People tell me the site could be easier to use. A more thorough redesign is coming, but in the short term I’ve made some tweaks, and they seem to be helping. 1. Reduced wordcount on the home page and the main reliability page. 2. Removed some extraneous design elements. 3. Placed text about the on-site surveys below the log in, so… More →
Category: Marketing
Marketing
SRT to Smart
The theory behind market segmentation assumes that people have a certain set of needs and thus that when looking to buy something like a car can be expected to buy a specific type of product. Reality isn’t nearly so clean. Although I continue to find market segmentation quite interesting (how might car buyers be grouped?), and believe there’s a role for… More →
Chevrolet ads to challenge Toyota, Honda, and Nissan on reliability?
This week’s Automotive News includes an article (subscription required) on upcoming ads for the new 2008 Chevrolet Malibu. Apparently, Chevrolet is going to attack the erroneous “belief system” that American cars cannot compete. So far, so good. But one sentence I must really wonder about: “It takes the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Nissan Altima to task for quality and reliability,… More →
Toyota and Lexus: back in the USSR (could anyone else survive such a system?)
I visit many forums, and one topic comes up again and again on those for Toyota and Lexus models: many options and option combinations are simply not available. At least not in your area, or not this month. Sometimes no cars without options are available. Sometimes you can get the Premium Package, but only if you also get a Towing… More →
Ford to finally get decent marketing with Steve Wilhite?
Note: Toyota’s Jim Farley ended up with the Ford job. The Wilhite rumor turned out to be incorrect. Ford has long had some of the worst marketing in the industry. Their brand identity has been broad and vague. Their product lineup has been full of overlaps and gaps. Their targetting has been somewhere between imprecise and non-existent. And their advertising has… More →
Does no-haggle pricing still make sense for Saturn?
For the first decade of Saturn’s existence, “no-haggle pricing”–the sticker price is the price everyone pays–made sense. It made Saturn dealers very easy to work with, and the brand’s reputation benefited. But today, despite an all-new product line-up, Saturn is falling short of its sales goals. The products are solid. The problem: no-haggle pricing. Why did no haggle pricing work… More →
The things dealers do to get top scores
Last May TrueDelta conducted a special survey, asking people what, if anything, car dealers did to influence their responses on manufacturers’ sales experience surveys. Were tactics like asking for top scores, giving gifts in exchange for filling out the survey at the dealer, and so forth as widespread as anecdotal evidence suggested? Well, the results can now be viewed here.… More →
Sunroofs and stereos: like chocolate and peanut butter, or do they just sound good together?
In recent years, I’ve noted an increasing number of “Moon and Tunes” and “Sun and Sound” option packages, especially from Detroit. These usually include a sunroof and an optional audio system, perhaps with a CD changer or satellite radio also tossed into the mix, at a discounted package price. I say “usually” because in the Chevrolet TrailBlazer you can substitute a… More →
Those “used car shortage” letters — does the dealer really need your car?
Recently I’ve come across threads on many forums (such as this one) where a member asks about a letter they received from their car dealer. In the letter, the dealer says it badly needs more used cars, perhaps even the specific car the person owns, and so will make it especially easy to trade the member’s current car in for… More →
It’s not enough to develop a great product
Chevrolet has instructed its dealers to buy a Camry and put it in showrooms next to the redesigned 2008 Malibu this fall. Saturn dealers will soon be offering three-way test drives pitting its Aura sedan against the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. In both cases, the thinking is that if only car buyers recognized how well the GM sedans compare, they’d… More →