QOTD: Which Cars Are Most Likely to Be Found in Their Namesake Land?

Matthew Guy
by Matthew Guy

About a month ago, we asked which cars you thought would be most unlikely to turn a wheel on their namesake soil. The B&B offered up a lot of good answers … including the entire Saturn and Mercury brands. Hardy har har. Very funny, guys.

Today, let’s flip it around. What model is most likely to be found in the place for which it is named? Given the image above, it’s clear I’m going with an obvious choice.

Americans love their trucks, even midsizers like the Colorado. While we have no idea how many Colorado pickups The General sold last month — thanks to a company now playing its sales numbers close to its chest — we can say the model finished last year just four trucks shy of putting 113,000 new units on the road, a 4 percent increase over 2016.

This is a number nearly quadruples the volume of its Canyon brother, a model moving at the speed of glacier progression in comparison with the Colorado. This mystifies your author on the same level as the Caramilk secret and Will Farrell’s popularity. The chances of finding a Colorado in Colorado is very high.

Another model equally likely (but on the other end of the automotive scale) to be found in its namesake is Ferrari’s fantabulously new Portofino. The 591 hp twin-turbo hardtop convertible begs to be driven on Italian roadways, an environment where it can soak up the curves and adoration of onlookers with equal abandon.

The powertrain is about all that’s carried over from the California T, a model whose front-end styling never seemed to jive with its bulbous rear. The Portofino, on the other hand, looks like a 7/8 scale Ferrari 812.

What’s your pick for a machine that is most likely to ply the roadways of the place for which it is named? I don’t think any of the planets are going to make the cut this time. A few of the continents, on the other hand….

[Images: General Motors, Ferrari]

Matthew Guy
Matthew Guy

Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.

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  • Dartdude Having the queen of nothing as the head of Dodge is a recipe for disaster. She hasn't done anything with Chrysler for 4 years, May as well fold up Chrysler and Dodge.
  • Pau65792686 I think there is a need for more sedans. Some people would rather drive a car over SUV’s or CUV’s. If Honda and Toyota can do it why not American brands. We need more affordable sedans.
  • Tassos Obsolete relic is NOT a used car.It might have attracted some buyers in ITS DAY, 1985, 40 years ago, but NOT today, unless you are a damned fool.
  • Stan Reither Jr. Part throttle efficiency was mentioned earlier in a postThis type of reciprocating engine opens the door to achieve(slightly) variable stroke which would provide variable mechanical compression ratio adjustments for high vacuum (light load) or boost(power) conditions IMO
  • Joe65688619 Keep in mind some of these suppliers are not just supplying parts, but assembled components (easy example is transmissions). But there are far more, and the more they are electronically connected and integrated with rest of the platform the more complex to design, engineer, and manufacture. Most contract manufacturers don't make a lot of money in the design and engineering space because their customers to that. Commodity components can be sourced anywhere, but there are only a handful of contract manufacturers (usually diversified companies that build all kinds of stuff for other brands) can engineer and build the more complex components, especially with electronics. Every single new car I've purchased in the last few years has had some sort of electronic component issue: Infinti (battery drain caused by software bug and poorly grounded wires), Acura (radio hiss, pops, burps, dash and infotainment screens occasionally throw errors and the ignition must be killed to reboot them, voice nav, whether using the car's system or CarPlay can't seem to make up its mind as to which speakers to use and how loud, even using the same app on the same trip - I almost jumped in my seat once), GMC drivetrain EMF causing a whine in the speakers that even when "off" that phased with engine RPM), Nissan (didn't have issues until 120K miles, but occassionally blew fuses for interior components - likely not a manufacturing defect other than a short developed somewhere, but on a high-mileage car that was mechanically sound was too expensive to fix (a lot of trial and error and tracing connections = labor costs). What I suspect will happen is that only the largest commodity suppliers that can really leverage their supply chain will remain, and for the more complex components (think bumper assemblies or the electronics for them supporting all kinds of sensors) will likley consolidate to a handful of manufacturers who may eventually specialize in what they produce. This is part of the reason why seemingly minor crashes cost so much - an auto brand does nst have the parts on hand to replace an integrated sensor , nor the expertice as they never built them, but bought them). And their suppliers, in attempt to cut costs, build them in way that is cheap to manufacture (not necessarily poorly bulit) but difficult to replace without swapping entire assemblies or units).I've love to see an article on repair costs and how those are impacting insurance rates. You almost need gap insurance now because of how quickly cars depreciate yet remain expensive to fix (orders more to originally build, in some cases). No way I would buy a CyberTruck - don't want one, but if I did, this would stop me. And it's not just EVs.
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