[efilippi]

WSJ had a favorable review of this History Channel series, starting this week. Labelled "
A four-part special examines how the development of the automobile changed everyday life and the course of history.

The review takes a bit of a dig about the 'patented History fashion' of telling a story but the final words sound encouraging: "The Cars That Built the World" has a lofty title and a style that oversells its story. It needn't do so. The narrative, which reaches a crescendo with the Toyota Corolla, doesn't need any help. It has traction, one might say, and the subject is such a normalized part of modern life that it's exciting to visit a time in auto history when almost every innovation was a revolution.

 

[Hercules67]

Interesting.

James May's "Cars of the People" was a really good series on the subject. Is this an American remake?

 

[TonyD79]

Cars that MADE the world?

 

[Steveknj]

Wow I missed this one (I like these types of shows. I'll have to see when it's on again.

 

[jcondon]

I believe my wife recorded it. She asked me last week if I would want to watch it and I told her yes.

 

[cheesesteak]

I recorded it last night and watched about the first half hour. I'll finish it this week.

 

[mattack]

It's really 2 2 hour episodes, right? (I think it's officially two hours smashed together)

Watched at 170%.. these shows are "infotainment"

I didn't remember that Mercedes was his daughter's name.. I might have heard that in the past.. I was thinking Mercedes/Benz were the two founders.

I should go look this up on Wikipedia, but have Bentley or Rolls Royce EVER put out anything not a "fancy shmancy" car? (and no, saying airplane engines doesn't count)
e.g. even Porsche does SUVs nowadays!! and I didn't realize Lambourgini does too, until I saw a Bull episode that had a black Lambo SUV as a main plot point.

 

[TonyTheTiger]

Porsche has marketed the Cayenne for 15-20 years and added the smaller Macan a few years ago.

Lamborghini has the Urus.

Bentley, the Bentayga

Even Rolls Royce has the monstrosity known as the Cullinan!

Seems like the future is SUV-shaped!

 

[Steveknj]

The history, if any of it is completely true it interesting, but boy, Germans speaking American English without and accent just took me out of the "reenactment". They couldn't at least have them speak with a German accent? Same with the Brits and the Japanese.

I had no idea that Porche created the VW Beetles for Hitler. I also had no idea that Honda worked for Toyota. Those were interesting tidbits. Only about 30 minutes into E2 at this point.

 

[mattack]

The history, if any of it is completely true it interesting, but boy, Germans speaking American English without and accent just took me out of the "reenactment". They couldn't at least have them speak with a German accent? Same with the Brits and the Japanese.

I had no idea that Porche created the VW Beetles for Hitler. I also had no idea that Honda worked for Toyota. Those were interesting tidbits. Only about 30 minutes into E2 at this point.

Wow, I thought everybody knew the VW Hitler connection.

yeah, the accent thing I noticed a bit but got over it quickly.

It sure seemed to end quickly... like they didn't have enough content for another hour so just sort of stopped.

What was the name of the fuel used in the first episode? I forgot to write it down and have never heard of it before.

I do like these shows, and there's what, I think 2 more they're already advertising? Titans and something else? They'll run out of good ideas eventually.

 

[mattack]

Seems like the future is SUV-shaped!

though I guess all of these are still pretty expensive? none comes into the low end car category.

 

[TonyTheTiger]

though I guess all of these are still pretty expensive? none comes into the low end car category.

Hardly, but my point is that even the luxury automobile makers see the need to have an WUV in their lineups. Of course, the granddaddy of them all is the Range Rover - another luxury offering.

 

[Worf]

Wait... didn't this air a year or two ago? Sorta kicked off the whole "The [Blank] that made [America|The World]" series? (Including The Food that Built America and The Cars that Built America as well).

I think the Cars that Built America was a followup miniseries that delved deeper into American cars because that's a history upon itself.

 

[Steveknj]

Wow, I thought everybody knew the VW Hitler connection.

yeah, the accent thing I noticed a bit but got over it quickly.

It sure seemed to end quickly... like they didn't have enough content for another hour so just sort of stopped.

What was the name of the fuel used in the first episode? I forgot to write it down and have never heard of it before.

I do like these shows, and there's what, I think 2 more they're already advertising? Titans and something else? They'll run out of good ideas eventually.

I knew the VW connection with Hitler, but I didn't know that Porche was involved with VW and thus with this project (nor did I know that he was a card carrying member of the Nazi Party). I have some family and friends who refuse to buy a German car to this day due to the links to Hitler.

 

[Steveknj]

Hardly, but my point is that even the luxury automobile makers see the need to have an WUV in their lineups. Of course, the granddaddy of them all is the Range Rover - another luxury offering.

Luxury automakers, sure, Lexus, and such have had SUVs since they became hugely popular. But sports car companies? First time I saw the Porsche Cayanne, my thought was, they sold out to the masses. They should stick to making sports cars. But there's definitely a market for them, as I see tons of them on the road.

 

[Steveknj]

Wait... didn't this air a year or two ago? Sorta kicked off the whole "The [Blank] that made [America|The World]" series? (Including The Food that Built America and The Cars that Built America as well).

I think the Cars that Built America was a followup miniseries that delved deeper into American cars because that's a history upon itself.

The first was The Cars that Built America (focusing on American cars and car makers, like Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet and later Shelby and Iacocca). This one is focused on the rest of the world, so we get Benz, Deimler, Rolls and Royce, Porsche, Honda and Toyota.

 

[efilippi]

Wow, I thought everybody knew the VW Hitler connection.

yeah, the accent thing I noticed a bit but got over it quickly.

It sure seemed to end quickly... like they didn't have enough content for another hour so just sort of stopped.

What was the name of the fuel used in the first episode? I forgot to write it down and have never heard of it before.

From a review by WSJ:
In what must have been one of the great accidents in scientific advancement, a neighborhood fire sparked by ignited ligroin-a petroleum derivative used as a cleaning product-gave Benz the notion that the solvent or something similar (like gasoline) could burn with sufficient ferocity to make feasible the small engine he had in mind.

 

[TonyTheTiger]

Luxury automakers, sure, Lexus, and such have had SUVs since they became hugely popular. But sports car companies? First time I saw the Porsche Cayanne, my thought was, they sold out to the masses. They should stick to making sports cars. But there's definitely a market for them, as I see tons of them on the road.

They DID sell out to the masses! In fact, the Aston Martin DBX is said to be the proposed savior of the brand!

(BTW, Lexus is NOT a luxury car brand in the same way as the ones discussed. Like Infiniti and Acura, they are merely a higher end offering than their mainstream counterparts (Toyota, Nissan and Honda), often sharing architecture with their lower-offering siblings.)

 

[Steveknj]

They DID sell out to the masses! In fact, the Aston Martin DBX is said to be the proposed savior of the brand!

(BTW, Lexus is NOT a luxury car brand in the same way as the ones discussed. Like Infiniti and Acura, they are merely a higher end offering than their mainstream counterparts (Toyota, Nissan and Honda), often sharing architecture with their lower-offering siblings.)

Obviously it depends how you define it. Cadillac shares a lot of underpinnings with Chevy, Buick, etc. but is still considered luxury. Same company but it's their luxury line. Obviously there are more niche luxury lines that all they do is specialize luxury models.

 

[DevdogAZ]

Luxury automakers, sure, Lexus, and such have had SUVs since they became hugely popular. But sports car companies? First time I saw the Porsche Cayanne, my thought was, they sold out to the masses. They should stick to making sports cars. But there's definitely a market for them, as I see tons of them on the road.

Porsche makes a majority of its revenue from the Cayenne and Macan, which is what gives them the money to continue improving their sports cars. So you may call it selling out, I call it being business savvy and following market trends.

Porsche Reports U.S. Retail Sales for 2020