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| *Travel Tips>>>General - Europe (Continental) Travel Tips |
What are some of the most popular brands (food, electronics, cars, drinks) in Europe? |
Travel Info Specifically in the UK, Germany, France, Spain or Italy. I'm working on a research project and my websearches have turned up NOTHING!!! Or if anyone has any information on branding/marketing websites...let me know. Travel Tips This is actually a pretty big question. The best I can do is break it down by category--although I know a little less about things currently in Spain and Italy, since I only went to those countries once each, respectively. However... as far as cars go, you'll find most of the same cars in all of those countries: BMW, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Audi, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Seat, Citroen, Peugeot, Renault, Opel (which is called Vauxhall in the UK), Smart (which is technically an offshoot of Mercedes), Scion, Rover, Volvo, Saab, and Skoda. About the only American car company represented in Europe is Ford, but there are a LOT of Fords on the road in Europe, so it's definitely a big one. Occasionally you'll see Chevy sold in some places, although I only saw new Chevies in the UK, and even then only rarely. Someone earlier mentioned Mini--Minis are now made by BMW so those don't technically count as a British car any longer. You'll actually see quite a lot of other American cars in Germany and Italy, and some places in the UK, but those are cars brought over by American military service members and their families, so those don't really count. All of the car companies I mentioned are pretty widely found in most European countries, although some countries tend to have greater concentrations of certain brands--the French, for example, are notorious for buying only French cars, and you'll find far greater numbers of Renaults, Peugeots, and Citroens in France, percentage-wise, than other countries, even though those three brands are quite popular throughout Europe. Electronics is a little tougher. You'll find many of the same brands of electronics in Europe as you'll find in the U.S., such as Sony and other worldwide brands; but Europe has many of its own electronics companies, depending on the kind of electronics you're talking about. The fact that Europe uses 220-240V AC instead of 110-120V like we do in the U.S. might have something to do with it--not to mention that all Europeans use different plugs than Americans use. (Most of Europe uses a standard round, 2-prong plug, except for UK and Ireland, which use odd, clunky, three-pronged plugs.) Food and drinks are pretty much on a country-by-country basis, or even region-by-region... not to mention people have their own individual tastes anyway. You'll actually find many of the same fast-food chains in Europe that we have in the states, like McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and KFC. They're actually pretty popular there, and in all cases I've found that the European counterparts to those chains are much better than the ones in the states. That said, though, Europeans don't eat nearly as much fast food as Americans do. In their own homes (and again, this HIGHLY depends on where you're talking about) they tend to eat more healthy, basic foods--salads, breads, soups, meat, etc. As far as restaurants go, you'll find Chinese restaurants EVERYWHERE--and again, Chinese restaurants in Europe seem to be much better than Chinese restaurants in the U.S. There are quite a lot of Indian restaurants; and you'll often find restaurants in Europe you wouldn't usually find in the states... Argentinian steakhouses, for example. Doner kebap stands are quite popular in France and Germany (especially Germany); they're basically the Turkish equivalent to Greek gyros, and they're both inexpensive and tasty. The Brits are quite fond of Chinese takeaway, and Indian food (like curry). You can always find pizza stands in any European country. Each country has its own restaurant chains, some closer to "fast-food" and some closer to "restaurant" status... in Germany, for example, you can find little Nordsee ("North Sea") stands in many, many towns and cities; they sell fish-and-chips and many other seafood treats. Germany/Austria also has an Argentinian steakhouse chain called "Maredo", which was one of my favorite restaurants while I was living in Germany--they're in many of the larger cities. There are plenty of other examples, all depending on the country you're talking about. By "drinks", if you mean popular soft drinks, Coke and Pepsi are everywhere, as well as popular soft drinks made by the two companies--such as Fanta. Coke makes something called "Mezzo-Mix" which is really popular in Germany; it's Coke's version of an older and more well-known fizzy drink in Germany called "Spezi"... both Spezi and Mezzo-Mix are basically a mix of cola and orange, but leaning a little more towards cola. It's a bit like if you mixed 2/3'ds Coke and 1/3'd Fanta Orange... it's really not bad. Many countries have their own soft drink brands, as well as juice brands and water brands and what have you. (France, for example, is famous for Perrier). Even Slovakia has its own brand of cola, called Kofola--it's pretty good, too. Many other drinks we have in the states are actually European... Red Bull, for example; it's an Austrian company. I can probably come up with other examples here and there; as I said, I'm a little less knowledgeable about these things in Spain and Italy, since I've only been to those countries once respectively. Hope this helps a bit... Source(s): Lived in Germany for over three years, until recently... traveled to/in seventeen European countries during that time Other Travel Tips Cars: Spain: Seat(www.seat.com) France: Peugeot(www.peugeot.com), Renault(www.renault.com), Citroen (www.citroen.com) Germany: Audi(www.audi.com), Mercedes(www.mercedes-benz.com... Volkswagen(www.volkswagen.com)... BMW(www.bmw.com) Italy: Fiat(www.fiat.com), Ferrari(www.ferrari-world.com) UK: Mini(www.mini.co.uk). |
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