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Of course, the next question is, will you? Companies pay millions for new logos, corporate identities and those terrific little sandwiches they serve inside the meeting rooms. Well, they used to, before the beancounters woke up from their profit-gorged torpor. So why would we ask you, our Best and Brightest, to design a logo for The Truth About Cars without paying for your mad design skills? We wouldn’t. Just not up front (our marketing budget is literally zero). We’ve entered into a revenue-sharing agreement with Car Tatts— they of the “it’s so not a bumper sticker” fame– to split the revenue from TTAC tatts. So we’ll cut our winning artist in on that deal (a buck a pop). We’ll also sneak their initials into the logo, which should please Mom no end. Car Tatts is looking for a car-oriented designer (no really) AND you get recognition and kudos from your peers. Now how much wouldn’t we pay? Anyway, the brief. The logo must be significantly better than our existing design (i.e. nothing) and win the approval of our readers (I’ll build a gallery for comment). Send a jpeg to robert.farago@thetruthaboutcars.com. At this point, we’re talking single use; copyright remains with the artist until we sign a deal. The deadline is next Tuesday. Thanks.
GM Card Q1 2009 Top Off Incentive Offer
PROGRAM EXPLANATION
TO: All RDMMs, ARDMMs, ZMs, ASMs and GM Dealers
FROM: GM Cardmember Services – Detroit, MI
SUBJECT: 2009 Q1 GMCS Top-Off Earnings Retail Program
PROGRAM OVERVIEW:
GM Cardmember Services (GMCS) is sending select GM Card and GM Flexible Earnings Card Cardmembers a direct mail piece that includes a special Bonus Earnings “Top-Off” offer toward the purchase/ lease of an eligible, new GM vehicle between 1/6/09 and 2/2/09.
OFFER OVERVIEW:
GMCS will add Bonus Earnings to select Cardmembers’ Accounts so that they total either $2,000 or $3,000 in Topped off Earnings.
One of our Best and Brightest has received a bit of mail recently… “My GM Card has collected $777 towards a new GM of my choice. They sent me a snail mail volunteering to up it to $2000, no questions asked. And here’s the kicker: “Valid in conjunction with all other rebates and offers.” (I’d scan and email it to you, but my scanner has taken a dump.) Sweet, but I wish they go ahead and knock 75% off the price of a new truck, as opposed to this 50% bullshit. Then, I’d place it under ‘definite maybe, but forget about it because the economy sucks’ status.”
Money’s too tight to mention. But Rick Brown, president of GM Asia Pacific, mentioned it to Automotive News [AN, sub]. “We won’t be participating [in the you can call it the Tokyo Auto Show]. If you really look at the business conditions that we are in right now, where we really have to make a bang out of every buck we spend, it’s simply a business decision.” AN reckons a presence at the Tokyo show cost $2m. No wonder Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper says Ford and Chrysler also “missed” last year’s deadline to register for the show. That’s the price of one year’s G4 lease! As we reported yesterday, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association is hemming and hawing about whether or not to cancel the event until 2011. Previous media speculation centered on whether one of Japan’s “Big Three” (Toyota, Honda, Nissan) would withdraw and kill the event. Now, with the Americans out of play, it’s only a matter of time. Who’s next to go? New York? Barcelona? Watch this space.
I admire Henrik Fisker’s adaptability. When he realized that the high end market didn’t want reskinned German cars, he put his business plans int he greenwasher and emerged with cash-in-hand. Fisker decided he wanted to build a beautiful, powerful hybrid car– and that’s just what he wants to build. The Karma is quite an achievement, in terms of design, technology, and convincing someone to give Fisker millions of dollars. But then there’s the sanctimonious EcoBabble™. One of our Best and Brightest emailed me an excerpt from the brochure today, and the bits about the interior trim, well, judge for yourself. “Wood trim is recovered from trees found in America’s wilds: Fallen Trees™ that have succumbed to age; Rescued Trees™ burned in forest fires; and Sunken Trees™ lying on lake bottoms.” “Recylable EcoGlass™, made from naturally occurring sand…” “The EcoSport™ series incorporates hand-wrapped premium leather processed using a 100 percent sustainable Happy Cow™ manufacturing strategy…” If a tree falls in the forest, but no one trademarks it…
Honda has launched a new series of short films (well, they say they’re short) about the importance of failure. Not giving up. Kicking out the ladder then lighting the building on fire (WTF?). Surrendering your life to Sochiro at the Temple of VTEC. Something. “Ultimately, we hope these films will intrigue and inspire people by giving them a look into Honda’s unique philosophy—that impossible dreams can be realized through determination, creativity and hard work,” pronounced Todd Carey, associate creative director at RPA, without disclosing what he means by “ultimately” (time delay zen?). But if you’re looking for an endlessly annoying piano riff (are they going to trademark those two notes or what?) or someone talking about how cool it is that they weren’t fired for fucking up, this is the series for you. To be fair, it’s beautifully shot and all the Honda employees speak from the heart. And remember: corporate culture eats executive strategy for lunch.
Of course, that’s complete horseshit. You can no more reduce a “cool car” to a formula than you can pick a hit song by analyzing the notes. Certainly, if you’re looking for mainstream success, both car and song needs a “hook” or two and must work within a certain prescribed range (price, length). But it’s hard to take any survey on cool cars seriously when it’s conducted by people who push pencils for a living, based on a poll of “1,006 participants aged 17 to 28… randomly drawn from a panel of individuals who agreed to participate in online surveys.” Anyway, here goes nothing: “Deloitte’s survey discovered that the majority of Gen Y respondents felt a vehicle reflects a person’s style, status and values, and the factors named most often as among the top three reasons that a vehicle is cool were exterior styling, affordability and being environmentally friendly. Among survey respondents, 44 percent said exterior styling was the most important factor in selecting a vehicle, 40 percent said affordability and 35 percent said environmentally friendly. These statistics are important as they represent an opportunity for auto manufacturers and suppliers to be creative and turn their new business models into customized programs tailored to reach this diverse market.” See what I mean?
Of course, that’s a bit blunt for corporate types. Ford design chief J Mays gives us the Ford-approved terminology for the automaker’s decision to forgo rear wheel-drive (RWD) for its passenger vehicles: “It’s out of the cycle plan,” J tells Automotive News [AN, sub]. “We’ve got other priorities at the moment. We’re going down a path right now that is all about fuel efficiency, and we’ve got a lot to do about that. So we’re not talking about rear-wheel drive.” AN provides the potted history of the layout’s extinction. “A year ago, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and product chief Derrick Kuzak confirmed that the new Ford and Lincoln rwd sedans would be coming. By midyear, Kuzak said Ford was rethinking the program but hadn’t discontinued it. Analysts had expected U.S. sales of the rwd cars to begin with the 2013 model year. The platform was to be shared with a large car developed for Australia.” And now, nothing. TTAC’s Best and Brightest will debate the wisdom of abandoning RWD. Suffice it to say, Lincoln. Oh, and the Hyundai Genesis.
A recently-released Kelley Blue Book survey says that nine out of ten car-shopping Americans have at least one hunk of Detroit iron on their wish list. Even more tellingly, one third of shoppers polled would only buy a car built by Ford, Chevy or Chrysler. That’s a considerable preference for America as a nation-state of ostensible origin compared to Japan (12 percent) or Germany (five percent). “Seeing the domestic automakers’ recent struggle has ignited a heightened sense of patriotism among some American car shoppers, and the latest Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research indicates that people are pulling for the Big Three to survive and thrive,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book. Which is one way to look at it…
From: GM Dealership Employee Discount <GM_Dealership_Employee_Discount@email.generalmotors.bfi0.com>
Subject: A remarkable loyalty offer for GM owners
To: XXXXX@yahoo.com
Date: Wednesday, January 7, 2009, 6:19 PM
Loyalty works both ways.
To show how much we appreciate your continued business, we’re offering this special purchase opportunity — exclusively to our best customers:
Up to $3,000 Owner Loyalty Bonus Cash1 on almost every new GM vehicle now through February 2, 2009. You can combine your Owner Loyalty Bonus Cash with your GM Dealership Employee Discount2 and most current incentives, including special GMAC financing on select vehicles. So, if you or someone in your household owns or leases a 1999 or newer model year GM vehicle, now’s the perfect time to buy.
See the attached flyer to learn some surprising facts about today’s GM vehicles and for a full listing of the many models that are eligible for this offer.
To learn more, log on to gmded.com.
Don’t delay.
Hurry in to your GM Dealer before February 2, 2009, to take advantage of your Owner Loyalty Bonus Cash. Remember, this special offer can be combined with your dealership employee discount2 and most current incentives, including special GMAC financing on select vehicles.
GM has responded to yesterday’s story “revealing” that no one wants to buy the Saab brand. The fact that the denial is off the record [via AFP] tells you that either A) The General is involved in delicate, top-secret negotiation to transfer ownership of the Swedish near-luxury brand to a third party or B) they’re lying. The off-the-record comment from “one GM official familiar with the proceedings” smacks of B: “It’s still early in the process. It’s going to take some time.” Which is the one thing– well one of many things– that GM doesn’t have. Meanwhile, Chrysler is also involved in a smoke and mirrors campaign as part of its ongoing and increasingly incredible effort to convince the world that it’s an ongoing and credible commercial enterprise. Ahead of the don’t call it the Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler product development chief Frank Klegon is talking-up the possibility of building a car-based lifestyle truck. It’s a fiction so boneheaded that even The Detroit News was impolite enough to mention that GM had just abandoned said genre (G8 ST RIP), and that Honda’s Ridgeline is a flop. In fact, scribe Alisa Priddle does a yeoman’s job proving that Klegon is lost in space. “This is a segment where many automakers have recognized there isn’t enough volume for all of the players to invest in their own platform, and there is a lot of sharing going on.” And that’s as good as it gets…
If it sounds too good to be true, it’s on the internet. While there may be some benefit to the services offered by parkingticket.com, imaking paying/fighting a New York City parking ticket easier (and charging a fee for it) is a far cry from saying that you’re going to pay people to stick it to The Man. Why in God’s name would anyone do that– unless they were told by their neighbor’s dog that traffic wardens are the anti-Christ? (And we all know how that turned out.) Needless to say, the press release making this bold claim is utterly silent on this issue, saying only that “‘The City has hired 793 new ticket agents but the public doesn’t have the time to fight every unfair ticket. Because we want them to fight every unfair ticket and to make sure it’s worth people’s time we are going to pay them,’ says Glen Bolofsky, President of parkingticket.com.” So, over to the website and on to the fine print. “Parkingticket.com agrees to guarantee that Customer’s parking ticket will be dismissed or reduced and Customer agrees to pay a fee to parkingticket.com, hereinafter known as the Guaranteed Dismissal Fee, equal to half the price of the savings, which is equal to the original parking ticket base fine plus any accrued penalties, fines, interest or related charges.” So I’m thinking that, in this case, “getting paid” means a discount on the standard fee. [Subject to more fine print after the jump.] Memo to Glen: plenty of people were born on a Tuesday, but the ones that were born last Tuesday aren’t old enough to get a New York City parking ticket. Yet.
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