
Ask HN: Why French auto manufacturers are not present on U.S. market? - ablekh
I have just read about PEUGEOT 208, a nice-looking city car that has recently been awarded the title <i>2020 European Car of the Year</i>. In addition to combustion engine versions (gas and diesel), the manufacturer also offers a fully electric version (<i>e-208</i>) with a range of 217 miles and relatively fast charging (0%-80% charging time of 30 min.). With this in mind, I&#x27;m curious about your thoughts on why major French auto manufacturers (Peugeot, Renault, Citroen) are not present on U.S. market (though this Quora thread sheds some light: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.quora.com&#x2F;Why-are-Renault-Citroen-Peugeot-and-Dacia-not-sold-in-the-USA).
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simonblack
French cars are too quirky for the US market. French car manufacturers have a
market that is both small enough and large enough to try out experiments that
would fail elsewhere, and innovation that is deemed too costly for the US mass
market: Fluid suspension - 1960s; sliding doors on cars - 1990s; avant-gard
styling: all down through the many decades.

Many French cars are iconic: The Citroen 2CV
[https://www.erclassics.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/ima...](https://www.erclassics.com/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/700x/17f82f742ffe127f42dca9de82fb58b1/c/i/citroen-2cv-1957-c0985-037.jpg),
The Citroen Parisienne DS [https://encrypted-
tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSnLQ...](https://encrypted-
tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSnLQ5QHMABoGiYugMX6MO_kWRYzq21xGrhBK0AKMATJlY8rgSS)
and the Citroen C4 with those strange door panels
[https://c4.wallpaperflare.com/wallpaper/340/990/475/women-
si...](https://c4.wallpaperflare.com/wallpaper/340/990/475/women-sitting-
sneakers-car-wallpaper-preview.jpg)

I spent many years travelling in France, my preference was for a Citroen DS3
with its distinctive 'reverse shark fin' behind the driver's window :)
[https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pict...](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-
images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/10/8/1286530215195/Citroen-
DS3-006.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=6dc2f346b034e74dc2710afceef48992)

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ablekh
I see. Very interesting perspective and facts - thank you so much for sharing
your thoughts and experiences. This is exactly the kind of difference in
comment quality and details that make HN a much more preferred venue for
knowledge sharing than Quora for me (despite myself have been quite active
there a while ago - <rant> I feel that, since then, Quora platform's content
quality has significantly deteriorated </rant>).

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gshdg
What about those quora answers fails to satisfy your curiosity?

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ablekh
I just wanted to hear thoughts by HN community. Some people here might have
different perspectives and/or additional details compared to those presented
on Quora.

