The battle for supremacy between America’s two biggest car firms has been going on since 1910 – two years after Henry Ford began production of his game-changing Model T – when William C Durant, head of the newly formed General Motors, tried to buy Ford Motor Company. He was turned down, and by 1921 Ford had triple the market share of GM. But GM sales overtook those of Ford just a few years later, and it’s been push and pull ever since.
In the US, their key battleground is pick-ups, where Ford’s F-150 has led the way since 1982. But the Corvette has comfortably held a lead in pony car sales over Ford’s Mustang. Globally, the confrontation has been just as intense. In the UK, it was the Escort against the Viva/Astra, or the Fiesta against the Corsa, while in Australia it was all about the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.
Volkswagen vs the US Environmental Protection Agency
NOx emissions from diesel cars had always been higher than those using petrol, but that small disadvantage was offset by the reduced CO2 emissions and better fuel economy that diesel brought. Or so we thought.
The US Environmental Protection Agency discovered that Volkswagen had been fitting clever – but illegal – defeat devices to lower NOx emissions in official testing, compared with real-world driving conditions. The fallout shook VW to its core, resulting in sackings and resignations, the overhaul of its management team, around $30 billion (£22.5bn) in fines and the conviction of several people involved.
BMW vs Mercedes-Benz vs Audi
Although the three German premium marques share 365 years of heritage, they haven’t always been pitted against each other. The rivalry really kicked into gear in the 1980s, when BMW redefined how good a saloon could be with the ‘E30’ 3 Series, Mercedes invaded BMW’s price bracket with the ‘W201’ 190 (a lineage that would become the C-Class) and Audi pushed upmarket with the ‘B3’ 80 (precursor to the A4).
These days, the three compete in virtually every arena, whether that’s saloons or SUVs, ICE or EV and even with their respective performance arms. Heck, in the glory days of the Frankfurt motor show, they used to battle over who could build the biggest stand. These days, each brand faces plenty more opposition from the UK, France, Italy, China and elsewhere, but it will always be their German premium rivals they’re most measured up to.
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