigcarThe Alfa Romeo Badge Story - George and the Dragon?Big Car2023-12-25 | The Alfa Romeo logo seems a bit random. What’s an English flag and royal snake spitting venom got to do with stylish Italian motoring? Well, it was borne out of the rebirth of the car company that became known as Alfa Romeo.
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#bigcarEven MORE 1970s Executive Cars!Big Car2023-12-20 | I thought I covered all the executive cars from the 1970s in my last video, but as always you’re very knowledgeable, and you spotted a few cars that I missed! If you haven’t seen that video, I’d recommend you watch that first, and there’s a link above. I also said I wasn’t going to talk about Jaguar because it was a little too premium in my opinion, but hey, while we’re talking about other cars why not throw that into the mix as well?
Thanks to Carl Statham for letting me know about the Chrysler Valiant.
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#bigcarThe 1970s Executive Car StoryBig Car2023-12-08 | In 1970 there was a battle for the British executive car market, with 16 different models available across Europe. It’s a fight that was even more intense by the end of the decade, and it’s something I remember well. This is the sort of car my father was purchasing, and I often went along with him to “kick the tyres” so to speak. I’m not going to talk about ultra luxury cars like Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin or Jaguar, although Mercedes has snuck in there, mainly because they were used for more regular transportation in Germany. I’m thinking more the premium mass market that was occupied by Rover in the UK and BMW in Germany, and I’m going to stick with large 4 door mostly saloons, no 2-door mid-life crisis cars!
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#bigcarGenius & Stupidity - The Mini StoryBig Car2023-11-24 | There are few cars that create such an emotional response as the Mini. In 1959 it was a modern, cutting-edge design, but today is a cute, old-fashioned car. It’s gone from being the height of practicality to completely impractical, certainly compared to modern cars. But that emotional response was understood by those who sought to recreate it at the turn of the Millenium, creating a practical car that nevertheless cherishes its British Mini roots. So, just why did the British Motor Corporation decide to build this tiny car? And why was the Mini on sale, almost unchanged, for over 40 years?
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#bigcarAston UGLY ducking? The Aston Martin Cygnet StoryBig Car2023-11-10 | Aston Martin is known for its loud, brash sports cars. It’s what James Bond jumps into to get out of trouble, so it’s understandable that there was quite a bit of head scratching in the Aston community when the company announced they were going to release the Cygnet – a small city car that wasn’t even tuned for performance. Why did Aston release this car that was so clearly not an Aston? How could they justify selling it for three times the price of the car it was based on, and can you get one today for a bargain price?
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#bigcarAlfas Red Savior? The Alfa Romeo 156 StoryBig Car2023-10-27 | In the 1990s Alfa Romeo was digging itself out of a financial hole as red as the colour of its iconic, but slow selling cars. The 155 had captured the minds if not the hearts of the Alfisti. If that car were to be given a report card, it would probably be “must try harder”. Well, Alfa certainly did that with the 156. It’s a car of legend and brought Alfa Romeo back from the brink. Where did the iconic shape come from, did Alfa’s famous quality problems torpedo sales, and what other cars did it spawn?
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#bigcarDelta Forza - The Lancia Delta StoryBig Car2023-10-06 | It’s hard to believe the Lancia Delta was originally envisioned as an upmarket medium-size hatchback, something to compete with BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Its legacy is anything but that – its maybe the definitive hot hatch of the 1980s that had 6 World Rally Championships trophies to back it up. Lancia have tried to recreate the Delta magic twice, but fans still talk about the original in hushed tones. Why did Lancia want to make a luxury hatchback in the first place? Why did a twist of fate catapult the Delta to become a legend in motorsport? Why is a new Delta running around rally circuits in 2023 and is a new Delta on the way?
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#bigcarTakes Your Breath Away - The Peugeot 405 StoryBig Car2023-09-22 | The 405 arrived at a time when Peugeot were on a roll with cars like the 205, and it certainly proved popular with an unforgettable UK advert. And surprisingly as of making this video, various incarnations of the 405 are still being produced! Why was the 405, a replacement of the 305 not called the 306? Why was it so lauded in the USA but then pulled from the market only three years later? And just why and where is it still being made?
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#bigcar220s plenty! The Jaguar XJ220 StoryBig Car2023-09-08 | Why did the XJ220, a car named because it was expected to go 220mph (354 km/h) only manage 212mph (342 km/h)? Why did the boss of TWR go white when he first heard of it? And why did it both win and not win the 24-hour race of Le Mans?
Links to Nick's books (not affiliated): Ford: https://amzn.eu/d/1t7l1yz Land Rover: https://amzn.eu/d/ivxElby
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#bigcarAn epic Saga - the Proton StoryBig Car2023-08-25 | I do YouTube community polls from time to time where you get to choose the subject of an upcoming video, and in a recent poll the Aston Martin Lagonda won with 30% of the vote, but a video on Proton Cars got 29% so it would be a crying shame if I didn’t also do that one, especially as you seemed to like the video on Daewoo. I remember Proton making a splash in the UK in the late 80s with the cheap and cheerful Saga, but then it seemed to disappear. Well, there’s a lot more to Proton than just that! They bought Lotus, and surprisingly were still selling cars in the UK in 2016, although no one probably realised it and certainly no one was buying the cars. Why did Proton try exporting around the world for decades while selling almost no cars, and what are they doing now?
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#bigcarWhats the difference? The TVR / TWR StoryBig Car2023-08-11 | A few weeks ago I was driving along the motorway in Britain and saw a van with TVR on the side of it might have been TWR, and it went by so quickly that I missed it, but it got me thinking about both TVR and TWR, and you’ve asked for videos about both of these car companies in the past so I thought it might be fun to a mashup where I go through the histories of both TVR and TWR together, sort of chronologically. So, let's find out together where TVR got its name, what the heck happened with the Russian investment in the 2000s and what happened to TWR.
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#bigcarHow GM Fell & Toyota Won. Vehicle Manufacturers in the USA 1961 - 2022Big Car2023-08-04 | Chart of the top 10 vehicle manufacturers in the USA from 1961 to 2022. The numbers are the percentage market share.
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#bigcarThe Rise and Fall of the Car BraBig Car2023-07-28 | If you’re not aware, the Front-end Bra or Car Bra is a, usually, vinyl cover that goes on the front of a car. Drivers generally fit them to stop rock chips, bugs or other detritus from the road damaging the paintwork on their treasured possession. They seem to be more popular in North America, and were quite a thing in the 80s and 90s. But today they’re getting rarer and rarer. Why was that?
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#bigcarThe Worst Of Both Worlds? The VW Orbit / Machimoto StoryBig Car2023-07-14 | Sometimes you look at a concept and just wonder, why did they think this would be a good idea? The Italdesign Machimoto seemed to be a car with all the disadvantages of a motorcycle with none of the benefits. But it was an iteration of several designs that Italdesign, and Volkswagen, thought could be the future of automotive design, and maybe even the next Golf.
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Sources: https://www.italdesign.it/project/new-york-taxi/ https://www.italdesign.it/project/megagamma/ https://www.italdesign.it/project/capsula-2/ https://www.italdesign.it/project/together/ https://www.italdesign.it/project/orbit/ https://www.italdesign.it/project/machimoto/ https://www.traumautoarchiv.de/html/6288.htmlThat Crazy Electronic Wedge. The Aston Martin Lagonda StoryBig Car2023-06-30 | The Lagonda is a car that gets strong opinions. When it launched it was all positive. This was a new dynamic car that would lead Britain away from the 70s doldrums, like Concorde and the Intercity 125. But over time people were split. Some still considered it a great design. Some saw it as a massive blunder, and not just its shape. The odd electronic dashboard and awful ergonomics surely consigned this to one of automotive’s worst failures? Time magazine called it one of the “50 worst cars of all time”. But what do they know? The Lagonda was a shot in the arm for Aston in the mid-70s after they ran out of money. So, where did this strange shape come from, why did such a traditional company as Aston go for an all-electronic dashboard, and what came next?
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#bigcarOne Big Car Crash - The Daewoo StoryBig Car2023-06-16 | At the end of the 20th century, it looked like the future belonged to Asia. Japanese electronics were second to none, as were their cars, and Korea wasn’t far behind. And one bright star was Daewoo. Founded in 1967, in just 30 years it was Korea’s second largest company. A meteoric rise then, but today its name has all but disappeared. Why did Daewoo decide to make cars, what’s its connection with General Motors and what became of it?
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#bigcarThe CRAZY way Morgans were sold in the USABig Car2023-06-14 | In the 1950s and 60s Morgan sold most of their cars in the US, but safety and emissions rules in the 1970s killed sales to the point that by 1971 no Morgans were sold in the US. The main issue was the Rover V8 engine that didn’t hit emissions targets. The saviour wasn’t Morgan themselves, but an enterprising American – Bill Fink. It took him 5 years, but by 1976 he offered Morgans with a twist. They were powered not by gasoline, but by propane! To sold safety rules he installed a towing adapter on the rear, Austin Marina bumper inserts and steel beams for side protection. Bill became the only source to buy an American Morgan until 1991 when Rover sorted out the emissions problems for their V8 engine when they needed it to sell Range Rovers in America.
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#bigcarV1 of which famous Fiat? The Fiat Ecobasic StoryBig Car2023-06-02 | The Fiat Ecobasic concept was styled under the same stewardship as the infamous Fiat Multipla, and so may be considered to be a bold, exciting new shape, or a bone-headed ugly design, depending upon which side of the fence you’re on. But like the Multipla, the Ecobasic was an innovative car with some very clever features. It had ultra-low fuel economy - around 100mpg (2.9L /100km), and an ultra-low price. If it launched today, it would cost around the same as its cheapest modern rival, the Dacia Sandero. So, what became of this funky car, and what popular car did it morph into?
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#bigcarThinking outside the Box - How the S80 reshaped Volvo designBig Car2023-05-19 | Volvo saved themselves from bankruptcy with the 700 series and the 850, but these cars propagated a boxy look that became the sort of thing stand-up comedians ridiculed. What Volvo needed was a new direction and the first car to use it was the S80. We’re very lucky to have the person behind this new design – Volvo’s lead designer, Peter Horbury to take us through it all. So, where did this new look come from, what management shenanigans drove the decisions over how the S80 was designed and how successful was it?
A very special thanks to the people at Benaroya Hall, Seattle for letting me film: seattlesymphony.org
Intro music: Dan Lebowitz - Tiptoe out the Back (from the YouTube audio library)
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#bigcarAre EVs a Fad? And whats a better option?Big Car2023-05-05 | Many people are thinking we’ll all own an electric vehicle in 10 years time, but I’m not so sure. I believe there’s a better solution than EVs, at least for the foreseeable future, and it’s not fuel cells. It’s more practical, and it’ll help save the planet. But I’m happy to be convinced otherwise, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Hopefully we’ll all learn something. So, are EVs a fad?
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#bigcarSuccess to Failure? - The Toyota MR2 StoryBig Car2023-04-21 | If you'd like to support what I do, and get early access to advert-free videos and exclusive channel updates, please consider supporting the channel from just $1 or 80p a month: http://patreon.com/bigcar
#bigcarCitroëns Death or Rebirth? The Citroën ZX StoryBig Car2023-04-07 | What’s the car that Citroën made in the early 1990s that looked a bit bland? You know, the one that showed Citroën had finally given up on making innovative cars and threw in the towel? Well, you know I’m talking about, I’m talking about the Citroën ZX because you’ve read the title of the video, but from the lack of information online it seems a bit like that, it seems a little unloved, and contemporary reviews didn’t exactly heap praise on the shape! But buried underneath that bland exterior is a story of a car that sold very well, and in fact spawned another car that sold even better and had a whole second life that ended in 2017. In fact, if you count up all the cars that were based on the ZX, you get at least 10M of them, and it may be as high as 12M.
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#bigcarThe time Microsoft made a car stereo - The Auto PC StoryBig Car2023-03-24 | I’m sure you’d be surprised to learn that Microsoft made, or had a hand in making a car stereo. You’d probably be more surprised to know I had a hand in making it! The device you see behind me is the Clarion 310C, what I believe is the first 32-bit car stereo, or in car entertainment system as we’d now call them. Just why did Microsoft decide that car stereos were something they should dip a toe into, and just what is this odd little device?
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#bigcarThe Vauxhall/Opel Omega Story - Bare bones Luxury?!?Big Car2023-03-10 | Ford and Vauxhall/Opel were locked in a battle for European car sales in the 1980s and 90s. Any model Ford had, Opel had to match or beat them. Ford had the Granada, | so Vauxhall/Opel launched an expensive onslaught in the 1980s to topple them, hoping to repeat the gains they’d enjoyed with the smaller Astra and Cavalier. Yet by the time their luxury car, the Omega ended production, the Granada was long gone, and Vauxhall and Opel’s parent General Motors was running out of options despite competing with not one but two luxury brands. How did it go so wrong for two car companies that had been on the top of their game?
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#bigcarThe many, MANY failed 4-door Porsches (including the Porsche 989)Big Car2023-02-24 | Porsche is known for fast sports cars, but you might be surprised to know that in 2022 4 door cars made up more than 8 out of every 10 cars Porsche sold. Yet 20 years earlier, it only sold 2 door cars, with cramped rear seats only suitable for small children. That fun Porsche you had in your 20s could be used in a pinch when the kids came along, but those kids grew and your Porsche became impractical. Customers fled to other car brands and many never returned. Porsche needed to change that.
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#bigcarTop 10 Car Brands in Europe (1990-2021)Big Car2023-02-21 | Chart of the top 10 car brands in Europe from 1990 to 2021. The numbers are total sales for each year. So, although BMW, Mercedes & Audi are lower down, they may have a higher profit margin per car, so giving them more revenue.
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#bigcarFords RS Redemption - RS in the 90s and beyondBig Car2023-02-10 | When we left off, Ford of Europe was riding high. The top three cars sold in the UK were the Escort, Sierra and Fiesta. The Sierra RS Cosworth and RS500 were the cars to own. But there were dark clouds on the RS horizon. What happened to the RS brand in the 90s and beyond, and did those cars live up to those amazing cars from the 70s and 80s?
Check out Steve's "Secret Fords" books, now 20% off with code BIGCAR20: stevesaxty.com
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#bigcar5 Cars, 5 Video Games (Alfa SZ, Impreza, Testarossa, Hilux, Esprit)Big Car2023-01-27 | I've teamed up with Neil from the RMC channel (@RMCRetro) to look at 5 driving games and the cars behind them.
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#bigcarElectric doors! The BMW Z1 StoryBig Car2023-01-13 | The BMW Z1 is known as that crazy sports car BMW made in the late 80s with those funky doors. But it’s so much more than just funny doors you could play with all day until they broke. It was a symbol of BMW investing in their future, at a time when cars, and particularly luxury cars, were relying more and more on technology rather than expensive materials such as leather or walnut. So, just why did BMW, a mass market car manufacturer, want to hand-built a car? And why did they stop making them after 3 years after only 8,000 cars had been produced when they’d got 35,000 orders?
A special thanks to www.BimmerToday.de for the Z1 M photo.
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#bigcarThe Big Car 2022 Video Countdown!Big Car2022-12-26 | Count down all the Big Car videos of 2022, with a bit of follow up and additional chat. Which were your favourite? Some of the view counts will be wrong as I made this video on December 8th!
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#bigcarThe Trabant StoryBig Car2022-12-16 | When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Trabants were used as escape vehicles for a population that had been locked behind the Soviet Iron Curtain for decades. Trabants were ridiculed – a symbol of a socialist planned economy gone wrong. It seemed like a piece of ancient history compared to cars from the West. Yet when the Trabant launched it used upcycled innovative new materials to bring freedom of movement to a country ravaged by war and lacking basic raw materials. It had a modern front wheel drive design with rack and pinion steering. What were the Trabant’s origins, what updates nearly came to market, and what happened after production ended?
A special thanks to Tim Keil for helping me with information and photos for the video.
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#bigcarLe Car! The Renault 5 StoryBig Car2022-12-02 | Citroën is known for its innovation, and Renault is often overlooked. But it was Renault in the 1960s pioneering hatchback designs, and it was Renault that put it all together into one of the first small hatchbacks, the Renault 5. It struck a chord with customers. It was sold as the cheeky “Le Car” in North America, and went on to become the best selling car in France for most of the 1970s and 80s. How did this stylish hatchback come about, why did the second generation look so similar to the first and what’s next?
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#bigcarThe Citroën 2CV StoryBig Car2022-11-18 | French author Guy de Maupassant regularly ate on the first level of the Eiffel Tower even though he hated the sight of the thing. When asked why he said it was not for the quality of the food, but it was the only place in Paris where he couldn’t see the Eiffel Tower! Some were also put off by the look of the Citroën 2CV, but like the Eiffel Tower it’s grown to become a beloved symbol of French engineering success, and about as French as a croissant. It’s no accident this French biscuit tin has a picture of a 2CV on it. In development for 13 years, and in production for over 40, Citroën’s “upturned pram” produced two offspring, but outlasted both of them. Why did it take 13 years to develop, and why did it last more than 40 years in production with almost no changes?
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#bigcarThe partys over... The Ford Fiesta StoryBig Car2022-10-27 | If it hadn’t been for Ford’s CEO, Henry Ford II and his right-hand man, Lee Iacocca pushing to build the Fiesta, Ford of Europe may well not have built it. It was big gamble to create a new front wheel drive platform that wasn’t needed for any of their other cars, and with Fords selling like hot cakes, and little profit in superminis, why take the risk? But take it they did, and it’s become the third highest selling Ford vehicle of all time. Why was the Fiesta so popular for so long, and why did it all end with the seven generation?
More about the "Secret Fords" books by Steve Saxty: stevesaxty.com
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When we think of Japanese car manufacturers, we think of the big three – Toyota, Honda and Nissan, but there are plenty of other manufacturers helping Japan punch way above its weight in the global automotive market, and plenty more Japanese companies that tried and failed. Subaru was one of the few survivors and like Mitsubishi was born out b of a heavy industrial past. Through frugal management they’ve managed to carve out a niche as the purveyors of sensible four-wheel drive cars, and sometimes not so sensible four-wheel drive cars! Where did they come from, what missteps did they make, and what’s next?
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#bigcarThe many, MANY failed Ford Capri Reboots!Big Car2022-10-07 | The Ford Capri was a flash of American excitement when it hit European roads in 1969, but like so many fashionable things, it was quickly overlooked as customers rushed to the next shiny thing. Ever since the last Capri update in 1978 Ford have been struggling to create a new Capri. This is the story of some of the alternate Capri designs, blind alleys and yes, concepts that were supposed to relight the Capri flame. I couldn’t have made this video without Steve Saxty and his excellent Ford books sitting behind me. There’s a link in the description if you want to learn more about them. This is the story of the many, many failed Capri reboots!
More information on Steve Saxty's excellent books about Ford of Europe's history: stevesaxty.com
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#bigcarThe “Swatchmobile ABANDONED by its creators. The Smart Fortwo StoryBig Car2022-09-23 | If a car is wildly successful, it’s a recipe for printing money. If it’s an abject failure, the manufacturer licks their wounds and moves on. What’s maybe worse is when a car just does OK, especially when this car kicks off a whole new brand. Should you invest in a second-generation car, or more models, or give up? Will sales improve? What if they don’t? What to do with all those new dealerships? When the Smart Fortwo launched as the Smart City Coupé, neither of its parents were sure they should have birthed it, and that’s never a good start. Just why did the Volkswagen Swatchmobile become a joint project between Mercedes and Chinese company Geely, and just how successful was this fun little city car?
A big thanks to Techmoan for his thoughts on the Smart ForTwo: youtube.com/techmoan
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#bigcarNearly the Lancia Uno? The Fiat N-numero Uno Story.Big Car2022-09-09 | The Mini showed the world what a practical small car could be like, but it was Fiat’s 127 supermini that took the category by storm in the 1970s. The 127 was a big hit, but it would be its successor, the Fiat Uno that would go on to be the numero uno selling Fiat. Yet the Uno wasn’t originally intended to be a Fiat at all. Just why was the Uno so popular, and why was it still in production 21 years after it was supposedly replaced?
Video from YT channel "MuseodiArtePovera" showing the Uno brochure with a record: youtu.be/hqD1RJsAu9E
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#bigcar#Shorts Story - The Fiat N-Numero Uno (full video link in the description)Big Car2022-09-07 | The full Fiat Uno video: youtu.be/KlKE35maI38
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#bigcarThe height of Lexury? The Lexus LS StoryBig Car2022-08-26 | It’s rare that a car company sets out to build “the best car in the world”. But with an almost limitless budget, Toyota had a better shot than most. The car they created, the LS400, was a statement of intent, and an engineering marvel. It was also an audacious bid to take on the finest luxury marques, from a company that just a few years before had been known for making cheap, tinny cars. But what’s clear is their first car, the LS helped establish Lexus as a successful luxury name faster than any other car company. Why did Toyota decide they needed to build the LS, and did this audacious bid to beat the finest luxury marques succeed?
Music (from the YouTube audio library): * Metamorphosis - Quincas Moreira * Take it Slow - SefChol
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#bigcarThe Scénic road to success - the Renault Scénic StoryBig Car2022-08-12 | Not many cars can be credited with funding the purchase of an entire car company, but Renault’s President said they couldn’t have purchased Nissan in the late 1990s without the success of the Renault Scénic. It was a bold, innovative design, making clever reuse of parts to reduce the risk of failure on a car that was depending on your point of view either defining a brand-new category, or joining an existing category of cars that had never been a success! The shape of the first, second and third generation of Scénic were presided over by Patrick le Quément. He’s been very kind, again, to sit down and tell us the inside story of the car that kicked off the MPV boom in the late 1990s. So, join me and Patrick as we delve into the Renault Scénic Story.
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#bigcarLive chat - The Hillman Imp StoryBig Car2022-08-06 | If you'd like to support what I do, and get early access to advert-free videos and exclusive channel updates, please consider supporting the channel from just $1 or 80p a month: http://patreon.com/bigcar
#bigcarThe IMPact of poor choices - the Hillman Imp StoryBig Car2022-07-29 | The Imp is a car of contradictions. While it sported a cutting edge, aluminium engine with a motorsport pedigree, it was mounted at the back when the rest of the car industry was moving to front wheel drive. It was built in a brand-new facility with the latest machinery, but hundreds of miles away from its suppliers. This all produced a car that was modern, yet outdated. Why did Rootes Group, a car company with a long history of making conservative, reliable cars in the heart of the car producing Midlands, decide to make their first economy car near Glasgow?
Music: "Jazz Organ Trio Cool Blue" by Doug Maxwell / Media Right Productions from the YouTube audio library.
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#bigcarThe forgotten mini Rover SD1 - the Rover QuintetBig Car2022-07-22 | A quick history of the Rover Quintet, released in Australia in the 1980s.
A quick shout out to "On The Rhodes" YT channel that graciously allowed me to use a clip of their Rover Quintet video: youtu.be/nncZVbyZPD4
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#bigcarThis is why the Mazda MX-5 is so goodBig Car2022-07-08 | Everyone knows the MX-5. It’s that fun little roadster that you always promised yourself, and so much has been written about it already. But it’s hard to over emphasise the impact this car had when it launched. At a time when cars were focusing on more and more horsepower, supercharging to ever more extreme levels, Mazda proved that you don’t need an exotic engine to have a lot of fun. Cars already had enough power for public roads where you spent most of your time anyway. It wasn’t about miles per gallon, but smiles per gallon! So, where did the vision for the MX-5 come from, and has it stayed true to that founding vision?
Music (from the YouTube Audio Library): * Sunset Strut - Dan Lebowitz * Marvin's Dance - Silent Partner
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#bigcarAre Parking Spots getting Smaller?Big Car2022-06-17 | Around the world, car parking spaces seem to be getting smaller, leading to a new gymnastic discipline, getting out of the car through the door crack without denting the car next to you! It’s causing increasing frustration in car parks not just for drivers, but passengers as well. When one car parks badly it forces the car next to it to park off centre, and this propagates down the line, leading to a whole line of cars badly parked even after the first car has driven off. That frustration mounts when the owners of car parks don’t fine or tow people who are abusing car parking spaces. UK insurance company AX claims parking dents increased 35% between 2014 and 2018. So why is this?
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Incidental music: 8 bars of stuff I thought up in 2008 and never developed.
#bigcarLive Chat - The Hindustan Ambassador StoryBig Car2022-06-07 | Livestream chat discussing the Hindustan Ambassador video. If you want to ask me about the video or my opinions on subjects raised, then drop in and we'll have a chat!
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#bigcarThe car that refused to die - The Hindustan Ambassador StoryBig Car2022-06-03 | If you’ve been to India, you’ll notice thousands of Maruti Suzuki’s zipping hither and thither, Ubering people across town in air-conditioned comfort for less than the price of a mango lassi. But look outside and you’ll notice the occasional 1950s Morris Oxford and wonder, how did that get here? The Hindustan Ambassador, as the Morris Oxford is known there, is a story of Indian four-wheeled mobility in the 20th century, a car that was still being manufactured 14 years into the 21st century! Just why it last so long when there were better cars available is a fascinating story, and it may not be over yet.
Thanks to Banpei for suggesting the Peugeot 206 advert. Check out his YouTube automotive channel here: youtube.com/c/BanpeiNet-gp
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