An article in this week’s Automotive News has people wondering again about Cadillac’s ongoing flirtation with the idea of producing a $100,000+ car. They’ve shown two in recent years, the Cien mid-engined supercar and the Sixteen sedan. Fans of GM love the cars. I also happen to be a fan of GM, but I feel that producing either car would… More →
Category: Marketing
Marketing
Another lemming over the cliff: Hyundai goes alphanumeric
Now, Accent, Elantra, Sonata, and Azera are hardly stories names. But they are at least names. Word out of Geneva today via Autoblog is that Hyundai will be phasing them all out in favor of alphanumeric names. All of which will start with “i.” Why “i”? Apparently because it stands for Inspiration, Intelligence, Integrity, and Innovation. And, I suspect, because of Apple’s… More →
Verbs
I’ve had a few people complain that the site is confusing, and while I’ve certainly felt their pain I’ve been at a loss concerning what to do about it. Then last night I received an email that gave me a helpful clue: it’s too hard to figure out which links lead to the surveys, and which lead to the results of… More →
The cars pictured in the header
I’ve been charged a few times with being biased against domestic cars simply based on the cars depicted in the header: an Acura TL, a Kia Sportage, and a Honda Odyssey. I suppose an explanation of how these cars were selected is long overdue.
Launching weak
For years enthusiasts have asked GM to offer its European cars in the U.S. (An Opel Omega rebadged as a Cadillac Catera didn’t count.) This fall they’ll start to get their wish, when the Opel Astra goes on sale as the Saturn Astra, with more German-engineered Opels rebadged as Saturns to follow. I fear that the Astra will not sell… More →
Chrysler in 2007 = AMC in 1987?
The last few days have been rife with rumors that General Motors will buy the Chrysler Group from DCX. Most people commenting on this potential deal wonder why GM would want Chrysler. Their product lines overlap, GM has enough work on its hands streamlining the organization it already has, and Chrysler has few winning products at the moment. But what… More →
Chicago: Ford will offer “more products people want”
I’ve attended two presentations by Ford today. The big news at Ford: they’re going to offer “more products people want.” I must wonder how long it took them to develop this strategy.
If you’re lazy, no one has a car for you
Many of the new vehicle introductions I’ve attended stress that the car is for “people with active lifestyles.” Same thing when I performed my Ph.D. research inside GM. Each product’s marketing team had to craft a “reason for being,” and many of these also mentioned “people with active lifestyles” or something similar. One day I pointed this out to one… More →
Are overseas models a solution for Detroit?
For at least a quarter-century, the U.S. automotive press has accused General Motors and Ford of failing to offer their best products in the domestic market. So it should stand to reason that, with Detroit again in trouble, that these companies would now be giving strong consideration to offering their European- or Australian-market products in the American market. GM’s plans… More →
Failure to communicate
I’m always asking for feedback on the site’s design. Responses generally fall into two groups: 1. Couldn’t be simpler 2. Couldn’t be more confusing Being the sort of person I am, I focus on the latter group. Which is usually a group of two or three, out of over 8,000 members, but I assume that for every person who speaks… More →