Volkswagen of America boss man Stefan Jacoby speaks with the Detroit News about VW’s US strategy going forward while admitting a few missteps. Jacoby acknowledges, for example, that the Passat “is too small, and it is almost knocking at the doors of the premium segment. That’s not where the volume is. What we need to do is improve our competitiveness in pricing.” And how does that admission jive with VW’s plan to bring the Phaeton back to the US? Keine ahnung. The DetN never asked.
Hyundai has announced that its Equus luxury flagship is headed stateside in “late 2010.” The New York Times seems to believe that the Equus “is not likely to be called the Equus,” when it arrives. Google the name without “Hyundai” to find out why. So does the rush to market mean Hyundai has abandoned plans for a Genesis-based brand spin-off adventure? Let’s hope so. This is no stretched Azera (it’s a stretched Genesis), but it’s said to be priced starting “under $60K.” Which means Cadillac’s 2012 XTS “flagship” won’t even be a “Hyundai fighter.” How the world changes.
As part of today’s wander through hyperspace, GM attempts to answer a riddle that would have vexed a Theban: “What makes a Chevy a Chevy?” To which the only possible answer is “everything to everyone.” GMC receives the same treatment, in which we learn that the Professional Grade Brand “has a great opportunity to get away from where Chevy is.” (Whatever is is.) But when a Fastlane commenter asked GM Senior Creative Designer Dave Smidebush “why should we order a Terrain over the Equinox?” his answer was an enigma wrapped in a puzzle lost in a Vortec.
Dave Smidebush: Thank you. THey’re [sic] both great vehicles. Buy the one that appeals best to you but I’m a little partial to the Terrain!
If that doesn’t scream “differentiation,” what does?
Just as GM is prepping a green themed “230” Volt hype campaign, comes word from Automotive News [sub] that green is so 2003. “For all the talk about green vehicles,” intones the industry rag, “blue is the new color of choice to embody clean driving.” Did you think that Mercedes BlueTec and VW/Audi’s “AdBlue” names came from the blue tint of their diesel-emissions-treating urea fluids? Nope. “The color blue is associated with freshness, dynamism and lightness,” say VW flacks. And according to Hans Tempel, president of Mercedes-Benz Japan, “Blue perfectly encapsulates the cool, clear sky of a world unsullied by greenhouse gases.” Gagging yet? The best eco-chromatic marketing analysis awaits post-jump.
Well, possibly more compelling. But first the sale. “I think that we’re past midfield with GM. There are always issues that you have to deal with, but I think we’re progressing well,” Roger Penske tells Automotive News [sub]. The bad news is Saturn’s rebirth isn’t going to be as simple as loading a boat with fun, quirky, never-before-seen-on-these-shores foreign cars and slinging Saturn badges on them. And while the details are being worked out (just how foreign and how quirky are we talking?) Saturn will be doing business as uninspired, uh, usual. “Under the terms of the tentative deal between GM and Penske, the automaker would supply Saturn with Aura sedans, Vue SUVs and Outlook crossover vehicles until at least 2011,” reveals AN. Epsilon, Theta, Lambda, oh my! Saturn hasn’t so much been saved as it’s been frozen in time. And Roger Penske won’t even discuss Saturn’s post-GM future. It looks like Saturn’s dealers are going to have to curb their enthusiasm just a little bit longer.
Toyota has been remarkably upfront about its struggles with “Big Company Syndrome.” The fate of Toyota’s predecessor as the world’s largest automaker is an unavoidable example of what awaits giant manufacturers that lose their focus. And yet, as Toyota has replaced GM as the big daddy of car building, it keeps making eerily familiar mistakes. And its no surprise that Toyota’s challenges tend to center around marketing and brand management (hello, Scion). Toyota’s brand is a by-product of its obsession with manufacturing, rather than an independently developed, carefully-maintained image. The trademark Toyota brand qualities of quality and reliability are built on dedication and reputation, not the modern-day alchemy of marketing, sales strategies and brand-pushing. So why is Toyota telling Automotive News [sub] that it’s creating a wholly-owned subsidiary to coordinate global marketing and advertising? And why is Akio Toyoda going to be running the new marketing realm?
“With this new brand manifesto campaign, we set out to reintroduce Scion to young, urban consumers by reinforcing the company’s unique position as an authentic brand that is all about creativity and individuality.”
Simon Needham of of Attik, creator of Scion’s new “Brand Manifesto” campaign. Which makes Scion look like that drunk guy at the party who’s met you three times but doesn’t remember. Just play along. Oh, you’re into big wheels and bodykits? How interesting. “Become one of us by becoming none of us?” How individual. On the other hand, at least Scion’s repetition is better than those NSFW hamsters.
As Old GM’s satellite divisions fly out of orbit, sending the company’s “world car” development plans spinning off into chaos, GM NA is trying to defy gravity with a new, limited product portfolio. Or something like that. Bottom line: Buick is planning to sell the rejigged Opel Insignia—formerly destined to replace the Saturn Aura—as the new Buick Regal. Automotive News [AN, sub] wants readers to clock the fact that the new Regal will slot below the new LaCrosse—because otherwise they might not wonder . . .
Or, as the Man Of Maximum puts it at Fastlane, “It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time.” “It” being the idea of rebadging the Pontiac G8 as a Chevy Caprice.
“With my new “marketing” hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today’s market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be. I know that we’ll get a lot of complaints from G8 lovers, because I’m one of them. And the product guy in me is complaining as loudly as anyone. But the marketing guy says there’s no case. With budgets being what they are for the time being, the resources must be allocated elsewhere.”
Automotive Traveler cites confidential sources inside GM as saying that GM’s Caprice (neé Pontiac G8) will be built in Oshawa, Canada. According to AT’s sources, the Impala’s age is hurting it in police fleet sales. The Caprice would presumably fix that and potentially squeeze a few more sales out of the Zeta platform. But it also flies in the face of recent revelations that Fritz Henderson is “not a fan of rebadging” (in regard to the G8, no less), and that the Impala is moving to the Epsilon II platform. Are we seeing the beginnings of a Lutz-Henderson rift?
OK, that’s a bit of a surprise. Who would have guessed that Lutz’s two first post-unretirement announcements would have heralded a Chevy rebadge and the cancelation of a higher-performance Camaro? Is the age of Maximum over after all? “Any fears that the days of high-performance General Motors cars may be numbered or totally over can be allayed,” Lutz tells Automobile. “There is no pressure at all to get off the high-performance thing.” But clearly there is. According to Automobile’s write-up, the Z28 “was apparently put on hold due to both cost constraints and concerns about the blatant political incorrectness of building a gas-guzzling, super pony car.” So which is it? Bob?
A brand is a promise to a consumer. When a brand’s products fail to live up to the consumer’s expectations (i.e. the promise in THEIR mind), they are right never to trust it again. Why should a screwed customer give GM another chance? We’re not talking about sewing machines here. An automobile is the average consumer’s second most expensive purchase (after their house). They have every right—indeed an obligation to the people who depend on them—to err on the side of caution. To AVOID risking the money upon which their family relies. I repeat: if they’re satisfied with their current car company, they would do their family a disservice to put their money at risk.
The marketing mavens at GM commissioned a Youtube video of two “bumblebee boys” washing a Camaro for Chevrolet’s “Gay Days At The Movies” promotion. The bankrupt automaker pulled the ad after a single day for being “tasteless.” (As the Chinese market ad in the post below proves, using sex to sell fast cars is never OK.) Only yesterday, GM’s Dave Barthmuss told USA Today that the video might surprise some “because you don’t see it in the mainstream.” But the ad would “make sense for this particular audience.” Today, Barthmuss tells USA Today that “the video was not appropriate and not in good taste.” The only problem was that (apparently) nobody at GM had actually seen the video. The spot has been yanked from YouTube; it’s internet MIA. So why spend (taxpayer) money on ads like this if you aren’t even going to use them? And what about the video makes it any more tasteless than, say, a Camaro in Harvest Gold or It’s A Girl Pink?
The AP reports that GM design chief Ed Welburn is heading a group studying name and logo changes for the General. What, like “Precision Motors“? “Changing the background of the familiar square blue-and-white GM logo has been discussed,” according to the AP’s anonymous sources, but nothing has been decided yet. The same anonymous sources do indicate, however, that “the company is looking into changing the background color of its corporate logo from blue to green in an effort to show consumers that it is leaner and greener, more focused on fuel efficiency and better able to make quick decisions.” And remind consumers, no doubt, that GM is fully committed to covering up fundamental problems with quick, cosmetic fixes. Now more than ever.
Rumors surrounding a possible Buick Theta-based CUV are being amplified by rumors that the Saturn VUE plug-in hybrid will make it to market under a different brand. GM’s Tom Stephens confirms to Reuters that a plug-in ute will be available in 2011 (as planned), just under a different brand name. With rumors of a hybrid powertrain in the works for the forthcoming LaCrosse, green may be yet another new attribute for the brand confusion that is Buick. “We’ve got a strategy that says there are no silver bullets,” as Stephens says, curiously ignoring the Volt. “We need all of this.” Which, in a nutshell, is the attitude that is destroying Buick…
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