The Truth About GM's Hybrids
GM’s decline began fifty years ago, when the domestic automaker failed to repel import sales with competitive products. GM’s rear-engined air-coo…
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Mercury Rising?
I recently found myself in London working on a large project for an even larger corporation. I took particular interest in the Ford models plying British roa…
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Cadillac Flunks History. Again.
Cadillac is something of a comeback kid. The first time the brand was on the ropes, its divisional president interrupted a GM board meeting with a winning pr…
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Lamborghini Reventn. No Really.
About 20 years ago, my wife and I visited Japan on behalf of a travel magazine. We explored the area around rural Kyushu, Japan’s Polish joke. Back the…
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Are the Dodge Boys Sexually Conflicted?
Ladies' Home Journal, Parenting, Better Homes & Gardens, In Style, Cookie Magazine, Cooking Light, Domino, Health, Home, Nick Jr. Magazine, Pregnancy, Self,…
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Lexus F-Series: No Harm, No Foul
Bad branding was one of the prominent themes of TTAC’s 2006 Ten Worst Automobiles Today (TWAT) awards. No fewer than four vehicles on the list were der…
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Frankfurt Auto Show: You Can't Always Want What You Get
Carmakers spend millions of dollars on producing concept cars for the Frankfurt Auto Show et. al. But what is a concept car? Is it something a car company is…
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Frankfurt Auto Show: It Ain't Easy Not Being Green
If you’re a gearhead monitoring the international media, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Frankfurt Auto Show was run by and for Friends of the…
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Toyota's Image at the Crossroads
For the last few years, the American public has embraced Toyota's products as clean, durable and efficient. Exhibit A: the demure Camry, which has maintained…
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Bye American?
I grew up in a working-class town where “Buy American” ranked just above “Go to church.” Chrysler cured me of my automotive illusions…
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Where Have All the Good Brands Gone?
In a video interview with Porfolio.com, Sir Nick Scheele explains how he turned Jaguar around. Well, not exactly; after all, he didn't. But the British brand…
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The Truth About Intellichoice Awards
TTAC has not been shy about its scepticism regarding the owner satisfaction and quality surveys produced by JD Power, and the commercial links to the industr…
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Toyota: GM Redux?
There comes a time in many a life when an individual must prove to the world they are no longer the student, they have become the master. The transition usua…
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For the Love of Jeep
The love of all things Jeep ranks high in the automotive pantheon of passion. Porschephiles, ‘Vettistas, Hemiheads, Scuderia– they ain’t go…
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The IPhone Rocks! Apple Shows U.S. Carmakers How to Dial-up Profits
Cell phones cooler than cars? No way! Way. CNW Marketing Research recently reported that thirty-two percent of today’s 16 to 29-year-olds view Apple&rs…
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Buick: The American Lexus (or Not)
General Motors is a trash talker. The automaker brags about future show-stoppers, unveils concept vehicles with a sly wink (knowing full well they're stuck i…
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Why Local Car Dealer Ads Suck
Even though automotive advertising is fleeing print for the Internet, national TV ads are still an automaker’s most important showcase– and they…
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Good Thinking: Porsche Pulls Out of the Detroit Auto Show
One day, an admirer asked Herr Doktor Sigmund Freud if his favorite tobacco product was a phallic symbol. “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,” Fr…
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PAGitude: How Much Mileage is Left in Land Rover, Jaguar and Volvo?
Now that Ford has put the remainder of its Premier Automotive Group (PAG) on eBay, it's time to evaluate the soon-to-jettisoned divisions' prospects. As "goi…
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Saturn Aura Vs. Toyota Camry Vs. Honda Accord Vs. Reality
So Ford runs an ad campaign pitting an all wheel-drive Fusion against a front wheel-drive Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. An invited group of customers scores…
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The Toyota Prius Tips In at the Tipping Point
The Toyota Prius hybrid has been the high-mileage low-emissions darling of the chattering classes and their Hollywood pals for some time. Now, suddenly, sale…
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Toyota: Quality is Job Two
Japanese society is known for its rigid social stratification. Depending on the listener’s relative status, there are four ways to say “this is a…
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Mahindra and Mahindra Set to Tackle U.S. Market With Diesel Power
Once upon a time, American stage magicians would assume Indian-sounding names, don turbans and claim to have mastered the mysteries of the Indian subcontinen…
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Automotive Quality: Zen and the Art of Warm Fuzzies
During one of my first job interviews, the HR guy threw me a curve ball. How do you define quality? The question stopped me cold. I’d just read Zen and…
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General Motors' Branding Fiasco Part Six – Cadillac Falls Down
There is no greater symbol of GM’s branding woes than Cadillac. During its formative years, the marque’s products stood at the pinnacle of automo…
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General Motors' Branding Fiasco Part Five – Buick, Fading Fast
Buick was the special child in the GM family: the beautiful and temperamental second-oldest daughter that somehow always got the most attention from Daddy. S…
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GM Set to Kill the Hummer H2: Requiem for a Heavyweight
Was the Hummer brand really born four years ago? The Army-inspired H2 now occupies a fading mindspace. It’s a relic from a time when America’s fo…
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General Motors' Branding Fiasco Part Four – Oldsmobile Pegs Out
Of all of GM’s domestic brands, Oldsmobile most accurately represents everything that went wrong with GM’s divisional structure. Historically the…
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General Motors' Branding Fiasco Part Three – Pontiac Only Lived Twice
Grand Prix, GTO, Firebird, LeMans, Catalina 2+2, Bonneville. The names evoke automotive magic— provided you were an enthusiast between six and sixty during the ‘60’s. For today’s pistonheads, these storied names; indeed, the entire Pontiac brand has lost its adrenal association. Even the drop-dead gorgeous Solstice can’t rescue a marque now known for budget-priced, badge-engineered mediocrity. Pontiac’s fall from grace may not be the worst (best?) example of GM’s branding cataclysm, but it’s one of the most emotive.
General Motors' Branding Fiasco Part Two – Chevrolet's ADD
During the American car industry’s formative years, entrepreneurs started car companies left and right, jostling for quick profits and market share. Flint Rock native William Durant had a meta vision: agglomerate the best of the new automakers to create an empire called General Motors. This he did, through endless charm and clever financing. But Durant gambled too much too often, and lost control of his brainchild. The Chevrolet brand was born out of wedlock, to fund Billy Durant’s comeback.
General Motors' Branding Fiasco Part One – Sloan's Vision Betrayed
Imagine a different GM from today’s confused and embattled automaker. A General Motors where each division has a clear and coherent brand, universally known and recognized by automotive consumers. Where each division’s image and related price range is unique, without overlap. Where each division is the dominant brand– or at least highly competitive– in its respective market segment. Welcome to General Motors circa 1930.
Car Buying Tips: Sales Prevention Officers and "Demand Pricing"
My father is a car guy in his late fifties, One day, he decided to buy a sports car. Anyone who’s clocked the age of the men in the Viagra ads should r…
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Quality Schmality
In a recent study of new vehicle owners, Ford products came second in "overall initial vehicle quality." According to Ford's PR release, Honda took the top s…
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Memo to Volvo: Who R You?
Time and time again, automakers flush with cash decide to grow their business by expanding their model lineup. Which is a bit like trying to improve a gourme…
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Porsche's Future Mit Dem Volk
Since 1969, Porsche has developed three vehicles with Volkswagen/Audi: the 914, 924 and Cayenne. While we can debate the contributions these vehicles have ma…
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The Truth About The New York Auto Show
There are some amongst us who hate auto shows in general and any given auto show in specific. They see the pistonhead conclaves as a soulless smorgasbord of…
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Buick: Going Nowhere Fast With Class
Fair disclosure: I love Buicks. More accurately, I love Buicks from the ’60's and earlier. For the last forty years or so, GM's “near luxury&rdqu…
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Volkswagen's Long Road to Recovery Pt. 2
Germany’s IGM is the world’s largest labor union. What’s more, German law dictates that half of any German corporation’s supervisory…
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Volkswagen's Long Road to Recovery Pt. 1
My first car was a 1989 Passat station wagon. The Passat fully embodied the literal translation of the company’s name: the people’s car. It was r…
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By The Numbers: February Sales Analysis; Spring Has Sprung
After a bleak January, February offered Detroit automakers a whiff of spring. The Chevrolet Impala had a 60’s sales flashback. Thousands more customers…
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Car Dealerships Suck
Does anyone other than a masochist enjoy buying a car? Any survey of loathsome experiences would rank car buying just below root canal surgery, slightly abov…
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Car Dealers Are Not All Greedy Bastards
People in business for a quick buck give everyone else in their field a bad name. They fully deserve the reputations they receive. More than a few CEO’…
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China's Automotive Market: What's Mine is Mine and What's Yours is Mine
In 2002, Toyota sued Chinese automaker Geely for copying the Japanese automaker’s logo. In November 2003, a Chinese judge threw out the case. He claime…
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Cadillac Leads the Way
Congratulations Cadillac. The GM brand scooped first place in BusinessWeek’s first-ever ranking for the best provider of automotive related customer se…
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Breaking the Law: Automaking's Supply and Demand Dilemma
A recent post questioned the relative power of engineers and MBA’s in the automotive industry. A quick scan of corporate rosters reveals that the biz b…
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Volkswagen's US SOS
The automotive media have their hands full chronicling the slow motion train wreck known as The Big 2.5. But there's another pile-up in progress. Here in the…
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General Motors Death Watch 110: Will Opelization Save Saturn From GM's Black Hole?
Our first car was a navy blue Opel Kadett. My father was off to sea; my mother took us on an inaugural daytrip. When my father returned to the Norwegian main…
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Fleet Sales Rx: Checker Redux?
When Ford threatened to pull the plug on its Panther platformed rear wheel-drive cars, the livery and taxicab companies howled in protest and Ford backed dow…
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Brand DNA Uber Alles?
Since World War II, seeking national glory on the battlefield has become socially unacceptable. Countries now pour their national psyche into that great cham…
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Automotive Marketing: Losing Site
To say the internet has become an important marketing tool for automobile manufacturers is like saying radial tires are beginning to catch on. And yet Forres…
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Two Faced Toyota?
Trivia buffs, scholars of ancient history and encyclopedia-reading geeks know the first month of the year is named for the Roman god Janus. Janus didn’…
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Automotive Marketing: Bad Landing, Wrong Airport
There’s a Lincoln ad on the back cover of this month's Automobile mag. It’s a rear three quarter shot of an MKZ on an empty road in a moody lands…
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Wither Maybach?
When Maybach unveiled its tiny, cordoned-off piece of turf at the COBO Center on Sunday, its offerings were pinned against the back wall, stuck behind all th…
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Mercury: The Mystique is Gone
I recently attended the Los Angeles Auto Show. Other than 30-inch custom wheels, the sheer desolation at the Mercury stand was the most amazing sight of the…
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DCX: Minivan Man RIP?
When dairy cows go dry, farmers have them “freshened” (that’s what bulls are for). Chrysler’s long-time cash cows, its minivans, have…
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The Road Ahead
In the late 70s, Dutch traffic planner Hans Monderman experienced the kind of insight that gets people sent to an asylum. ”Let’s eliminate all tr…
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The Disconnect
When the new Chevrolet Tahoe SUV was released, reporters asked GM Car Czar Bob Lutz whether rising gas prices would discourage SUV buyers from jumping into…
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Ask Dr. Z: Chrysler's Sales Bank
Historically speaking, Chrysler’s desire to keep pace with Ford and GM has kept the company perched on the brink of disaster. In his magnificent Motown…
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Toyota: The Weakness
"Arguably in every parameter that you can look at, the Toyota Production System is the finest product system in the world for designing and manufacturing pro…
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