Mar 10

It’s known that Vauxhall produces vehicles for the UK that are branded as Opel on the continent. Vauxhalls are essentially Opels with the steering wheel on the right

But what is even more hilarious is that Opel and Vauxhall use the same adverts… But mirrored. Like they are the exact same videos, but the video is flipped for the UK

The best example to show you is the advert for the latest Astra model

https://youtu.be/ht36CeDLxmI - Vauxhall

https://youtu.be/D0arupTbe6E - Opel

All-New Astra | Vauxhall

YouTube
Show threadziviMar 10
@yassie_j why does terfland do that it makes everything more convoluted for no reasonnn,,,
Show thread   Mar 10
@zaire why does the UK have Vauxhall? It’s an older brand that GM bought in the early days of motoring, but in the 1970s, GM shuttered it’s original vehicle manufacturing. From then on, Vauxhall would basically just take German Opel vehicles and fix them for the UK and Irish market
Show threadziviMar 10
@yassie_j Ah i mean the driving on the other side of the road thing
Show threadziviMar 10

@yassie_j ig just because it would be too much a pain in the ass to change now

but like, lol its so silly tho

Show threadAmyMar 10
@[email protected] @[email protected] i know i'm not part of this thread, just saw this, but what makes left-hand drive inherently superior or more obvious?
Show threadzivi

@NotThatDeep @yassie_j when it comes to things like this, standardization = good

therefore, no standartization = bad

Mar 10 at 3:04pmWeb
Show thread   Mar 10

@zaire @NotThatDeep it’s not really that dramatic, it’s just ancient history

We only have this concept of left and right hand drive primarily driven by motor cars, many countries before the 1900s carriages just used whatever side of the road they wished, with the only exceptions being rail vehicles (for obvious reasons)

Since the UK and Ireland had a long history of using left-side operation for carriage traffic, this is what they stuck to when they formalised driving standards

Whereas in Europe, due to the influence of such various things like the Prussians, Napoleon, etc, right-hand operation became the norm

It is a problem, I suppose, if you drive across the English Channel in either direction, but beyond having to adjust your positioning on the road, it’s not altogether that problematic

Show threadAnreji  Mar 10

@yassie_j @zaire @NotThatDeep Fun fact, there are a few places where you have to change sides while driving over a simple border! The UK has the benefit of being an island, but for example Hong Kong is properly connected to Mainland China and they drive on different sides. But people cross those borders and somehow manage it just fine. There's even a sign for it! It's one of those things you don't think about that much but it makes sense that it exists :)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left-_and_right-hand_traffic#Changing_sides_at_borders

Left- and right-hand traffic - Wikipedia