GM Puts a Tiger in Their Tank
Imagine an alternate reality where General Motors operates state-of-the-art factories with flexible manufacturing systems allowing production of vehicles wit…
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Toyota: The Way
On our way through the dark, the Toyota people prepared me for my room’s view. ”It’s Close to Mount Fuji,” they said. ”And your…
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Ford Death Watch 16: Bold Snooze
Last Friday, JWT invited me to the Big Apple to discuss their Bold Moves internet documentary series. The ad agency wanted to interview "one of Ford’s…
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"The Long Tail" Wags the Automotive Dog
Every industry craves a hit, whether it’s a bestseller, a summer blockbuster or 300k crossovers off a Canadian assembly line. It is, however, only one…
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Who's Zoomin' Who? (Whom?)
I'm fresh back from a Mazda marketing boondoggle called “Zoom-Zoom Live." Ford's Japanese brand conducted these ride 'n drives in major markets across…
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Chevrolet's Silverado TV Ad: Our Country, Your Truck, They're Wimps
In 1991, Italian clothing maker Benneton released a controversial ad campaign. Huge billboards and full page magazine ads displayed rows of crosses in an Ame…
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Detroit: Embrace Your Inner Bling
The ‘Sclade re-started it, the Navi went with it and the C made it official: bling is king. What began as an urban tuner phenom– modifying domest…
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Pontiac: We Build, Um, What Was It Again?
GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz’ recently stated that anyone who thinks that GM will shutter divisions is a “weenie” who doesn’t underst…
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Essence
Peter F. Drucker grew up in Frankfurt just as the Nazis gathered power. When Hitler was elected Chancellor, the future business guru fled for England, watchi…
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Outta Sight: Malcolm Bricklin's Visionary Vehicles
Germany was first, followed by France, England and Italy. Japan arrived a few years later, with Korea trailing by several decades. Since 1949, foreign car ma…
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Quintessence
A couple of continents ago, I owned a coffee table book called “Quintessence.” Each glossy page featured a black and white product portrait: an O…
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Wagons HO!
If Mom and Dad had it, we don’t want it. The principle has been an article of faith since homo sapiens first stalked the savannah. Bouffant hairstyles?…
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Ad Nauseam
In a recent Saab TV ad, a fighter jet transmogrifies into a 9-7X. The Transformers shtick tries to convince truck buyers that Saab’s SUV was “bor…
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Quality Will Out
Every time an automotive research firm releases the results of a reliability survey, the focus is the same: who “won.” Firms like J.D. Power only…
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Toyota Set to Pilfer Pickup Profits
Timing is. Everything. Case in point: Toyota is about roll out its re-designed Tundra. The full-size pickup represents a huge investment for the automaker, i…
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Audi: Losing the Plot?
While GM and Ford continue their slow-motion fall from grace, Audi’s headed in the other direction. The German automaker’s U.S. sales are up, mov…
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SUV's: The Worst of All Possible Worlds
Speaking of sports utility vehicles, consider the philosophy developed by Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarianism identified pain and pleasure as the only absolutes a…
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GM's New Brand Strategy: Chevy Uber Alles
When Alfred P. Sloan took the reins at General Motors, he had a clear vision of the company’s future: “a car for every purse and purpose." Sloan&…
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Sports Car Sinergy
Whatever else you can say about the Chevrolet Corvette, it isn’t a halo vehicle. Yes, it beats the Hell out of anything in its class and out bang-for-t…
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QOTD: The Name Game
My favorite car name of all time is the Honda Life Dunk. But I can fully appreciate pistonheads whose taste in automotive monikers runs more towards the aggr…
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Front Line: Porsche Salesman Kirk Stingle
A new TTAC podcast feature is born: a conversation with a car salesman about what's going down on the front line. We begin with my go-to Porsche guy, Kirk St…
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Ask Patty. Go on, You Know You Want To…
I’m not a big fan of segregation. Obviously, US car culture splits into distinct niches: hot rodders, low-riders, urban gangstas, tuners, etc. Equally…
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German is Beautiful
“Small is Beautiful” was released immediately after the ’73 energy crisis. German economist E. F. Schumaker’s collection of essays ta…
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Our Reporter Reports on Consumer Reports
For decades, Consumer Reports has been the American automobile buyer’s primary source for vehicle reliability information. Tens of millions of highly-e…
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How to Sell A Car – Part Two
In my last post, we examined your basic alpha nature, your need to dominate other people. Did you read the comments after the post? Wow. Not very happy are t…
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How to Sell A Car – Part One
First, relax. You hate your job because you don’t know what you’re doing. Face it. You, a car salesman, have no quantifiable methodology for sell…
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The Survey Says…
I’ve just returned from a four day round trip to Florida after having endured a seriously annoying vibration from the front end of my award-winning min…
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The Truth About Car Advertising
Remember Joe Isuzu? In the late 80’s, the brand’s spokesman was an actor (David Leisure) playing a pathological liar who’d say anything to…
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KBB: The Coolest Cars Under $18k
The original idea: interview Jack Nerad about the type of cars parents buy for their teens. When I finally got kbb.com's Executive Editor on the blower, he i…
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The Truth About J.D. Power's IQS
Another year, another J.D. Power survey. Since the non-profit Consumer Reports organization prohibits carmakers from using its ratings in their ads, “r…
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Buy Buy Miss American Pie
The American consumer stands in the middle of a battlefield. The combatants: American and foreign automobile manufacturers, their unions, dealers and various…
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I, Salesman
Imagine the world's best car salesman. He knows your name, buying history, automotive likes and dislikes. He knows your car: its age, condition and service h…
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Everything I Know About Cars
Driving with my windows down, a strange sound suddenly filled the cabin. "What's that noise daddy?" my six-year-old called from the backseat. "Look over budd…
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Buick's Hip Replacement
General Motors is convinced it can't afford to kill Buick. If it could, it would; but it can't, so it won't. So now what? Clearly, the Lucerne and LaCrosse (…
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Zen and the Art of Car Ownership
I never met a pistonhead without a fully-stocked fantasy garage. Unfortunately, the ones who try to bring the dream to life learn a Buddhist lesson: that whi…
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We Don't Need No Stinkin' Badges!
There's a great deal of controversy in automotive circles these days regarding the advantages and disadvantages of parts-bin and badge engineering. Parts-bin…
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The NY Auto Show: Hell No, We Won't Go
I'll never forget the billboard looming over London's Hammersmith flyover. At the exact point where drivers suddenly confront the endless congestion ahead, a…
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Jeep Heads South
Grizzly Pete owned a Jeep. My college roommate's idea of a relaxing weekend: drive into Death Valley with a handgun and a knife and forage for food and water…
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Abandon All Hope
I've been formally instructed never to put numbers into a lead paragraph. So let's just say I've been lucky enough to own roughly as many cars as there are b…
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The Way Forward is Back
Harley-Davidson has been making obsolete, inefficient and technologically deficient motorcycles since the 60's. Despite an unrelenting onslaught of technical…
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Mercedes Benz: A Consumer Reports
Mercedes-Benz makes a lot of cars for customers with serious aspirations. Just out of college, looking for bit of respect? C-Class. Mid-level manager aspirin…
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VW Phaeton: The Car of the Future
With so many superb high-end sedans for sale, I'd be hard-pressed to name the automaker building the world's best luxury car. But I'll tell you which one mak…
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Ford GT: Just Say No
It's no surprise that the Ford GT garnered a huge amount of publicity for its parent company. It was fast, sexy and charismatic. It showed the world that For…
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Ford GT RIP
I'll never forget driving a red-with-white-striped Ford GT to a photo shoot one misty Manchester morning. By then, I knew car and road well enough to use the…
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What would Charles Darwin Drive?
Peter DeLorenzo latest rant tore US automakers a new orifice. The Autoextremist accused US manufacturers of putting all their eggs in an SUV shaped basket&nd…
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New Cars Cost a Bundle
Just a few model cycles ago, savvy auto-shoppers could indulge in the fine art of speccing-up. Consumers coveting European motoring on the cheap flocked to V…
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SUV RIP?
Who killed the full-sized SUV? There they were, lumbering along, transporting America's families in comfort and style, when BANG! Dead genre driving. The big…
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MB Fails IQ Test
Car czars say the craziest things! In 2002, GM CEO Rick Wagoner said hybrids were only applicable to Japan, where gas cost $4 a gallon. About the same time,…
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Bill Gates and the Self-driving Car
At Microsoft's recent "Global Automotive Summit", someone asked Bill Gates if he thought the auto industry should aim for cars that "wouldn't let themselves…
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