CNN Money has an article entitled What is an American Car, Anyway?. It makes interesting reading, raising such points as the use of chrome that I would not have thought still applied.

But the central theme is correct - there is something about American cars that make them immediately recognizable, especially to the foreign eye. I have often pondered upon this as I watch the streams of cars on the streets and freeways of America. Even the European and Japanese cars are given tweaks that help them to fit into the American look.

In the end, I have to say that it’s the hood (or bonnet, as the Brits call it) more than anything else. Americans have been used to big engines for so long that any car without acres of hood just doesn’t look right. They may turn the engine sideways these days, just as the foreigners do, but the hood must still hint at power beneath.

And that has implications for the overall shape of the car, of course. While European cars especially have become stubby little things with the passenger section the dominant feature of the car, absorbing the hood and trunk, Americans have retained the traditional three-box format and their beloved hoods.

Obviously, this is a generalization and there are exceptions on both sides of the Atlantic. But it’s as true as the point about chrome mentioned by CNN.