Do you know where babies cars come from? Anderson Analytics took a survey of 1,000 college students from more than 375 universities and discovered that many of them don't. A third of the respondents thought Lexus was American. More than half of them thought Hyundai was Japanese, and at the same time, two-thirds of them think Korean products are no good. Almost half thought Volvo and Saab were German, and more than half thought Land Rover is American. Which, technically, it is, but probably not in the way they meant it.
The survey, carried out last summer, was actually a study of country-of-origin on brand perception. Carmakers weren't the only ones to suffer from "They don't make that here?" syndrome. Almost no one knew that Nokia is Finnish, and almost everyone thought that Motorola's Japanese. But country origin doesn't have the same effect on brand perception for cell phones that it does on cars. However, how important can it be to make sure people know your car is Swedish if those people can't point Sweden out on a map? Just make sure they don't think it's Korean.
[Source: Carscoop]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Viv @ May 27th 2007 11:02AM
We americans are perhaps the worst in the world when it comes to geography. Half the people in this country can't even point Nebraska in the middle of the country let alone Korea and Finland.
Esprit bird @ May 27th 2007 11:34AM
Oh yeah i've seen some pretty ignorant people around Miami...people driving around in a Civic with a bumper sticker saying "Support our work force" when the car wasent even constructed here. Alot of other situations too with people not knowing the difference between Austria and Australia.
Tito Lux @ May 30th 2007 1:28AM
Speaking of hypocritical bumper stickers, there is one example I have come to truly hate/laugh at: I live in in Nashville, and the deeper south I go, the more frequent I see people driving Toyota trucks or 4runners with confederate flag license plates. Ummm, excuse me, what? How do license plates with patriotic and racist undertones and japanese made trucks go together? Oh, and I did see the same plate on a Nissan Sentra the other day - nice! It seems that we Americans don't really care too much about an auto's native origin in correspondence to our political/cultural beliefs.
dan @ May 27th 2007 11:41AM
They do however know all about the field of contestants on Idol. And that that not enough of these morons turn out to vote is supposedly a bad thing.
udubrx7 @ May 27th 2007 11:48AM
Hey you can't lump us ALL into a category of idiots! I even know what an Abarth is!!
patman @ May 27th 2007 12:04PM
How many times I had to endure conversations like this when in the US:
Random American : "Oh, from Italy! Great, how many hours is the drive?"
Me: "You wouldn't take the car, you take the plane".
RA: "Sure, but I mean if you wanted to drive, how many hours?"
Me: "??!!?""
Joe Donaldson @ May 27th 2007 12:05PM
Civics are built in Ohio.
key @ May 27th 2007 12:13PM
hahh～～
Andrew Tanasescu @ May 27th 2007 12:16PM
True story from days of grade school when i had to wear ID's in school. A girl behind me looked at my ID and said "Tanasescu" Intresting last name. Where is it from? I said Romania. then she continued to ask, so your from russia right. i said no, we are our own country. but im am just as romanian as brazilian (I got triple citizenship...). She was like, Oh Cool! So do you speak spanish?
Remember, this person was a junior at a private school where those not on scholorship (which i think would apply to the girl) pay around 15k a year. Shows how much it pays off...
Shadyman @ May 27th 2007 8:08PM
scholorship
You mean.. "Scholarship"
whofan @ May 27th 2007 12:26PM
I wonder how many think Toyota is American?
3cubedminus3squared @ May 27th 2007 1:05PM
I know people that think Saturn is Japanese.
I have a friend who only buys Japanese things, drives a honda & Suzuki bike, and hates Korean products and won't touch american stuff.
He thinks his Samsung phone is Japanese, I won't tell him where its from though ;)
shimman @ May 27th 2007 2:49PM
i wonder why your buddy loves japanese & hates korean while won't touch american
by the american concept of the products origins, most electronics are chinese while cars are american.
in the era of out sourcing, many electronics are even designed by whoever offers the cheapest solution & this also applies to cars like mitsubishi uses hyundai i4 engine design so called world engine.
i am not sure where your buddy got such ideas...
epp_b @ May 27th 2007 1:13PM
["We Americans are perhaps the worst in the world when it comes to geography."]
Perhaps? No, definitely. I'm not bashing here, just stating a facts. Most Americans I've talked to think that Canada, for example, consists of Toronto and Banff -- the end.
beken @ May 28th 2007 12:47PM
Some people in Toronto think this too ; )
epp_b @ May 28th 2007 1:04PM
Haha, yes, true enough!
AMGoff @ May 27th 2007 1:20PM
The problem, as I see it comes from a genuine lack of interest in learning in this country. For the most part the educational system is abysmal. Kids are forced to go to school until they're 18 regardless of whether they have any interest in bettering themselves, just because a kid is sitting in a classroom doesn't mean they are learning anything. If a child isn't first taught to love leaning then the entire investment in them is a failure. A lot of these same kids go on to college, not because they want to but because their parents want them to. When this happens, college becomes more of a social endeavor than an educational one because once again that fundamental desire to learn is not there. The worst part is that some of these kids go on to graduate college and proceed to get their teaching certificates. Is it because they have a burning desire to educate young Americans? I am sure there are a few recent graduates that really want to teach but for the most part a lot of them are just looking for what they perceive to be a relatively easy job. So what do we end up with? A bunch of uninspired students becoming uninspired teachers. It's a horrible, self-propogating cycle. Now before any dedicated teacher comes on and flames me, I am saying this is for the most part, not every teacher! I know there are some very professional, very dedicated educators out there, I am friends with some, but I am also friends with some that only do it for a paycheck. Without a genuine desire to learn and better one's self, all else is moot.
Joe Donaldson @ May 27th 2007 1:31PM
It's hard to tell where cars come from now a days though, I mean there are Saab's built using Subaru bases, and Saturns are becoming Opels, Nissan's partnered with a French company, Ford owns both UK and Japense companies...not to mention having there own division in Europe and Australia. The world is very inter-connected, I can see where people who don't know about the automotive world would get confused about where cars come from.
3cubedminus3squared @ May 27th 2007 1:47PM
"The survey, carried out last summer, was actually a study of country-of-origin on brand perception. "
It wasn't about where cars area built, its which country they originated in.
Like a Vietnamese kid whose parents were born in Vietnam but he was born here. He still has roots over there.
Brian @ May 27th 2007 1:58PM
Is there someone out there spreading slander against Korean products? It's like no matter what the Koreans do, somehow there is a "perception shadow" that plagues them. I can just imagine the surpise if these kids were told Samsung, LG, Hyundai/Kia were all Korean products.