By Robert Farago
February 7, 2008
One of the nice things about having a tightly-focused brand– complete with an explanatory tagline– is that you know when to say "no." Pontiac: We Build Excitement. Minivan? No. Crappy coupe. Uh-uh. Mercedes: Engineered Like No Other Car in the World. Cheap shit downmarket decontented sedan? Nope. Crappy coupe. Nein! Cadillac: The Standard of the World. Rebadged Chevy? Yeah right. Cheap shit front wheel-drive sedan? I don't think so. Of course, we all know that Pontiac, Mercedes and Cadillac all ignored Nancy Reagan's admonition and built cars that made a mockery of their brand remit. Less well recognized: all three automakers chose to change their taglines rather than face-up to their mistakes and return to their roots. Look at the struggling car companies and faltering brands– Ford, Chrysler, Lincoln, Mercury, Saturn, Pontiac, VW, Buick, etc.– and there's one thing that unites them all: they don't have a clue what they should be building. Until they fix their branding, they will never fix their business. Not building bad products is just as important as building good ones.
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POWERED
February 7th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Actually, in “Football” (Not “soccer”) we have a Yellow card (warning) and a Red card (sent off).
With regards to the R32. Why didn’t they look at an Audi TT quattro? Audis, generally, hold their value better than a VW.
February 7th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
KatiePuckrik :
With regards to the R32. Why didn’t they look at an Audi TT quattro?
Why indeed.
February 7th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Actually, I think I know why!
The VW Golf GTI is really the Audi TT with a coupe body and the VW Golf R32 is the Audi TT Quattro with a coupe body. If you don’t believe me, check out how much BHP each car churns out and even their emissions and you’ll notice a trend….
It’s only the “Audi” brand which retains the car value. Even so, that’s still a better reason to go with the Audi TT Quattro than the R32.
February 7th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
RF seriously can you put a warning in the title if you’re going to visually assault us like that?
February 7th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
That’s funny, Samir. Unfortunately for me, there’s a family in my neighborhood who is still driving one of these around — it’s white too.
February 7th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Just as clarification
I believe this time ,Audi TT is employing its aluminum frame tech, in the front end of the car.
so its not a GTI in drag ,as posters keep tossing out.
February 7th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Nice military analogy on the podcast by RF.
Here is a case of getting it right:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ball_Express
February 7th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
That is one COOL minivan!I want one of those.
February 8th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
That picture and a picture of an Aztek should be made into a single (glorious full color, no expense spared) poster, then distributed to every Pontiac designer/product planner/engineer/manager with instructions that they MUST display it proudly.
I think it would be a great motivational tool.