#BrandEquity

Hey Sajeev,

While watching the Mecum auto auctions recently, a beautiful Plymouth GTX came thru on the auction block. It got me thinking about the rash of brand-icide we’ve seen these past ten or so years. As they pass, others come in.

Despite rising global sales and recording good profits ( Ray LaHood’s best attempts just aren’t good enough), the bad news keeps coming in for Toyota. Recently, Toyota lost a preliminary hearing that ruled they hid safety evidence (I think it’s safe to say that Dimitrios Biller is off Toyota’s Christmas card list). Now their brand has taken an official hit.

Wolfsburg must be fuming. Among all the good news coming in from all corners of the earth, there’s a market that insists on being the proverbial thorn in their side. That’d be my little ole Brazil, which is, en passant, the world’s fourth largest. And it’s a market where Volkswagen has been nearly forever. Well-known Brazilian automotive journalist Fernando Calmon, writing for the just-auto website, reports a major shakeup in automotive brand values in Brazil (can you feel the ground shaking a little?). Mr. Calmon, citing the Brand Finance consultancy, reports that the most valuable car brand in Brazil is…