Where is the Geographic Center of the Automotive Universe? — The Carmudgeon Show — Ep. 41

The Carmudgeon Show

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Where is the geographic center of gravity of the automobile industry? And what is a geographic center of gravity anyway? In this episode, Jason and Derek discuss the idea that there’s a country at any given time that dominates the automotive industry, either in terms of technical innovation or marketplace impact. Jason suggests that it currently lies in Korea, and explains how Kia and Hyundai are breaking genuine ground, but also argues that there’s a shift happening back to America for the first time in many decades. But not to Detroit.
The pair then explore the ways in which various countries have pushed the envelope of the automotive industry at various times, for example Japan with their sport compacts such as the Honda CRX and Prelude, Acura Integra, Nissan Sentra SE-R, and Nissan Pulsar, as well as the critical decision to design cars specifically for the American market, and build them here too such as the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. They also discuss the various cars which mobilized entire countries including the Ford Model T, Volkswagen Beetle, Fiat 500, Citroen 2CV, and Mini.
As far as America goes, the pair must return to the years before World War 2 to find genuine American technical innovation in the cars themselves, the Duesenberg Model J, for example, but the postwar market segmentation and marketing genius in America also receives honorable mention. Meanwhile, the pair asks whether and when countries like England, France, and Italy ever represented the center of the automotive universe and if so, when? And naturally, with this pair, a discussion of German cars is inevitable as well.
The Carmudgeon Show is a comedic, information-filled conversation with Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Scott, two car enthusiasts who are curmudgeonly beyond their years. Proving you don’t have to be old to be grumpy, they spend each episode talking about what’s wrong with various parts of the automotive universe. Despite their best efforts to keep it negative, they usually wind up laughing, happy, and extolling their love for cars. Which just makes them angrier and more bitter.
ISSIMI is an enthusiast-owned, full-service specialist offering sales, consignment, collection management, service, and consulting to discerning enthusiasts and collectors. Specializing in complex transactions that include international services for exceptional cars, ISSIMI’s San Francisco Bay Area and Europe-based teams of experts pride themselves on transparency and knowledge.
Jason Cammisa is an automotive journalist, social-media figure, and TV host with over 250 million views on YouTube alone. Jason’s deeply technical understanding, made possible by a lifelong obsession with cars, allows him to fully digest what’s going on within an automobile — and then put it into simple terms for others to understand. Also, a Master’s Degree in Law trained him to be impossible to argue with.
Derek Tam-Scott still tries. He’s a young automotive expert with old-man taste in cars, and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering — which means he knows how to be civil to Jason. Or at least he tries. With a decade and a half’s experience buying, selling, driving and brokering classic and exotic cars, he’s experienced the world’s most iconic cars. And hated most of them.

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