The Detroit News reports that Ford has extended the bidding deadline for the sale of its Jaguar and Land Rover brands. The delay does not bode well for India's Tata Motors; it gives the Indian automaker's private equity rivals more time to secure financing for the deal. Meanwhile, Indiantelevision.com reports that Tata's way ahead of its competitors on its home turf– at least in terms of television advertising. From January to this August, Tata bought more TV time than Honda Hero Motors, by a margin of 19 to 17 percent. Mighty Mahindra & Mahindra, which dropped out of the bidding for Jag and Landie, spent their money elsewhere. Which may be just as well in a clutter-kills-your-message kinda way; Indian TV runs an average of 630 car or Jeep ads per day. 

If you ran one of Volvo's two ad agencies, would you team-up with the other guys and sell the brand's internationally-famous reputation for safety? Of course you would, but you don't, and the people who do consider Volvo's safety shtick "a ladder to something else" and "felt being a family car was limiting the brand's appeal." Prepare to enter the world of the Armani-clad ad folk of Nitro (London) and Arnold (Boston). The companies interviewed car valets around the world– validated their insights with quantitative studies– to reveal that "89% of Volvo drivers put a premium on togetherness and sharing, while competitive model owners see their cars as an extension of themselves and more likely to pursue individual interests." Advertising Age reports the result: six global TV spots based on the theme "Life is better lived together." Just in case the touchy feely message didn't fly with Volvo's lame duck owners, Volvo's director-global advertising linked the new spin with the old spin. "Volvo is not a cold, rational brand," Tim Ellis opined. "Safety is about enhancing the quality of life for people inside and outside the car." Not to sound like spam, but how many of you non-Volvo drivers feel suitably enhanced? 

As the Smart ForTwo prepares for its U.S. debut, its manufacturer is busy spinning their mini (not MINI) marvel to the U.S. press as the ultimate green machine. “America has never been more ready for a car like this,” Smart’s U.S. Prez David Schembri told CNN, after ticking off a list of issues including urban congestion, the cost of gas and general “economic concerns”. America maybe; the American media most definitely. After posing the obvious left-leaning question– “Can a culture that prides itself on big houses and jumbo sport-utility vehicles really fall for a car roughly the size of a golf cart?”– Lake accompanied Schembri for a spin in Smart’s SUV toe-jam through the mean streets of Manhattan. She pronounced the Smart “zippy” and, setting aside any pretense of journalistic objectivity, ejaculated “oh this fabulous.” All in all, Schembri would have to agree. 

Auto advertising seems to be aimed at one of two groups: baby boomers trying to recapture their youth or "Gen Y," the twenty-somethings Scion was shooting for– and missed. Honda has decided to split the difference and target Generation X to reinvigorate sales of their [new] Accord. Advertising Age [sub] reports Honda wants to lower the median age of Accord buyers from its current 54 to somewhere between 30 and 44-years. Only Gen X buyers aren't as "inspired" to own a Honda because they perceive the brand's current products to be too fuddy duddy. So Honda's largest ever ad spend on a single model will tempt Gen X buyers with ads embodying a more "emotional appeal." Whether Honda's PC patrol– which nixed the marketing department's idea to sell the Accord hybrid as a performance car– will loosen-up sufficiently to let the ad guys draw on Honda's Hooners and Tunerz heritage remains to be seen. 

Drive dutifully reports the results of a MINI-commissioned survey of 2,018 UK motorists on the subject of diesel cleanliness. Market-research agency YouGov (who me, Gov?) discovered that “diesel-powered cars are thought to be way behind hybrid models for cleanliness.” Those of you equipped with a functional PR BS-detector will immediately note the “thought to be” proviso and the vague “way behind” qualifier. You’ll also fail to be surprised when MINI’s UK brand manager Andy Hearn follows-up this startling factoid by revealing that his employer’s new, oil-burning model generates CO2 numbers that are “identical” to the Toyota Prius’. This despite the fact that “just three per cent believe a diesel vehicle could be considered a low source of carbon emissions.” On the subject of relative levels of particulate matter emanating from diesel and hybrid engined tailpipes, the survey and its PR lackey the Cambridge Evening News showed no interest whatsoever.

Audi's Q7 arrived at America's SUV party just as the clean-up crew were packing up and heading for home. Despite the timing, questionable looks and hideous fuel efficiency (12/17), it's a hit. Year-to-date, Audi's moved 14,458 Q7s, outselling every other American Audi save the A4. Automotive News [AN, sub] reports that Audi's looking to capitalize on this success by fitting that Billy the Big Mouth Bass snout with a 3.6-liter, 280-hp engine mated to an electric engine. The Volkswagen Group's box fresh gas – electric parallel hybrid will up the Q7's mpg count to a claimed 23 mpg (highway? combine? AN doesn't say). If that doesn't float your boat– the Q7 is a heavy old girl– Ingolstadt will also offer a 50-state compliant 3.0-liter V-6 turbodiesel Q7 producing "about" 230 hp and 400 ft.-lbs. of torque. AN couldn't get an mpg number for the oil burner, but repeats Audi's claim of a 600-mile range. NOW will you take it off road?

Reuters reports that Norway is banning manufacturers from advertising a car's green credentials. As far Norways's Department of Truth (a.k.a. Consumer Ombudsman) is concerned, "cars cannot do anything good for the environment except less damage than others." By that, state censor Bente Oeverli means that certain cars can be less harmful than others, but they're ALL bad for the planet. But don't try and claim your car is less harmful than the other guys, 'cause that's banned too. "If someone says their car is more 'green' or 'environmentally friendly' than others then they would have to be able to document it in every aspect from production, to emissions, to energy use, to recycling," she said. "In practice that can't be done." Meanwhile, in the UK, Volvo was told not to repeat a claim that the C30 car was "designed with the utmost respect for the environment in mind." Now that we can understand. Respect in mind? Tsk tsk. 

Detroit News columnist John McCormick's [undeclared] Caddy junket hath yielded a (gasp!) positive review of the new CTS. "Ready to confound your expectations," "pleasing evolution," "goes head to head with the best," yada yada yada. But before his paean to the brand whose "excellent progress" has resulted in a double digit sales decline, McCormick takes a few shots at potential Caddy customers who are unaware of the majesty that is the CTS. "The problem, as Cadillac general manager Jim Taylor acknowledges, is that even with brand new, competitive product, it is difficult to convey even basic information to buyers who are not knowledgeable enthusiasts." What was that about GM's $2.9b annual ad spend? Never mind. As far as McCormick is concerned, Detroit can't buy a break with the key demographic: German car-loving effete intellectual bi-coastal snobs. (Lexus doesn't get a look in.) "But with the launch of the all new 2008 CTS, Cadillac feels even more deserving of attention from the blinkered coastal sets." We repeat: there is no perception gap. 

Last season, Dodge ran tongue-in-cheek ads where they "secretly replaced" someone's Odyssey or Sienna with a Dodge van. Now The New York Times tells us Ford's doing it for real with full knowledge of the owner. Ford's new "Swap My Ride" marketing campaign asks new car buyers to drive a Ford for a week instead whatever they just bought– without telling them it's for a commercial. Then, in the guise of "market research," they ask for "raw, unbiased opinions" to "get real objectivity and honest responses." It seems to be working. An alert Murano buyer observed the Edge "has two sunroofs." Will the the marketing mavens be Ford tough enough to make a bold move and air negative comments from consumers who've driven a Ford lately? Yeah right.

Sat nav, brake-by-wire, stability control, parking distance sensors, fuel injection– CNET reports that the average automobile requires $1997 worth of software code to keep it from crashing (in both senses of the word). That’s about nine percent of the showroom price. To stop programming prices from spiraling out of control and to help accelerate development time, Honda, Toyota and Nissan have teamed-up with Toshiba to create a standard operating system for automotive applications. Oh, here’s a surprise: U.S. auto companies may already be falling behind in software standardization. And who will ride to their rescue? CNET’s got the major league hots for IBM, after Big Blue scarfed Swedish “automotive technology powerhouse” Telelogic. (In fact, the dead hand of IBM PR is all over this piece.) Snicker if you must, but the smart money’s still on Microsoft’s mob to create a one-size-fits-all software solution. In any case, the battle for auto OS has serious long-term implications for reliability and repair costs. We’ll keep you posted with our Windows XP.

CNN Money reports that Saturn's pulled the plug on its "Side-by-Side-by-Side Test Drive." During the promotion, Saturn dealers provided customers with [base model four-cylinder] Accords and Camrys to compare against [well equipped V6] Auras. Saturn marketing manager Matt Armstrong declared the two-month campaign a success, claiming Aura sales increased 24 percent (against a 14 percent drop in midsize cars' sales). In fact, Saturn sold 4,694 Auras in June and 5,827 in July. That's a 19 percent increase. Camry on the other hand, dropped from 46,630 sales in June to 41,514 in July, a 12% decrease. So was Aura responsible for the dent in Camry sales? Uh…. no. Accord sales rose from 28,915 to 37,142 during the same time; a 22 percent increase. In raw numbers, Aura's sales went up 1,133 in July, Camry's decreased 5,116, and Accord's increased by 8,227. No matter how Saturn spins it, the Accord was the big winner during the GM brand's "Side-by-Side-by-Side Test Drive" promotion.

So French automaker Renault hired an ad company to help promote the new Euro-only Twingo to Dutch women. The UK's not-so-prim Daily Mail reports the result: a faux-handwritten letter from an unknown admirer who "called them 'darling', suggested meeting soon for a drink and signed themselves 'lots of love, M." Despite a reference to the Twingo– "you have a Twingo, don't you, I saw the new one and thought immediately of you"– and a color photo of the car enclosed with this missive, recipients were not well pleased. There were heated exchanges in many a huis, while some women were bummed to learn that "M" didn't exist (although you've got to take that idea with a shaker of salt considering the source). Renault has apologized and will send a letter of apology to all 30k households. Presumably it doesn't start "Dear John…"

According to Spiegel, Apple's Steve Jobs and VW's boss Martin Winterkorn met in California a few days ago to discuss "various projects," and set an agenda for several meetings to come. The magazine speculated that there might be a joint project: an "iCar" integrating Apple's design principles into a future "supercool" VW model. Asked about the new Wolfsburg-Cupertino axis of gizmo, a VW spokesman refused to supply details, admitting only that Jobs and Winterkorn had discussed "a lot of ideas." Given that Apple tends to ostracize any business partner who spills the beans on new projects, the iCar could be DOA. True to form, Apple will refuse to comment on the iDea, and Wolfsburg will try to spin it as a hiptastic attempt to bring der bling to die Volk. (iCarumba!) Saying that, in '03, [both] U.S. new Beetle buyers received a "free" Apple iPod during their sci-fi oblivious "Pods Unite" promotion. 

Brandweek and Adage report that Mercedes will launch a big ass (my words) marketing campaign for their new C-Class on September 10, aiming to woo buyers with ads that stress the sedan's build quality and precision engineering. Without a trace of irony, Merc marketing maven Steve Cannon says his employer aims to show potential buyers that its "entry-level offering is as solid and dependable as its most expensive models." No wonder, then, that Cannon aiming the spots at first time buyers (i.e. buyers who never personally experienced the discrepancy between Mercedes' rep for reliability and their actual reliability). More specifically, Mercedes' core target "is 35 to 45 years old, equally male and female, educated and with a household income of about $100,000." While one wonders how many Mercedes buyers are (or are willing to admit to being) equally male and female, you've got to admire the former Airborne Ranger's spunk. When Ad Age asked from whence cometh potential C-Classers, Cannon showed confidence, hipness and a genuine talent for jargon: "The usual suspects: luxury competitors like BMW, Infiniti, Lexus and Audi and a lot of what feeds this segment is highly equipped nonluxury products." Highly equipped nonluxury products? Somebody get that man a Honduran cigar!

Digital Content Producer reports that The National Alliance of Women In Film (WIF) and GM are launching Traction, an "innovative and unique online magazine by and for women in the entertainment industry." Despite The General's sponsorship and the automotive double entendre, Traction has no automotive-related content. So why is GM involved? We're thinking product placement. After the Transformers movie featured four GM products (including the new… wait for it… wait for it… here it comes… Camaro), it seems GM has a hard-on for Hollywood. While Transformers' GM-heavy content has drawn fire for overkill, Product Placement News says the movie's director is unrepentent: "There are products in everything in everyday life. Do people think there shouldn't be brand names or something?" asks Michael Bay. "Everything is branded. I hate commercials when they take logos off of stuff. It's not real life."