It is a question that vexed President Trump eight years ago and has re-emerged as a reason behind his threat to impose tariffs on the European Union: Why don’t Europeans buy cars from the United States?
“They make it impossible to sell cars in the European Union,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Monday, reviving a pet peeve from his first term in office. A particular sore spot for the president? Germans and their preference for cars made in Germany.
“How many Chevrolets or Fords do you see in the middle of Munich?” he asked.
Not many. German cars may be a regular sight on U.S. roads, but leading American brands are less common in Germany. The reasons range from customer preferences and German regulations to the sheer size of the cars that Americans love to drive.
“Of course, there are a few American vehicles on the road in Germany,” said Katharina Luca, a spokeswoman for ADAC, Germany’s automobile association. “Even in Munich you sometimes see a Ram in city traffic.”
But driving one is not without its challenges. Most European cities have their share of wide boulevards, but at their heart is a tangle of narrow, winding streets, where cyclists and pedestrians compete with cars for space.
In Munich, some streets are wide enough for American cars, Ms. Luca said. But, she added, “there are also smaller streets where it is of course difficult for a normal vehicles to pass each other.”
European countries also have different safety and regulatory standards, including banal directives such as requiring amber rear blinkers instead of red. Meeting those requirements would add extra costs and make it harder for U.S. companies to enter the market, said Matthias Schmidt, an auto analyst in Berlin.
“Even if they did, they would soon be persuaded to leave when they read the European CO2 fleet emissions regulatory targets fine print,” he added. “U.S. manufacturers would have real issues meeting these regulatory standards with their current product portfolio.”
Then there is the question of parking. A Ram 1500 pickup truck, for instance, is roughly three feet longer and two inches wider than the standard German parking spot, which makes fitting into one a tight squeeze. (Ram is owned by Stellantis, which also owns Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, along with several small and midsize brands in Europe.)
Despite such challenges, makers of U.S. pickups have found an audience in Germany, which has seen a growing fondness for larger, heavier cars, such as S.U.V.s. But Germans still tend to stick to the smaller models produced by domestic automakers.
“American tastes are different than in Germany,” said Fabian Brandt, a partner at the consulting firm Oliver Wyman, who advises automobile companies and their suppliers. He added that smaller, more efficient engines were also behind German drivers’ preferences.
In addition, Mr. Brandt said, Americans tend to drive longer distances at lower regulated speed limits than most Germans. They also place a greater priority on interior design, “such as cup holders, their size and how many of them there are,” he added.
Gas prices are another factor. Germans pay an average of about $1.41 for liter of gas, which translates to $5.50 per gallon, compared with the average price of gas in the United States, which was $3.10 a gallon on Tuesday.
American automakers such as General Motors and Ford Motor have struggled in Europe for decades. In 2017, G.M. sold its European brands, including Opel in Germany, and stopped selling almost all Chevrolet models in Europe. But hobbyists and collectors can still buy a Corvette in Germany and other European countries, and G.M. has been trying to sell some of its electric vehicles in Europe, like the Cadillac Lyriq.
Ford is investing $2 billion to transform its plant in Cologne, Germany, to an “electric vehicle center,” although that has come with job cuts. And the automaker is closing its other German plant by the end of the year.
President Trump has cited auto imports as a reason for the trade imbalance between the United States and Europe, but many of the German cars on U.S. roads were made at factories in Alabama, South Carolina and Tennessee.
All of BMW’s X series S.U.V.s, which are as popular in Munich as they are in Memphis, are built in Spartanburg, S.C. BMW exported about $10.1 billion worth of them in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, making it one of the largest U.S. car exporter.
And the automaker, which is based in Munich, cannot claim to sell the most popular electric S.U.V. in Germany. That title goes to an American car, Tesla’s Model Y, produced just outside Berlin.
