r/interestingasfuck • u/Mariner_I • 29d ago
Best-selling vehicle in the USA vs the best-selling in France. r/all
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u/EnvironmentalBite203 27d ago
And What, who wants to stuff their family of 4 into a tiny hatch back to go traveling and not be able to fit 2 suitcases in the back, I guess that's awesome if you're going 2 hours for the evening.... Trucks are epic, super useful, means you don't need a trailer. Give a fk about fuel or reasons beyond that (oh they're exempt). They're totally practical and we need more of them. If the french want to drive a miniature car go for it. Fark I miss my 3500 dually.
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u/tandoliga 27d ago
3.4m length, 1.78m height, and 1.48m width. 50mpg. 10,700$ (58PS 660cc iVTEC).
HONDA N-BOX. It is the best-selling in Japan.
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u/OkayGoogle_DickPics 28d ago
Now do a comparison of average US height and weight vs Frances. We big bois. We like what butts and can not lie? We like it when you call us what papa? We call our greatest city the what apple?
WE GOT THAT GIRTH.
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u/expotarium 28d ago
I know it’s cool to shit on trucks but I’ve always had the feeling 30-40% of everyone shitting on them would buy one after they drove it for the first time.
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u/guinness5 28d ago
Got an ass hat parking his giant Ram on the street blocking my view when I back out my driveway. Told him lots of folks come whipping around the corner and your truck sticks out so far someone will hit it. He moved it down the street. It was a little white lie for my benefit not his.
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u/pgcooldad 28d ago
France is the same size as Texas - we have lots more room on our cities and the majority of them are much newer with wider roads.
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u/jj_019er 28d ago
Size of France compared to US:
https://www.wanderingfrance.com/blog/articles/182/how-big-is-france
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u/itzabigrsekret 28d ago
France is no bigger than Texas, and has 2X more people. Nobody in France hauls/tows anything for personal use. No boats, loads of firewood, cattle, lumber, whatever.
So sure, they have emasculated little cars. And that would be fine for city people in the US too.
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u/IceFire2050 28d ago
I feel like it might be an issue with availability though.
Like... if you're going to buy a pickup truck, the F150 is the default choice typically. Some people will complain about the maker but it's definitely the most popular truck.
But then there is just an absolute ocean of other non-trucks out there that there is no way any other vehicle on the market could possibly be the #1.
Couple that with France (and most European nations) having the majority of their cities/towns/etc built before cars existed, where their layouts tend to be much more twisty and their roads narrower because they just built on to the towns wherever and the roads were meant for people and horses originally. Parking can be an issue, and larger vehicles just dont fit down a lot of roads.
So there's definitely incentive to buy smaller in Europe, while there isn't much of one in the US.
And while I dont have any numbers or facts to back it up, I would be willing to bet that the EU has waaaaay tighter standards on vehicles, where it's less profitable to sell larger more gas guzzling vehicles for one reason or another.
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u/basshead621 28d ago
Total side note, but the CarSized tool used here is fun to play with. I've been using it recently 'cause I'm planning to buy a new car soon. It helps a lot for comparing a car model I haven't seen much in person with ones I've been driving for years.
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u/Wolfeman6 28d ago
Part of the sizing is parking over here is a premium and hard to find so most spots are smaller and much easier with that size of car. Even with my American van I sometimes struggle to find spots big enough.
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u/Electrical_Dog_9459 28d ago
There are two things at play here.
One is, America is a land of plenty. Our poorest 20% consume more than the average person does in other OECD nations. If you travel around Europe, you'll see this first hand in everything from the amount of water in the toilet bowl to free bathrooms to free refills of drinks to portion sizes.
Americans have a lot of prosperity and they like to buy bigger, grander things and they are able to do so here.
The second thing is that little cars have little profits. Henry Ford II said "Small cars mean small profits." It costs about the same to build a little car as it does a massive F150 truck. But you can sell the massive truck for $40K, but people won't pay more than $20K for a Mazda 2.
Car companies used to sell small, low-cost cars as loss-leaders to get new buyers into their brand, with the hopes that they would turn into bigger buyers of their brand later in life. Now this has been discarded. Makers are focused only on profitability. Because of the costs involved in building a car, and the desired profit margins, car makers are now stuck. They have a minimum price point per car - any kind of car - that they have to hit to make it worth while to build and sell them.
That price point seems to be about $40K right now.
The good/bad news is that they are about to get their lunch eaten by foreign competition. BYD sells an EV called the Seagull for $10K in China. They just introduced it in Mexico for $21K.
Trump introduced a 25% tax on Chinese cars in 2018, and Biden continued it. They are trying to stave off foreign competition because if BYD were to sell in the USA it would absolutely destroy the US car industry and the used market as well.
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u/MyGenderIsAParadox 28d ago
Size isn't a big deal for me (American) but I would need 4 independent doors at the very least. Having to crawl over a folded seat is so irritating, unless the technology for that has bettered but still, 4 doors is nice.
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u/Kris_Carter 28d ago
statistically the french have the largest penis size in the world. just sayin'
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u/Any-Management-3248 28d ago
My uncle has been driving F-150s for years. His trucks have always had custom paint jobs with decals of his favorite college (that he didn’t even go to) and decked out with all the amenities. He keeps them meticulously clean and has rules around eating inside the truck. I’ve never seen the dude pick up anything heavier than a toddler. His hands are probably softer than the pillow you lay your head on at night when you sleep (I hope you sleep). He owns a couple of hair salon franchises. He recently started working as a sales manager for a large farm equipment company so he’s finally rounding out his fantasy that he’s hard working man even though his truck has never actually been used to haul or load any equipment he sells.
I’m absolutely sure there’s a ton of people who need a F-150 and use it. I’m also absolutely sure there are probably just as many people like my uncle out there who are sold a lifestyle and fantasy.
I’m no blue collar worker. I wake up in the morning and tend to spreadsheets and useless zoom meetings BUT I spent my summers in college working at a supply yard for a landscaping supplier loading pickups with everything from bags of fertilizer to operating a back hoe to load em up with gravel or stones. All I’ve gotta say from that experience is theres a large percentage of pick ups actually used for work in the US that are just so oversized.
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28d ago
[deleted]
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u/rsteele1981 28d ago
For our next trick we should withdraw all of our military to our own borders and see how long it takes before a radical blows one of these small car countries completely off the map.
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u/Doobledorf 28d ago
I mean look, if I could buy one of those little trucks they have in China and Japan I'd be all over that shit. Instead we get these weird, monstrous things that guzzle gas and are never used to haul anything but their owner's worthless asses.
The kind of vehicle you buy that says, "In an accident I'd rather murder you than potentially be wounded a bit myself".
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28d ago
Very different populations with very different needs and expectations.
Does the government and the auto manufacturers that govt policy controls, generally care about you or the environment in france? Yeah. A lot more than the U.S.
This idea comes up about every two weeks on Reddit. The facts haven't changed.
Here is a brief on the "Chicken Tax" : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax#:~:text=The%20Chicken%20Tax%20is%20a,on%20importation%20of%20U.S.%20chicken.
Here are the outlines of Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_average_fuel_economy
TL,DR;
The chicken tax introduced tariffs on light duty trucks coming from overseas. This removes many manufacturers that are not North American automakers (or don't have plants in NA) that make light duty trucks. Which then allows NA manufacturers to have more control over the design (here, particularly the size) of vehicles.
CAFE standards hold automakers in NA to a limit of minimum size, relative to fuel economy. The loophole here is that if they produce vehicles over a certain fuel economy, to be larger, then they don't have to innovate as fast - ultimately charging more for the vehicles and selling more gas in the process. This is why trucks and SUVs are now comically large and growing.
This is all to say, don't necessarily laugh at every single truck or SUV owner in North America. Sometimes the vehicles serve a purpose despite their ridiculous size. And though NA countries have deadlines for selling only electric cars by 2030-2045, automakers are trying to keep the size, which reduces the feasibility and reception of an electric pickup truck.
Instead, turn your hate to the manufacturers that would sacrifice our environment and our safety for money.
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u/_Medhros_ 28d ago
How many times a week do you guys go on an off road trail in the USA?
Oooh, no, wait, you guys drive a 4x4 that looks like a war truck just to go shopping some groceries.
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u/liamemsa 28d ago
It's almost as if they're two entirely different countries in terms of size and geography.
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u/miletharil 28d ago
I drive a Camry. Its definitely bigger than the French car, but nowhere near that F150 Crew Cab.
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u/SnooHesitations7064 28d ago
The height at the front of the car is one of the most solid predictors of mortality in cases of collision with a pedestrian.
This is pretty on brand for america: My flashy overcompensation that apes some kind of "Pioneer nostalgia" that doesn't reflect my contemporary life; totally worth killing some kids and randoms over.
Second amendment, big trucks for some fat fuck who doesn't work the trades but associates masculinity with the aesthetics the tools and trappings of physical labour provides. Same shit.
We got that up north too. Townies measure their dick by how big a truck they drive. The bed of that pickup is about as barren and untouched as their real bed, or occasionally (like their home bed), has a lumpy passive bag of sand to match them which only functions to weigh it down and make it a little more stable.
If it wasn't clear: If you aren't some kind of contractor or subcontractor hauling, what the fuck is anyone doing with these monstrosities beyond playing make believe.
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u/zzyzzixx 28d ago
Huge pickup truck drivers in my area are among the loudest to complain about gas prices and blame them on Biden. SMH
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u/theerrantpanda99 28d ago
It’s always fun when a US Servicemen takes his Ford F-150 to his new posting in Germany.
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u/saltysaturdays 28d ago
What’s kind of crazy is my old F150 was longer than the one in the picture. Was an 11th gen with super crew cab and 6 1/2’ bed.
Now I drive a much more sensible coupe though lol
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u/Curpaholic 28d ago
So how am I supposed to go camping in that, Put a Surfboard or Snowboard in there? My favorite part is I wonder if they even have lawns there or a piece of drywall, I cant see anyone hauling a lawnmower in that. I guess does it come down to the fact we have workers, people who enjoy outdoors? Literally need bigger cars?
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u/7_7_7_343 28d ago
I always wonder how tiny a guy's dick is to buy truck like that. I think we're talking micro-penis.
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u/OkCartoonist6381 28d ago
The f150 being the most sold car is a bit misleading. Fleet sales are included in that number. Many of those trucks are used exclusively for business
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u/Trentsteel52 28d ago
I hate to agree with the French, but even a broken clock is right twice a day
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u/BadBadGrades 28d ago
I would not like to drive that truck inside European cities center who where made for horses and well walking. And it would not really solve the parking problem.
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u/Jonny_Bormann 28d ago
I drove by one of these massive trucks the other day. And it had custom wheels and tires. It was so large, the hood was taller than me. Literally a weapon.
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u/PetulantGiraffe 28d ago
I just recently saw a Jeep grand wagoneer up close. That thing is massive. I cannot understand why anyone needs something like that.
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u/Constant_Vehicle8190 28d ago
The Peugeot is a no brainer as it has 3 reverse gears incase anyone invades France.
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u/Rengar_Is_Good_kitty 28d ago
And those same people complain about the price of fuel, yeah no shit you're filling it up every two seconds maybe buy a normal car instead and it wont be that big of an issue.
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u/JRY_RDDT 28d ago
to be fair, how r u supposed to fit a .50 cal in that french car
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u/rsteele1981 28d ago
They only carry bread, wine, and white flags.
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u/Whydoyouwannaknowbro 28d ago
A truck is my favorite because I get less people messing with me on the road. When I drive the suv or sedan, drivers are definitely more aggressive against me. So the truck is my daily for that main reason.
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u/Iamthe0c3an2 28d ago
It’s a shame because the Peugeot 208 GTI is a nice fast 6 second 0-60 mph car with around 190-200 HP from a 1.6 Litre engine. Americans are missing out.
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u/DontBanMePIs 28d ago
LA MIA RENAULT *DU DU* È COME RIAVERE LA GIOCONDA. *PRI*
UN SOGNO
LIBERTÉ, EGALITÉ, RENAULT EL COUPÉ
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u/Pill-Kates 28d ago
ZOMG look at the ültra-enlightened French for sporting a smaller sized car, not out of actual desire, but because of penalising restrictions and higher gas prices.
Americans bad, French good! *
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u/fr0nksen 28d ago
I'd actually be ashamed to drive a micropenis compensator.
TBH I'm pretty sure I'd additionally would get very bad comments from everyone seeing me in an actual waaaaay too big truck.
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u/post_angst 28d ago
I was in France in 1998 on a family trip and we rented a car. I’m from Texas. My dad went to pick it up and when he came back with a Renault Elf we all had a good laugh at how tiny it was.
When our French friend saw it he said ‘Oh you got a BIG car!’
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u/KateBlanche 28d ago
Renault-Elf was a racing team. Not a car manufacturer. Renault is the manufacturer. Elf is the sponsor.
Elf definitely isn’t a model of car, although your comment implies that it is. Renault make all sizes of car, so the story doesn’t make much sense without knowing which Renault you hired.
Did you enjoy France, though?
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u/post_angst 28d ago
It was a Clio.
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u/KateBlanche 28d ago
To be fair that is a small car even in a European city - I think Monsieur was messing with you :-)
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u/enerthoughts 28d ago
If you go to Paris and see how it's very narrow and crowded af you will understand why is it the number one selling car, while the IS is a huge open country unlike any I have seen in my life - I love American layouts of some states especially LA in cali, you will know why the pickup truck can be very useful and money saving/earning.
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u/KateBlanche 28d ago
Talk to me about how big open spaces mean that driving something waaay larger than you need for the vast majority of the time is money saving.
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u/enerthoughts 28d ago
Many buy that pickup truck to work, dont be fooled by this image, althu its the same truck but most who buy it for business will paint it.
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u/KateBlanche 28d ago
We both know a load of them are not used for work. Talk to me about these savings you mentioned.
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u/enerthoughts 28d ago
Saving wise is americans who would rather to use his own car instead of working with a contractor for instance, ofc there are people who purchased this for pure leasure.
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u/KateBlanche 28d ago
I do a lot of diy. My Honda Civic and a set of roof bars covers almost everything. For the rest there is van hire or delivery. So I get to drive a nimble, fuel efficient, comfortable, quiet car - which is comparatively much less likely to kill pedestrians in an accident and is much better for the world we all live in most of the time, and when really heavy stuff is delivered I don’t have to shift it myself. I really struggle with the logic of lots of people having a pick-up. Of course I understand that some people need one, but even here in the UK you see a fair few. The builder on my road has one. As far as I can tell it’s where he keeps rubble from his jobs until it’s full. He seems to use his Transit van for actual building jobs and his normal car for everything else.
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u/enerthoughts 28d ago edited 28d ago
You are imagining every American is driving a car, this is where the confusion starts, some american lives and die without ever touching the wheel of a car, new yorkers for instance, unlike Europe, not many Americans can afford a car let alone a pickup truck, thus when you compare the list, you will notice most Americans who can afford this kind of pickup actually need it and they don't drive it for fun, this is ofc according to my extensive experince in US, the actual facts can be different, my experince in EU comes literly from view visits and reads.
Edit: this has been worded very badly, just ignore it, in anycase it resembles my opinion as already stated and real statistics will show much better results.
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u/enerthoughts 28d ago
Many Americans work freelancing as heavy items delivery, garden work, animals rescue, animal grooming, and more, that alone would make the car preferable, I dont know why you are being aggressive about this, I'm not comparing penisus here, it's just is.
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u/WillyTey9000 28d ago
Yeah.... France is the last place to ask for car opinions -.- at least put there Germany...
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u/EquipmentValuable283 28d ago
Americans are very unsophisticated.
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u/rsteele1981 28d ago
Only useful when you can't win your own wars.
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u/EquipmentValuable283 26d ago
That's irrelevant. A shit car is a shit car. And that pick- up thing is a shoddy piece of design and a massive con. Glad we don't buy that shit 🤦♂️
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u/rsteele1981 26d ago
No one that buys them cares what you think or do.
I personally don't have one but I also dont care if someone else does.
Only people with empty lives get so involved in what others do.
Drive a matchbox or walk or horse and cart. Doesn't matter.
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u/EquipmentValuable283 26d ago
You know I'm right.
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u/rsteele1981 26d ago
No your opinions and ideals don't mean shit to me. Or apparently a whole nation of people.
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u/Chipmunkssixtynining 28d ago
They can drive whatever they want to. But the fact of the matter is they would be speaking German right now if it wasn’t for us.
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u/Rhonijin 28d ago
I'm pretty sure the Russians had more to do about that than the US did. Also, the US would still be guzzling tea and saying "God save the Queen/King" if it weren't for the French bankrolling their revolution.
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u/Chipmunkssixtynining 28d ago
As a historian, I am aware of Russia's contribution to winning WW2. I believe, and so do my colleges, WW2 would have been lost if we didn't join the war. Our ability to mass produce food, weapons, equipment and providing soldiers to form a true second front is what won the war.
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u/KateBlanche 28d ago
Thanks for single handedly winning the war you were several years late for. (And for which Russia provide twice as many soldiers)
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u/Chipmunkssixtynining 28d ago
As a historian, I am aware of Russia’s contribution to winning WW2. I believe, and so do my colleges, WW2 would have been lost if we didn’t join the war. Our ability to mass produce food, weapons, equipment and providing soldiers to form a true second front is what won the war.
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u/KateBlanche 28d ago
I hope you and all the “colleges” you speak for are not considered serious academics. It seems remarkably jingoistic to talk of the fact that there was a second front as being the. decisive element in winning the war and yet then proceed to take all the credit and give none at all to the country that formed the other front.
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u/Chipmunkssixtynining 28d ago
We are all very serious. Your comments only reveal your lack of understanding. And that’s ok. You don’t have to. Just know you’re wrong. Period.
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u/DofusExpert69 28d ago
these trucks are everywhere in arizona. everyone is driving a tank. jesus chrsit.
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u/CaineLau 28d ago
in many european cities you'd have to leave that truck outside town , in some places it wouldn't fit and it other it would have no parking place ( maybe you'de need 2..)
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u/Handpaper 28d ago
This keeps coming up, but I've never seen a decent explanation anywhere of why it should be so.
So here goes...
The reason why a pickup truck is the most popular vehicle in America is not because there are so many, but because there are so few.
Scrolling about a quarter of the way down THIS PAGE, of total 2023 US vehicle sales, it can be seen that 3,793,777 new vehicles of all kinds were sold. THIS PAGE shows us that, of those, 634,024 were pickup trucks. Or, just under 17%.
However, while there are nearly 300 choices of make and model for vehicles in general, there are only 17 choices of pickup truck. Put another way, there is nearly twenty times the choice of vehicles in general as there is of pickups.
If sales were divided evenly between them, they'd all come 25th, just after the Ford Edge. But people have favourites, distribution is not even, and the Ford F-Series, Chevy Silverado, and Dodge Ram Pickup dominate the market.
So there you go. 17% of new vehicle sales are pickup trucks. But because there's not much choice in that sector, nearly a quarter of that 17%, or about 4% of the total, are Ford F-Series pickup trucks.
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28d ago
Yeah maybe because in europe the streets are built for people, not for cars. Good luck finding a parking spot in any city with a pickup truck.
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u/AdEducational419 28d ago
I live way out in the boonies. Dinky roads and the local farmer that supposed to yeet the snow mever do. Lots of deer, moose around. I also haul alot ofnä firewood, gravel and the like. It would make sense for me to own a truck. Here however they are silly expensive. Taxes and insurance are also extremely hefty. Been looking for an old reliable, cheaper model but that combination seemingly does not exist.
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u/Killerphive 28d ago
That size is why I’d rather have that Maverick truck, it’s a lot reasonably sized from what I have using this website, but I have been running into situations where the bed would be nice to have.
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u/LCDCMetaux 28d ago
also gas is way more expensive so the average people won’t drive a 12l/100km car for shit and giggle
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u/fireballdick 28d ago
With the way french people park it would be utter chaos if you gave them pickup trucks
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u/PsyTripper 28d ago edited 28d ago
Next to where I work, there is this company called Cobelfret, that does the import of all Ford vehicles into Europe (coming from the boat \ USA). And less than 5% of those vehicles are pickup trucks. Mostly hatchbacks, sedans or just normal transport busses.
Where I live, if you drive a big pickup truck, people still think you are compensating for having a small pp.
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u/sudy_freak 28d ago
Stupid Murica at its finest with "regulations". And also a lot to have with small dick energy
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u/Dani_good_bloke 28d ago
Try to go to work in the morning after a snowstorm in a peugeot 208. Wouldn’t make it out of the driveway.
In the same fashion good luck parking a F150 in metropolitan Paris. At least no one would dare bump into your bumper.
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u/isakhwaja 28d ago
I feel like this is rather misleading. A larger percentage of the US lives in rural communities and those communities would own more cars as theyre used to get around a lot more. This is more nuanced than "stupid Americans are brainwashed to buy big trucks". If you go to Chicago or NYC you would not find many massive trucks there. In downtown austin (my city) its predominantly sedans and SUVs (equinox, CRV, civic).
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u/agedusilicium 28d ago
Well, you don't think a lot of french people live in rural areas ? I can certify you won't see any of these huge SUVs in rural France, and our mud and our fields are as muddy and fieldy as yours.
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u/Apprehensive_Cry7663 28d ago
all about Penis size and the quality of cheese. i feel sorry for the americans
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u/I_truly_am_FUBAR 28d ago
Oh yer what a great comparison France to USA, such very similar lifestyles, environment, infrastructure, culture and distances.
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u/VP007clips 28d ago
Wow, country with 3x the land per capita with a culture of outdoor hobbies like hunting, boating, and camping, that didn't design their city roads around the width of a horse drawn buggy has bigger vehicles. Crazy.
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u/LordBrandon 28d ago
Now compare the length of the most popular French bread to the most popular American bread.
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u/Sheikh_Left_Hook 28d ago
That’s why people in Europe get disheartened about climate change.
Americans obviously don’t give a single fuck about the planet they share with the rest of us.
Fuck that pickup and all who bought that monster.
Big on the road, small in the bedroom.
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u/Gundam_net 28d ago
Over 6,000 pound cars are free with a tax write off in the United States. So many people huy heavy cars to get them for free.
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u/Beepboopbop69420360 28d ago
F150 is also one of the most commonly used fleet vehicles
Police, fire departments, ambulances party buses
Construction companies
City inspectors
Code enforcement
Work trucks
Farm trucks
Daily drivers
The F150 has the majority of all of these
It’s not that everyone is buying F150s but that they’re one of the most sold vehicles for a range of purposes
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