Yanks drive big vehicles, Swedes costly ones, Fritz prefers VW and MB while Japs drive japs

03/27/2012 | WesternCulture

[WesternCulture]

The average American car owner might be annoyed with gas prices, but despite his opinions on Obama's handling of the nation, he still can afford to drive around in a gas guzzler.

Unlike rich Norway and Denmark, where car consumption is heavily discouraged, the car producing nation of Sweden (where I live) could only be rivalled by Switzerland.

It shows in Swedish stats on car sales.

The average Swede could afford a car the average citizen of no other nation could afford.

For 16 consequtive years in a row, the 'close to luxury' Volvo V70 has been the top selling car (of three different generations) in my nation.

Top that! (However; we too buy Korean junk..)

What about Japan and Germany?

Continue reading..

10 Best selling cars in the US 2011:

1. Ford F-series 2. Chevrolet Silverado 3. Toyota Camry 4. Nissan Altima 5. Ford Escape 6. Ford Fusion 7. Honda Accord 8. Toyota Corolla 9. Chevrolet Cruze 10. Dodge Ram

Best selling cars in Sweden February 2012:

1 Volvo V70 2 VW Passat 3 Volvo V60 4 VW Golf 5 Volvo V50 6 Kia Cee’d 7 Ford Focus 8 Renault Megane 9 Volvo XC60 10 BMW 3-Series

Best selling cars in Japan 2011:

1 Toyota Prius 2 Honda Fit 3 Toyota Vitz 4 Nissan Serena 5 Toyota Corolla 6 Mazda Demio 7 Toyota Ractis 8 Toyota Passo 9 Toyota Voxy 10 Nissan March

Best selling cars in Germany 2011:

1 VW Golf/Plus/Jetta 2 VW Passat 3 VW Polo 4 Mercedes C-Klasse 5 Opel Astra 6 Mercedes A-Klasse 7 Ford Focus 8 Opel Corsa 9 Mercedes E-Klasse 10 VW Touran

[WesternCulture]

“the Finns were lucky — they were fighting the Soviet conscription machine”

- Good point, it probably all comes down to plain luck.

I could easily consent to that description, provided we also could agree Finland were “lucky” having

- a potent western neighbor on their side supplying them with all of the first class goods needed to resist the invading forces of Stalin

- an insane leader of the enemy who decided to eliminate 75% of his officers before attacking Finland, a nation widely known for its ability of successfully participating in every kind of warfare as well as its fierce, bitter hatred of everything Russian

Russia ought to be awarded some kind of Nobel Prize for surviving the largest amount of incompetent leaders of all nations there has ever been.

[Cronos]

I did not say it "all comes down to plain luck" -- you did.

I point out the fact that Finland was under Russian rule in the 1800s and there was not a peep. Finland was under Swedish rule before that and the Karelian Finns have been under Russian rule for centuries.

The Tsarist troops were better prepared for a Finnish war than the Soviet conscripts for the simple reason that the Soviet commandants, political commissars were not army men, did not plan their strategy beyond using men as cannon fodder and did not have a proper supply chain set up.

Russia deserves a Nobel Prize (though that is devalued ever since Obama won) yes, for having centuries of misery -- ever since the Mongol invasion

[Cronos]

potent western neighbor on their side supplying them with all of the first class goods needed to resist the invading forces of Stalin

you mean Nazi Germany? Well, the Finns had no choice in that. It was a choice between the lesser of two evils. -- they could not rely on neutral, small Sweden to defend it.

The Swedes had been comprehensively defeated by the Russians in the Finnish war of 1808.

the Swedish leader Cronstedt retreated and the Russians took over most of Finland with no resistance.

By the Treaty of Fredrikshamn, this was finalized and Finland became part of the Tsardom

Sweden was ill-prepared to fight in WWII --> it had hardly a handful of Stridsvagn tanks, about 15-20 in 1937.

During the winter war, 8000 Swedes fought on the side of the Finns (after all they had ruled the finns for 600 years)

[CodeToad]

Just another one of WesternCulture's 'America Sucks! Europe is Better!' threads. Thread #14.