Speaking of confused advertising directions, BMW and its US-market ad agency GSD&M Idea City have parted ways according to Automotive News [sub]. GSD&M was responsible for the poorly-received “Joy” campaign, which BMW had adopted as a global campaign. And according to the report, BMW didn’t call off the relationship. The ad team pulled the plug because
Relationships are no longer strong with the marketing team, particularly in the wake of [BMW USA marketing boss Jack] Pitney’s death; the agency wasn’t making enough money on the account; and there wasn’t an opportunity to do the kind of work the agency had hoped to undertake.
Here’s hoping a new team helps BMW get its advertising mojo back. With Cadillac’s CTS-V going after the German sports sedan jugular with one of the best ads of the year, and luxury competition heating up in the US market, this is not a moment to get caught napping.
Reaction to recently-released images of the updated Dodge Journey interior has been varied, but if there’s a consensus, it’s that improvement is undeniable, but that Dodge will need to update more than the interior in order to make the Journey truly competitive. And that’s the diplomatic way of putting it. One reader even wrote in (in the spirit of International Caps Lock Day) to say
I OWN A 2009 DODGE JOURNEY AND IT IS THE BIGGEST PIECE OF CRAP I HAVE EVER OWNED DODGE SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO SELL THIS KIND OF CRAP TO HARD WORKING AMERICANS I WISH I COULD DRIVE IT RIGHT THOUGH THE SHOW ROOM.
Point taken: the Journey needs to be improved. So why is Dodge selling the (as yet unimproved) crossover as “World’s Best Vehicle(?)” Sure, they’re trying to be cleverly ironic, but doesn’t it just highlight the fact that you’d need to be cross-shopping a bare metal armored car in order to think highly of the Journey? On the other hand, we’re not exactly sure how we’d sell the benighted Journey ourselves. Hit the jump for more questionable (or not?) cross-shopping, courtesy of Dodge’s too-cool-for-reality Mad Men. (Read More…)
As they say in Hebrew, im ta’am v’rai’ach ain l’hit’vakai’ach, with matters of taste you can’t argue, and in general I agree with Jack Baruth’s principle that folks who know nothing about design shouldn’t say much beyond “like it” or “don’t like it”. Still, it’s impossible to review current Mazdas without at least mentioning their, […]
I’m considering buying a Mercury Grand Marquis. Maybe it’s not the most popular car on the road today, but I want a large, solid, comfortable, quiet car with rear-wheel drive, decent low-end torque and a V8. I don’t care too much about a lot of the new bells and whistles and I prefer a soft comfortable ride rather than sporty handling. The Grand Marquis seems to fit the bill.
I plan to keep the car for a long time. So, do I buy new and have the benefit of knowing the car’s maintenance history and the way it has been driven since day one? Or do I go with a year or two old Grand Marquis (most likely, from what I’ve seen on the used car market, a former rental fleet vehicle) to avoid what I gather to be the relatively steep depreciation cost I’d incur if I buy new? I guess what it really comes down to – what do you think about buying a Grand Marquis that spent its first year or two as a rental car?
As we’ve noted before, Hyundai and Kia have been quick to exploit the weakness of the domestic auto industry by advertising their American-made cars as American-made cars. Now, they’re taking the attack to a whole new level, as Hyundai USA President John Krafcik tells CNN Money that his brand will build 80 percent of its vehicles in the United States by next year. If the Korean brand can actually achieve that goal, it would make Hyundai’s lineup the most American-built full line on the market. And though he insists that Hyundai doesn’t make decisions about production based on PR, Krafcik can’t help but twist the knife, saying
I’m going to build my three best selling cars in the US. Ford builds its best selling car in Mexico.
Volkswagen is rolling in money. In the first nine months, VW registered an after tax profit of more than €4b ($5.57b). No funky EBITA, no “gains before restructuring charges,” straight bankable after tax profit. That’s six times the €655m the company reported in the same period of the prior year. (While most other car makers reported hefty losses.) (Read More…)
Motorists traveling through New Jersey see $43 million of money paid through tolls wasted on the bureaucracy, according to an audit released Tuesday by the state comptroller. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is responsible for running the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike. Its employees took funds from the continuously increasing tolls and used it to enrich themselves in a number of ways.
“While tolls are going up, the Turnpike Authority is overpaying its employees, overpaying its management, overpaying for its health plan and overpaying for legal services,” State Comptroller A. Matthew Boxer said in a statement.
Ever since the China Automotive Technology & Research Center, a government agency that “assists the government in such activities as auto standard and technical regulation formulating, product certification testing, quality system certification, industry planning and policy research, information service and common technology research” started issuing monthly car sales numbers, we had our issues with them.
Month after month, they came out with data early, received headlines all over the world, and when the official CAAM numbers came out, they were totally different. There were attempts to explain that CATRC reports registrations, whereas CAAM reports deliveries to dealers. But the numbers were too far apart. In August, we yelped “Come on, guys. China is the world’s largest auto market. Why do we have to endure this rigmarole every month?” When we reported the September numbers, the CATRC was conspicuously absent. Now, we know why. (Read More…)
October sales in Japan most likely will be a nightmare. Everybody thought they would drop after the government withdrew its subsidies last month. But it will be much uglier than expected. (Read More…)
It’s easy to see why Sergio is feeling mighty pleased with himself. Fiat is predicted to turn a €400 million profit this year (that’s about $556m) and Fiat is expanding in Brazil, a huge car market. So can some of this good fortune rub off onto Chrysler? Possibly 35 percent of it can, if Sergio has his way.
The Freep reports that Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, has told analysts that Fiat is planning to raise its stake in Chrysler from 20 percent to 35 percent by the end of next year “barring unforeseen circumstances”. A big vote of confidence, indeed. When Fiat took its initial stake in Chrysler, it was given the option to increase its stake by 5 percent tranches, provided it could meet certain goals. (Read More…)
Some say you get what you pay for. Others say, the best things in life are free. Usually, it depends. This time, it’s a case of the latter. TTAC has always been free, and (AFAIK) it always will be. How much did you save by reading TTAC? A respective research organization gives it to you in writing: $299, at least. According to Business Wire, “Plunkett Research, Ltd. has released its newest market research and competitive analysis report, Plunkett’s Automobile Industry Almanac, 2011 edition, which identifies and analyzes major trends shaping the automobile and truck industry.” For that, you need to plunkett down $299. Now let’s see what major trends Plunkett predicts. Hold on to your hats (and your money.) (Read More…)
Welcome to Tinfoil Time. A public service for paranoids and their enemies. When the NHTSA went after Toyota for their runaway cars, some people (me, included) saw this as a transparent attempt to undermine Toyota in order to make GM and Chrysler (A.K.A new arms of the US government) more attractive both in terms of purchasing their products and the IPO’s. But now that the circus is leaving town, is the NHTSA looking for a new victim? Whilst searching the net, I saw (part of) an article (sub) which mentions how Ford’s North American market share is on the rise. Sure, Toyota’s market share in the U.S. dropped by 1.5 percent compared to September 2009. But GM did not pick up those sales. They lost 2.8 percent. The winners were Ford (+ 1.4 percent), and Chrysler (+2.1 percent).I also remember a poll that was taken which claimed that how 54 percent of people were less likely to buy a GM car because of their bailout. Rising sales at Ford and bad will towards GM? I’ve seen this scenario before! The next stage is now the NHTSA will tell us to stop driving our Fords. Trouble is, Ford doesn’t have any recalls of recent. So what can the NHTSA do? You recycle a recall. (Read More…)
Scientific studies are all well and good, but sometimes the simplest studies can provide the most fascinating insights. Take, for example, the recent series at Autosavant entitled “Brand Awareness? It’s Elementary” (part two here). The study was inspired by a simple question: if you ask kids to name their favorite car, what kind of results will you get? Their answers reflect not only the power of automotive brands in popular culture, but also the basic level of automotive competency of the next generation of gearheads. Somewhat shockingly, not a single kid appears to have answered “Bumblebee.”
The Challenge is on to stay competitive with a V6, which have become the V8s or yore. Anything less than 300 hp just won’t do, and the new 2011 Challenger does, just barely, with 305. The new Pentastar V6 has found its way into Dodge’s porky pony, and Chrysler is mighty proud of it. (See full press release here). Its lighter, cheaper to build, more efficient and powerful; what’s not to like? It still leaves the Challenger at the back of the pack. (Read More…)
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