To sell a Malibu, get a Camry

Chevy dealers are told to bring mighty rival into the showroom
Chevrolet plans to seek conquest buyers for the 2008 Malibu by asking
dealers to do the unthinkable: Put a Toyota Camry in the showroom for
comparison. Cheryl Catton, Chevrolet's director of car marketing,
"encouraged us to get a Camry and put it in the showroom so people can see
the difference in styling, the interior, pricing and features," said one
dealer. Catton suggested dealers rent a car.

Today, rob made these interesting comments ...

> Chevy dealers are told to bring mighty rival into the showroom
> Chevrolet plans to seek conquest buyers for the 2008 Malibu by
> asking dealers to do the unthinkable: Put a Toyota Camry in
> the showroom for comparison. Cheryl Catton, Chevrolet's
> director of car marketing, "encouraged us to get a Camry and
> put it in the showroom so people can see the difference in
> styling, the interior, pricing and features," said one dealer.
> Catton suggested dealers rent a car.
>
Yes, and the former Chrysler Group, a former division of
DaimlerChrysler AG, is giving away minivans with the purchase of
loaded Ram pickups with HEMIs in them. Interesting concepts these
marketing drones are dreaming up!

It is often said that it isn't the truth that is important, it is
how the truth is perceived that is important. I've said a number
of times before that I believe that while the Big Three are
making significant strides in improving their product quality and
manufacturing efficiency, the slope of their improvement curve is
flatter than that of the most successful Asians. So, it is not a
suprise to me that no one believes that there are some Ford, GM,
and Chrysler products higher in J.D. Power than Honda, Nissan,
and Toyota, and quite a few higher in their segment than the
vaunted European brands including Audi, Porsche, BMW, VW, and
even Mercedes-Benz. And, there are few people that even remotely
believe that GM has more total vehicles with highway CAFE at 30
mpg or higher than any other car company in the world.

So, if Chevy dealers do allow apples-to-apples comparos,
especially if they do competitive test drives, the Malibus will
still fail. NOT because they are bad cars and NOT because Camry's
are better cars. But, them who want a Malibu will buy one and
them who want a Camry will buy them, for their own reasons and
not because some marketing genius thought up a new way to spin
the game.

When it comes to building and maintaining a reputation - for
anything - it can take years or sometimes decades, but the good
rep can be destroyed or seriously damaged by just one or two ill-
conceived events. The Big Three has the entire post-WWII period
worth of real and perceived bad quality cars weighing them down
to the point that many people won't even consider an American
brand.

Now, exactly what is an American car? How is that defined?

--
HP, aka Jerry