-
Ama diabashs to parakato ar8ro isws blephs ths megales autokinito eteries me diaforetikh apopsh.
Idietera diabase to komati pou leei gia thn Porshe. Amesos mou hr8e sto miallo ena topic pou exei anixth pou leei o dimiourgos tou pos oti ftiaxnh to poulai. Den einai etsi omos ta pragmata.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 1180-E.jpg
**Over the past four-and-one-half years of publishing Autoextremist.com, we have witnessed the most stunning brand blowups in automotive history.
Some of the greatest, so-called 'unimpeachable' automotive brands have either willfully committed brand suicide because of delusional notions about their place in the automotive world, and the belief that their judgment is infallible, or because of flat-out, misguided stupidity.**
Others have just been caught out in a changing market that has demonstrated little sympathy for traditional automotive powerhouse brands. I thought we'd take a look at four notable examples today...
Following up on my column from last week, BMW went from being a company with an unwavering, single-minded focus on building the best 'driving machines' they could possibly build, to becoming a car company more infatuated with sales records, finding new segments to mine gold with and continuing its long-standing obsession with surpassing Mercedes-Benz in the world order. Rather than building great cars that stayed true to BMW's raison d'etre - the company has begun a long, painful slide into brand oblivion. In typical fashion, however, BMW executives (led by Helmut Panke) not only don't believe they've lost a step, they refuse to listen to anybody who would deign to suggest such a thing. There is a distinct aura of invincibility hovering over the entire BMW enterprise, and it has the acrid odor of full-scale delusion. Blind arrogance in a car executive or a car company isn't an unusual thing. The car 'biz' is littered with examples of it throughout its history. But BMW executives seem to have arrived at a point now where they actually believe they can do no wrong - and that their view of the automotive world is the only one that matters. Big mistake. BMW has lost more than a step - and they're by no means infallible (see this week's 'On The Table' - ed.). Playing in segments they don't belong in, creating cars with gimmicky, overwrought exterior shapes burdened with vapid, frivolous design cues, plus the added (and dismal) dimension of rampant electronic overkill infesting each and every new vehicle they come out with - it's nothing short of a recipe for disaster. BMW has had a long, big-time successful run, but it is well on its way to blowing it - and in a big way.
We've talked about the free fall of Porsche for some time now, and while the troops in Zuffenhausen - led by Wendelin Wiedeking (he's a genius, just ask him) - are high-fiving and back-slapping each other over their current profitability numbers due to their self-proclaimed 'brilliant' strategy of bringing out an SUV as their bread-and-butter vehicle - to carry them through the occasional downturns of the sports car market - their very essence is slowly but surely slipping away from them. Porsche 911 and Boxster sales are now officially in the dumper and have been for some time - which Porsche claims is due to the poor economic conditions here in the U.S. and around the world. But my contention is that Porsche is placing the blame on the wrong reason. Porsche's predicament is due, in large part, to their insatiable greed. Because of Porsche's nonsensical, ill-fated strategy of cranking out Boxsters as if they were popcorn to boost their short-term profitability, they have managed to dilute the brand's image, removing any of the specialness that was once such a part of the Porsche name. Which is laughable, when you really think about it, because Porsche did it once before during its infamous 924 chapter. Granted, the Boxster is a vastly superior car, but the net-net effect of cranking out too many units is still the same in the end.
Porsche management has proved that arrogance, talking to one's self and selective rationalization is a powerful potion that can blind an organization to the reality of its situation. While Porsche executives are busy insisting that because of cars like the Carrera GT and 911 GT-3, all is well with their newly formed dependence on the Cayenne, and that they're better than ever as a company, they will wake up one day to find that Cayenne sales have cooled. And then what? Will they mount a huge marketing/advertising effort designed to remind everyone in the world that they're once again a premier maker of sports cars? That's not going to work. Why? For one thing, the competition is getting too tough. GM is undercutting Porsche at the more affordable end with the superb new Corvette C6, which will offer better performance in its standard trim (400H.P.) than 911s costing $40,000 to $50,000 more. And Porsche won't have an answer for it - at least not an answer that will come in for less than $100,000, because Porsche has pissed away five years on developing the Cayenne, instead of working on a true, back-to-basics sports car that they so badly need. The Boxster was to be that car, remember? But because of Porsche's usurious pricing policies, the Boxster stopped being affordable literally five minutes after it was introduced.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 7875-E.jpgMake no mistake about this: Porsche has alienated its hardcore enthusiast constituency with the Cayenne. These are the true-blue enthusiasts - people who have been spreading the gospel according to Porsche for years. But now these same Porsche loyalists don't even recognize the company anymore. It's no longer a manufacturer of lithe, light sports cars that can trace its roots back to its founder - a man who retains legendary status in the automotive world to this day. And it's no longer a sports car manufacturer that derives inspiration for its street cars from its exploits on the race track - and the lessons gleaned from competing in some of the most famous races in the world (because of the time and money it took to develop Cayenne, Porsche has not competed for the overall win at Le Mans for five years, and they've recently announced that they wouldn't be there in the near future, either).
No, Porsche has now dumbed itself down to the point that it has become just another car company, hell bent on becoming a dreaded 'full-line manufacturer' - a company whose latest effort is an SUV powered by a VW V-6 engine, of all things. And whose next effort is rumored to be a four-door sedan based on VW Group's Phaeton/Bentley Continental GT/Audi A8 platform. I guess it would be more accurate to say that Porsche has become just another truck company -as they're now officially producing and selling more trucks than cars.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 7280-E.jpgAnd last, but certainly not least, one of the most, if not the most, egregious examples of a former brand star going down in flames is Mercedes-Benz. What has happened to this once majestic brand over the last ten years in the U.S. market is simply unconscionable. Abandoning one of the greatest ad themes of all time - 'Engineered Like No Other Car in the World' - Mercedes-Benz traded its lofty, technical superiority positioning in favor of a more 'approachable' persona in the U.S. market, in order to sell more volume in the face of intense competitive pressure from Lexus and BMW. And this strategy has flat-out backfired. Selling C-class Coupes against VWs on one end, and then refusing to call its $300,000 uber-luxury car a Mercedes at the other - Mercedes-Benz has squandered years of accrued brand equity in a market that absolutely demands it. Add horrendous quality problems caused by overly complicated electronic systems, and you have a huge mess.
Mercedes is not only playing in segments that it has no business being in - it finds itself grinding it out against lesser marques in a cutthroat arena that it's woefully ill-suited to compete in. In short, Mercedes-Benz has irrevocably cheapened its brand in its quest to become 'all things to all people' in this market - and the brand may never recover from it. Yes, the new AMG cars qualify as worthy Mercedes of the 'old school' variety, but virtually everything else they're doing - from their scattered model lineup, to their questionable marketing and puzzling advertising strategies - is off target. Talk about losing specialness - Mercedes-Benz is a textbook example of how not to do it if you're in the auto business.
There are other bad actors in this current auto market who are on the cusp of going down in flames, like the VW group, which may never overcome the strategic 'vision' of the King of Delusion himself, ex-chairman Ferdinand Piech, and his plan for VW to rule the world, but the bottom line of this discussion is clear...
It doesn't matter how long an automobile company has enjoyed a run at the top - if they waver from their mission for even an instant, it can all be gone in a few quarters. For some people out there, it is hard to imagine that the same companies who are piling up big sales numbers now (like Porsche) are the same ones who will be struggling to retain their place in the market in a matter of months.........
But that's how fragile this brand image stuff can be.
The smart car companies are the ones who can keep their heads up just enough to avoid being dragged down by the usual assortment of internally created tunnel vision gremlins. Yet they're also smart enough not to let their occasional giddy delusions get the better of them - in other words, they allow themselves a healthy dose of blue sky thinking, without losing their heads in the delusional stratosphere.
It's the toughest thing to do in this business. But suffice to say, by the time the consumer starts to get a whiff that a brand is 'played out' or 'over' - it's way too late, and it might take years for that company to recover. And frankly they may never get back to their previous heights.
In the case of BMW and Porsche, they actually believe that it can't - and won't - happen to them. They're too smart and too right - and they know better than everyone else. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, they've been on such a long, drawn-out free fall into mediocrity for so long that they don't even sense it. Combine that with the fact that the smartest people they know are themselves - and it's no wonder they see monsters in their engine compartments.
How low will these so-called brand stars fall? We'll be watching.
-
Ama diabashs to parakato ar8ro isws blephs ths megales autokinito eteries me diaforetikh apopsh.
Idietera diabase to komati pou leei gia thn Porshe. Amesos mou hr8e sto miallo ena topic pou exei anixth pou leei o dimiourgos tou pos oti ftiaxnh to poulai. Den einai etsi omos ta pragmata.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 1180-E.jpg
**Over the past four-and-one-half years of publishing Autoextremist.com, we have witnessed the most stunning brand blowups in automotive history.
Some of the greatest, so-called 'unimpeachable' automotive brands have either willfully committed brand suicide because of delusional notions about their place in the automotive world, and the belief that their judgment is infallible, or because of flat-out, misguided stupidity.**
Others have just been caught out in a changing market that has demonstrated little sympathy for traditional automotive powerhouse brands. I thought we'd take a look at four notable examples today...
Following up on my column from last week, BMW went from being a company with an unwavering, single-minded focus on building the best 'driving machines' they could possibly build, to becoming a car company more infatuated with sales records, finding new segments to mine gold with and continuing its long-standing obsession with surpassing Mercedes-Benz in the world order. Rather than building great cars that stayed true to BMW's raison d'etre - the company has begun a long, painful slide into brand oblivion. In typical fashion, however, BMW executives (led by Helmut Panke) not only don't believe they've lost a step, they refuse to listen to anybody who would deign to suggest such a thing. There is a distinct aura of invincibility hovering over the entire BMW enterprise, and it has the acrid odor of full-scale delusion. Blind arrogance in a car executive or a car company isn't an unusual thing. The car 'biz' is littered with examples of it throughout its history. But BMW executives seem to have arrived at a point now where they actually believe they can do no wrong - and that their view of the automotive world is the only one that matters. Big mistake. BMW has lost more than a step - and they're by no means infallible (see this week's 'On The Table' - ed.). Playing in segments they don't belong in, creating cars with gimmicky, overwrought exterior shapes burdened with vapid, frivolous design cues, plus the added (and dismal) dimension of rampant electronic overkill infesting each and every new vehicle they come out with - it's nothing short of a recipe for disaster. BMW has had a long, big-time successful run, but it is well on its way to blowing it - and in a big way.
We've talked about the free fall of Porsche for some time now, and while the troops in Zuffenhausen - led by Wendelin Wiedeking (he's a genius, just ask him) - are high-fiving and back-slapping each other over their current profitability numbers due to their self-proclaimed 'brilliant' strategy of bringing out an SUV as their bread-and-butter vehicle - to carry them through the occasional downturns of the sports car market - their very essence is slowly but surely slipping away from them. Porsche 911 and Boxster sales are now officially in the dumper and have been for some time - which Porsche claims is due to the poor economic conditions here in the U.S. and around the world. But my contention is that Porsche is placing the blame on the wrong reason. Porsche's predicament is due, in large part, to their insatiable greed. Because of Porsche's nonsensical, ill-fated strategy of cranking out Boxsters as if they were popcorn to boost their short-term profitability, they have managed to dilute the brand's image, removing any of the specialness that was once such a part of the Porsche name. Which is laughable, when you really think about it, because Porsche did it once before during its infamous 924 chapter. Granted, the Boxster is a vastly superior car, but the net-net effect of cranking out too many units is still the same in the end.
Porsche management has proved that arrogance, talking to one's self and selective rationalization is a powerful potion that can blind an organization to the reality of its situation. While Porsche executives are busy insisting that because of cars like the Carrera GT and 911 GT-3, all is well with their newly formed dependence on the Cayenne, and that they're better than ever as a company, they will wake up one day to find that Cayenne sales have cooled. And then what? Will they mount a huge marketing/advertising effort designed to remind everyone in the world that they're once again a premier maker of sports cars? That's not going to work. Why? For one thing, the competition is getting too tough. GM is undercutting Porsche at the more affordable end with the superb new Corvette C6, which will offer better performance in its standard trim (400H.P.) than 911s costing $40,000 to $50,000 more. And Porsche won't have an answer for it - at least not an answer that will come in for less than $100,000, because Porsche has pissed away five years on developing the Cayenne, instead of working on a true, back-to-basics sports car that they so badly need. The Boxster was to be that car, remember? But because of Porsche's usurious pricing policies, the Boxster stopped being affordable literally five minutes after it was introduced.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 7875-E.jpgMake no mistake about this: Porsche has alienated its hardcore enthusiast constituency with the Cayenne. These are the true-blue enthusiasts - people who have been spreading the gospel according to Porsche for years. But now these same Porsche loyalists don't even recognize the company anymore. It's no longer a manufacturer of lithe, light sports cars that can trace its roots back to its founder - a man who retains legendary status in the automotive world to this day. And it's no longer a sports car manufacturer that derives inspiration for its street cars from its exploits on the race track - and the lessons gleaned from competing in some of the most famous races in the world (because of the time and money it took to develop Cayenne, Porsche has not competed for the overall win at Le Mans for five years, and they've recently announced that they wouldn't be there in the near future, either).
No, Porsche has now dumbed itself down to the point that it has become just another car company, hell bent on becoming a dreaded 'full-line manufacturer' - a company whose latest effort is an SUV powered by a VW V-6 engine, of all things. And whose next effort is rumored to be a four-door sedan based on VW Group's Phaeton/Bentley Continental GT/Audi A8 platform. I guess it would be more accurate to say that Porsche has become just another truck company -as they're now officially producing and selling more trucks than cars.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 7280-E.jpgAnd last, but certainly not least, one of the most, if not the most, egregious examples of a former brand star going down in flames is Mercedes-Benz. What has happened to this once majestic brand over the last ten years in the U.S. market is simply unconscionable. Abandoning one of the greatest ad themes of all time - 'Engineered Like No Other Car in the World' - Mercedes-Benz traded its lofty, technical superiority positioning in favor of a more 'approachable' persona in the U.S. market, in order to sell more volume in the face of intense competitive pressure from Lexus and BMW. And this strategy has flat-out backfired. Selling C-class Coupes against VWs on one end, and then refusing to call its $300,000 uber-luxury car a Mercedes at the other - Mercedes-Benz has squandered years of accrued brand equity in a market that absolutely demands it. Add horrendous quality problems caused by overly complicated electronic systems, and you have a huge mess.
Mercedes is not only playing in segments that it has no business being in - it finds itself grinding it out against lesser marques in a cutthroat arena that it's woefully ill-suited to compete in. In short, Mercedes-Benz has irrevocably cheapened its brand in its quest to become 'all things to all people' in this market - and the brand may never recover from it. Yes, the new AMG cars qualify as worthy Mercedes of the 'old school' variety, but virtually everything else they're doing - from their scattered model lineup, to their questionable marketing and puzzling advertising strategies - is off target. Talk about losing specialness - Mercedes-Benz is a textbook example of how not to do it if you're in the auto business.
There are other bad actors in this current auto market who are on the cusp of going down in flames, like the VW group, which may never overcome the strategic 'vision' of the King of Delusion himself, ex-chairman Ferdinand Piech, and his plan for VW to rule the world, but the bottom line of this discussion is clear...
It doesn't matter how long an automobile company has enjoyed a run at the top - if they waver from their mission for even an instant, it can all be gone in a few quarters. For some people out there, it is hard to imagine that the same companies who are piling up big sales numbers now (like Porsche) are the same ones who will be struggling to retain their place in the market in a matter of months.........
But that's how fragile this brand image stuff can be.
The smart car companies are the ones who can keep their heads up just enough to avoid being dragged down by the usual assortment of internally created tunnel vision gremlins. Yet they're also smart enough not to let their occasional giddy delusions get the better of them - in other words, they allow themselves a healthy dose of blue sky thinking, without losing their heads in the delusional stratosphere.
It's the toughest thing to do in this business. But suffice to say, by the time the consumer starts to get a whiff that a brand is 'played out' or 'over' - it's way too late, and it might take years for that company to recover. And frankly they may never get back to their previous heights.
In the case of BMW and Porsche, they actually believe that it can't - and won't - happen to them. They're too smart and too right - and they know better than everyone else. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, they've been on such a long, drawn-out free fall into mediocrity for so long that they don't even sense it. Combine that with the fact that the smartest people they know are themselves - and it's no wonder they see monsters in their engine compartments.
How low will these so-called brand stars fall? We'll be watching.
-
Ama diabashs to parakato ar8ro isws blephs ths megales autokinito eteries me diaforetikh apopsh.
Idietera diabase to komati pou leei gia thn Porshe. Amesos mou hr8e sto miallo ena topic pou exei anixth pou leei o dimiourgos tou pos oti ftiaxnh to poulai. Den einai etsi omos ta pragmata.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 1180-E.jpg
**Over the past four-and-one-half years of publishing Autoextremist.com, we have witnessed the most stunning brand blowups in automotive history.
Some of the greatest, so-called 'unimpeachable' automotive brands have either willfully committed brand suicide because of delusional notions about their place in the automotive world, and the belief that their judgment is infallible, or because of flat-out, misguided stupidity.**
Others have just been caught out in a changing market that has demonstrated little sympathy for traditional automotive powerhouse brands. I thought we'd take a look at four notable examples today...
Following up on my column from last week, BMW went from being a company with an unwavering, single-minded focus on building the best 'driving machines' they could possibly build, to becoming a car company more infatuated with sales records, finding new segments to mine gold with and continuing its long-standing obsession with surpassing Mercedes-Benz in the world order. Rather than building great cars that stayed true to BMW's raison d'etre - the company has begun a long, painful slide into brand oblivion. In typical fashion, however, BMW executives (led by Helmut Panke) not only don't believe they've lost a step, they refuse to listen to anybody who would deign to suggest such a thing. There is a distinct aura of invincibility hovering over the entire BMW enterprise, and it has the acrid odor of full-scale delusion. Blind arrogance in a car executive or a car company isn't an unusual thing. The car 'biz' is littered with examples of it throughout its history. But BMW executives seem to have arrived at a point now where they actually believe they can do no wrong - and that their view of the automotive world is the only one that matters. Big mistake. BMW has lost more than a step - and they're by no means infallible (see this week's 'On The Table' - ed.). Playing in segments they don't belong in, creating cars with gimmicky, overwrought exterior shapes burdened with vapid, frivolous design cues, plus the added (and dismal) dimension of rampant electronic overkill infesting each and every new vehicle they come out with - it's nothing short of a recipe for disaster. BMW has had a long, big-time successful run, but it is well on its way to blowing it - and in a big way.
We've talked about the free fall of Porsche for some time now, and while the troops in Zuffenhausen - led by Wendelin Wiedeking (he's a genius, just ask him) - are high-fiving and back-slapping each other over their current profitability numbers due to their self-proclaimed 'brilliant' strategy of bringing out an SUV as their bread-and-butter vehicle - to carry them through the occasional downturns of the sports car market - their very essence is slowly but surely slipping away from them. Porsche 911 and Boxster sales are now officially in the dumper and have been for some time - which Porsche claims is due to the poor economic conditions here in the U.S. and around the world. But my contention is that Porsche is placing the blame on the wrong reason. Porsche's predicament is due, in large part, to their insatiable greed. Because of Porsche's nonsensical, ill-fated strategy of cranking out Boxsters as if they were popcorn to boost their short-term profitability, they have managed to dilute the brand's image, removing any of the specialness that was once such a part of the Porsche name. Which is laughable, when you really think about it, because Porsche did it once before during its infamous 924 chapter. Granted, the Boxster is a vastly superior car, but the net-net effect of cranking out too many units is still the same in the end.
Porsche management has proved that arrogance, talking to one's self and selective rationalization is a powerful potion that can blind an organization to the reality of its situation. While Porsche executives are busy insisting that because of cars like the Carrera GT and 911 GT-3, all is well with their newly formed dependence on the Cayenne, and that they're better than ever as a company, they will wake up one day to find that Cayenne sales have cooled. And then what? Will they mount a huge marketing/advertising effort designed to remind everyone in the world that they're once again a premier maker of sports cars? That's not going to work. Why? For one thing, the competition is getting too tough. GM is undercutting Porsche at the more affordable end with the superb new Corvette C6, which will offer better performance in its standard trim (400H.P.) than 911s costing $40,000 to $50,000 more. And Porsche won't have an answer for it - at least not an answer that will come in for less than $100,000, because Porsche has pissed away five years on developing the Cayenne, instead of working on a true, back-to-basics sports car that they so badly need. The Boxster was to be that car, remember? But because of Porsche's usurious pricing policies, the Boxster stopped being affordable literally five minutes after it was introduced.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 7875-E.jpgMake no mistake about this: Porsche has alienated its hardcore enthusiast constituency with the Cayenne. These are the true-blue enthusiasts - people who have been spreading the gospel according to Porsche for years. But now these same Porsche loyalists don't even recognize the company anymore. It's no longer a manufacturer of lithe, light sports cars that can trace its roots back to its founder - a man who retains legendary status in the automotive world to this day. And it's no longer a sports car manufacturer that derives inspiration for its street cars from its exploits on the race track - and the lessons gleaned from competing in some of the most famous races in the world (because of the time and money it took to develop Cayenne, Porsche has not competed for the overall win at Le Mans for five years, and they've recently announced that they wouldn't be there in the near future, either).
No, Porsche has now dumbed itself down to the point that it has become just another car company, hell bent on becoming a dreaded 'full-line manufacturer' - a company whose latest effort is an SUV powered by a VW V-6 engine, of all things. And whose next effort is rumored to be a four-door sedan based on VW Group's Phaeton/Bentley Continental GT/Audi A8 platform. I guess it would be more accurate to say that Porsche has become just another truck company -as they're now officially producing and selling more trucks than cars.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/ ... 7280-E.jpgAnd last, but certainly not least, one of the most, if not the most, egregious examples of a former brand star going down in flames is Mercedes-Benz. What has happened to this once majestic brand over the last ten years in the U.S. market is simply unconscionable. Abandoning one of the greatest ad themes of all time - 'Engineered Like No Other Car in the World' - Mercedes-Benz traded its lofty, technical superiority positioning in favor of a more 'approachable' persona in the U.S. market, in order to sell more volume in the face of intense competitive pressure from Lexus and BMW. And this strategy has flat-out backfired. Selling C-class Coupes against VWs on one end, and then refusing to call its $300,000 uber-luxury car a Mercedes at the other - Mercedes-Benz has squandered years of accrued brand equity in a market that absolutely demands it. Add horrendous quality problems caused by overly complicated electronic systems, and you have a huge mess.
Mercedes is not only playing in segments that it has no business being in - it finds itself grinding it out against lesser marques in a cutthroat arena that it's woefully ill-suited to compete in. In short, Mercedes-Benz has irrevocably cheapened its brand in its quest to become 'all things to all people' in this market - and the brand may never recover from it. Yes, the new AMG cars qualify as worthy Mercedes of the 'old school' variety, but virtually everything else they're doing - from their scattered model lineup, to their questionable marketing and puzzling advertising strategies - is off target. Talk about losing specialness - Mercedes-Benz is a textbook example of how not to do it if you're in the auto business.
There are other bad actors in this current auto market who are on the cusp of going down in flames, like the VW group, which may never overcome the strategic 'vision' of the King of Delusion himself, ex-chairman Ferdinand Piech, and his plan for VW to rule the world, but the bottom line of this discussion is clear...
It doesn't matter how long an automobile company has enjoyed a run at the top - if they waver from their mission for even an instant, it can all be gone in a few quarters. For some people out there, it is hard to imagine that the same companies who are piling up big sales numbers now (like Porsche) are the same ones who will be struggling to retain their place in the market in a matter of months.........
But that's how fragile this brand image stuff can be.
The smart car companies are the ones who can keep their heads up just enough to avoid being dragged down by the usual assortment of internally created tunnel vision gremlins. Yet they're also smart enough not to let their occasional giddy delusions get the better of them - in other words, they allow themselves a healthy dose of blue sky thinking, without losing their heads in the delusional stratosphere.
It's the toughest thing to do in this business. But suffice to say, by the time the consumer starts to get a whiff that a brand is 'played out' or 'over' - it's way too late, and it might take years for that company to recover. And frankly they may never get back to their previous heights.
In the case of BMW and Porsche, they actually believe that it can't - and won't - happen to them. They're too smart and too right - and they know better than everyone else. In the case of Mercedes-Benz, they've been on such a long, drawn-out free fall into mediocrity for so long that they don't even sense it. Combine that with the fact that the smartest people they know are themselves - and it's no wonder they see monsters in their engine compartments.
How low will these so-called brand stars fall? We'll be watching.
-
Χμμμ, ενδιαφέροντα.....και μοιάζουν και σωστά....αν και μιλάει βασικά για Αμερική!
Μόνο για BMW, Porsche και Mercerdes λέει? Κανένα σχόλιο για άλλες εταιρείες?
Περιμένουμε λοιπόν και βλέπουμε!
Έχω περιέργεια ποιοι θα βγούν οι κερδισμένοι αν πέσουν οι προηγούμενοι?
Οι Γάλλοι και οι Γιαπωνέζοι? Μήπως μπορέσουν και οι Ιταλοί να κάνουν κάτι αν προκάμουν....? -
Katalabemo ti les. Alla sxedon mono autoi htan ta elite cars. den 8a sou milish gia GM h giapona h galo afou oles ftiaxnoun econo cars.
Kai h alh8eia na legete. Toulaxiston sthn BA exoume bromish apo auta ta autokinita. Oloi ta exoun. Apo 16xrona koritsakia mexrh o metanasths pou prhn 2 xronia zouse se kaluba.
Den milame gia piotita h apodoshs. Milame gia apoklistikotita. Pio apoklistiko einai pia ena Acura 3.2TL h Lexus para ena apo ta parapano. Boxster 8a blepo 5-10 ka8e mera. Kai na blephs kati poura pou ta odigane kai na einai automata kai na gelas.
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Ο χρήστης OUZO Power έγραψε:
Ama diabashs to parakato ar8ro isws blephs ths megales autokinito eteries me diaforetikh apopsh.
Idietera diabase to komati pou leei gia thn Porshe. Amesos mou hr8e sto miallo ena topic pou exei anixth pou leei o dimiourgos tou pos oti ftiaxnh to poulai. Den einai etsi omos ta pragmata.Πολύ ενδιαφέρον το παραπάνω άρθρο.
Eίχα γράψει κάτι τέτοιο για την PORSCHE και τις πωλήσεις της.
Σε ξένα περιοδικά είχα διαβάσει για την PORCHE και τις πωλήσεις της, η έρευνα της ADAC (όσο αξιόπιστη είναι), μιλά για το ίδιο θέμα και τοποθετεί την εταιρεία στην πρώτη θέση όσον αφορά την απόδοσή της στην αγορά.
Πληροφορίες για το θέμα, υπάρχουν και εδώ : -
Πριν από λίγα χρόνια όμως πήγαινε κατά διαβόλου. Η Boxster τότε έσωσε την Porsche. Το ίδιο είχε κάνει και η 924 πριν από περισσότερα χρόνια. Η Cayenne όμως αναγκάζοντάς την να ανοίξει νέα μέτωπα μπορεί μετά τις αρχικές πωλήσεις να αποτελέσει το βαρύδι που θα την ξαναρίξει χαμηλά!
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Ο χρήστης onyx ! έγραψε:
Πριν από λίγα χρόνια όμως πήγαινε κατά διαβόλου. Η Boxster τότε έσωσε την Porsche. Το ίδιο είχε κάνει και η 924 πριν από περισσότερα χρόνια. Η Cayenne όμως αναγκάζοντάς την να ανοίξει νέα μέτωπα μπορεί μετά τις αρχικές πωλήσεις να αποτελέσει το βαρύδι που θα την ξαναρίξει χαμηλά!Aσφαλώς και μπορεί να γίνει κάτι τέτοιο στο μέλλον.
Πάντως, η PORSCHE κατάφερε να σημειώσει ρεκόρ πωλήσεων για ένατη συνεχή χρονιά.
Δύσκολα, λοιπόν, θα γίνουν άστοχες κινήσεις. Η προσθήκη ενός τέταρτου μοντέλου (μετά τις 911, boxster, cayenne), θα προσθέσει-λογικά και νέα κέρδη μακροπρόθεσμα. -
Γενικά σωστά τα λέει, αλλά στην περίπτωση της Mercedes παραβλέπει την σαφή σχεδιαστική βελτίωση των αυτοκινήτων της, τα οποία από γεροντίστικα κατασκευάσματα και μέσα επίδειξης νεόπλουτων (όσον αφορά δε τις τεχνολογικές καινοτομίες, αυτές παρέμεναν πάντα προνόμιο των ακριβότερων μοντέλων) απέκτησαν επιτέλους φινέτσα.
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Μην ξεγελιέστε. Είναι και άλλες βιομηχανίες οι οποίες βρίσκονται σε πτώση. Εδώ στην Αμερική για πρώτη φορά στην Ιστορία φέτος η TOYOTA(Lexus) πούλησε ποιο πολλά αμάξια απο την Ford. Πριν απο μερικές εβδομάδες ερχόμουνα απο Wisconsin και μιλουσα στο Αεροπλάνα με έναν Project Manager απο την General Motors. Μου έλεγε πως η Ford έχει τα χάλια της και παρόλα αυτά ετοιμάζει γυρο στα 30 καινούργια μοντέλα για το 2004-2005 περιμένοντας την Οικονομική 'ανάκαμψη'. Άμα δεν έρθει ποτέ αυτή οι οικονομική ανάκαμψη η Ford πάει για 'Φουντο'/
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Ο χρήστης Antiriad έγραψε:
Μην ξεγελιέστε. Είναι και άλλες βιομηχανίες οι οποίες βρίσκονται σε πτώση. Εδώ στην Αμερική για πρώτη φορά στην Ιστορία φέτος η TOYOTA(Lexus) πούλησε ποιο πολλά αμάξια απο την Ford. Πριν απο μερικές εβδομάδες ερχόμουνα απο Wisconsin και μιλουσα στο Αεροπλάνα με έναν Project Manager απο την General Motors. Μου έλεγε πως η Ford έχει τα χάλια της και παρόλα αυτά ετοιμάζει γυρο στα 30 καινούργια μοντέλα για το 2004-2005 περιμένοντας την Οικονομική 'ανάκαμψη'. Άμα δεν έρθει ποτέ αυτή οι οικονομική ανάκαμψη η Ford πάει για 'Φουντο'/Oπότε, για την PORSCHE, η ένατη συνεχόμενα κερδοφόρα χρονιά πρέπει να είναι άθλος και να συγκαταλέγεται στις εξαιρέσεις των αυτοκινητοβιομηχανιών.
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Pia einai h diagfora. Den einai to topic gia to pia einai kerdofora h oxi. Image einai to topic. Idio den einai to image ths Porshe me auto pou eixe prhn 20 kai 10 xronia. Kai h ford den exei image apo eksarxhs gia na swsh h na diatirish. Oute h GM.
Falling Stars