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With apologies to Robert Burns, the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ marketers gang aft agley. That’s certainly what’s happened to MINI’s plan to race a Porsche 911. Porsche said “no thanks” to MINI’s challenge, which is exactly what MINI was looking for. Then Hyundai had to come in and force MINI out of its underdog status, making it defend itself against a cheaper competitor. And the search for a meaningful race-as-marketing-stunt continues…
16 Comments on “There Is A Substitute: Hyundai Steps In For Porsche, Takes On MINI Challenge...”
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I hope Proton challenges them with a Satria.
I hope MINI accepts, it is a shame Porsche didn’t, I hope more manufacturers decide to join the challenge. This is all really great marketing. I just wish they would broadcast the race on TV.
It would be very cool if there was a form of racing where various manufacturers all came together with actual cars they sell to the public and raced them, perhaps with minor upgrades like extra safety equipment and track-ready tires and brakes. They could call it Stock Car Racing, since the cars would be stock. There could even be a governing body, or a national association for this stock car racing. I bet it would be even bigger than NASCAR.
What about Grand Am? Check out the Continental Tire Series. It’s the most stock of any serious racing I’ve found in North America. The Speed Channel shows a race every few weeks.
Then Hyundai had to come in and force MINI out of its underdog status, making it defend itself against a cheaper competitor.
Well, I don’t know about cheaper.
Both the MINI JCW and Genesis Coupe 3.8 Track can be had at about $31K, while the MINI Cooper S and Genesis Coupe 2.0T R-Spec both start around $25K.
Note to MINI: Be careful what you hype for.
+1. Now instead of getting whupped by a $100,000 911, and getting the chance to say they fought the good fight and being humble about a marginal loss to a car with twice the power and three times the price, they’ll now have to defend their honor to a Hyundai… –And possibly be knocked down a peg from their high horse (shetland pony?) by a value brand.
Should MINI refuse? Well, they were the ones who laid down the challenge, and since Porsche won’t come out to play, it would be bad form for MINI to not race SOMEBODY… Is Bob Lutz still looking?
NulloModo: +100
I love it. Good PR. This will go viral.
About 1:30 too long to go viral.
I doubt there’s much cross-shopping between these two, from what I can see on Hyundai’s website they don’t offer anything close to the Mini’s option choices. But they are small, similarly priced coupes, I hope Mini accepts the challenge.
Not much competition and not much sales success for the Genesis coupe at all. Hyundai reports sales of the Genesis Sedan and Coupe together (which is one of the most bizarre reporting quirks of any automaker seeing as the vehicles share absolutely nothing but a name) so it is hard to say exactly what the mix is, but while I have seen several Genesis Sedans on the road, I haven’t yet seen a single coupe.
The 21 year old college student (who also works a full time job) across the street from my house in Baltimore drives a Genesis Coupe, in red. There’s another one a few blocks down.
Here in TX, I haven’t seen a single one. Here, there’s a much higher proportion of domestics than I’m used to seeing on the coasts.
Obviously, this is a function of where you live.
+1.000.000.
MINI has to accept. I hope Hyundai (like Sunday, lol) wins.
Wonderful stuff – side note: in real life, the Genesis is completely gorgeous – they are starting to pop up around the state and just…real, real looker of an automobile.
There is no chance that Mini takes this challenge, bravo Hyundai.
Attention whores, both of ’em.