T Minor shot this nice pairing of a ’64 Mercury Comet Caliente and a 2018 Alfa Romeo Stilvio at a supermarket lot in Austria. In addition to the obvious contrast between the Comet and the Stelvio, it also strikes me that this parking lot could at first glance be…almost anywhere, including the US. Quite the change from a few decades back, when the cars in Europe were for the most part quite distinctive. No more.
It’s a small world after all…
“…almost anywhere, including the US”
Well, apart from the fact that I see only one pickup (it’s a Baumarkt, after all) and nothing from Japan or South-Korea. Please do correct me if I’m wrong.
Great picture, by the way!
Except for the VW Up! to the left, yes this could very well be a parking lot in suburban North America. It used to be fun identifying all the cars in photos of European parking lots.
I’d say it’s still more European than global. In the US there would be way more trucks and crossovers with a sprinkling of minivans. Home Depot or Lowes parking lots are dominated by trucks, this looks more like a supermarket or discount store lot in the US.
I think European parking lots tend more towards cars and small minivans with fewer crossovers and almost no personal use trucks and from what I’ve seen Australian cities look more European except the car brands skew heavily Japanese.
“I think European parking lots tend more towards cars”
And I think European car buying habits tend more towards European parking lots. If I’m not mistaken the parking space guidelines for Germany recommend 5 meters length (16’6″ thereabouts) and 2.5 m width (8’3″), whereas if I recall correctly American parking spaces are more like 20′ by 9′ or 10′. These dimensions were thought up many aeons ago with cars in mind that today are dwarved by their successors. Private businesses tell themselves “the closer I stick to the guidelines the more spaces I can fit in my parking lot, which is good for business”. Therefore parking spaces aren’t growing while cars are. Very long ones, especially vans and pickup trucks, always stick out into the roadway unless you can heartily reverse your rear overhang into a bush. The wider, the more of a struggle it’ll be to get in and out in the average parking lot, which increasingly is an issue with SUVs and crossovers and those sorts of modern blobs.
You could size up the parking spaces in the guidelines but this would only serve even greater and therefore more wasteful vehicles and an even greater waste of space in a world that’s also increasingly covered in parking lots. In the end maintaining the outdated recommendations and pushing people to drive compacts is actually the most sensible thing to do.
I have visited a Hornbach store – in Brno Cz of all places. The staff were very friendly and helpful despite a language barrier. Great memories! We were driving a little Skoda there.
Nice picture! That’s a Skoda Octavia, a C-segment/compact hatch-/liftback, although it looks like a sedan. (just assuming here that you drove the car in the center of the picture…)
Hornbach is big business, BTW:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbach_(retailer)
You are correct sir! That car drove very nicely.
My buddy and I got the distinct impression that Hornbach was a homedepot spinoff or affiliate. The way the merchandise and aisle marking were all done was excellent.
Another Skoda in the parking lot…
Probably also depends on what part of the US you are in. In my area, I’d say (anecdotally) that most of the really LARGE vehicles like Suburbans are driven by livery drivers. Any pickups larger than a standard half-ton almost always have out of state plates. (I assume they are visiting family.) the sweet spot seems to be in the midsize segment, whether it’s a crossover, wagon, or sedan.
On a trip to southern Germany in April, I saw more Asian brands than Euro. Even the rental car was a Toyota Hybrid station wagon. The rental clerk acted like we were getting an upgrade by giving us the Toyota. Was a little disappointed. Was hoping for something with a Euro flavor like a Peugeot or Opel with a stick shift.;-{
Just for the record, here’s Germany’s 2017 Top Ten, car model and sales numbers:
1. Volkswagen Golf 228,227
2. Volkswagen Passat 72,430
3. Volkswagen Tiguan 71,436
4. Mercedes-Benz C-class 68,584
5. Volkswagen Polo 61,378
6. Audi A4 59,469
7. Skoda Octavia 59,147
8. Opel Astra 56,327
9. Volkswagen Touran 52,182
10. Opel Corsa 51,349
(Source: Autoweek.nl/KFZ-Betrieb)
Moparlee’s Skoda is also in the list 🙂
Wow. They like their Golfs.
It basically degrades any other car model to a sideshow…