Archive for the ‘Marketing’ Category
Saturday, April 4th, 2009
Cheryl and Chris Jensen in the NY Times deliver a comprehensive overview of the various ideas being considered to convince consumers to get into the new vehicle market. Whatever happens, it's the best time ever to buy a new car, minivan or truck.
Posted in Advertising, Advice, Buying Tips, Financing, Incentives, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Program For Change, Sales, Save Money | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
In an effort to get its sales moving again, Ford has brought forward a plan to make the ownership experience better for its customers. The best way to see what the Detroit firm has in mind is to consider the press release on the matter:
Posted in Advertising, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Incentives, Marketing, Pricing, Product News, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
In an effort to get ahead of the pack on the customer service front (and get its sales moving again), GM has announced an impressive set of non-price incentives for new car buyers. The best way to see what the US firm is offering is to consider the original statement ...
Posted in Advertising, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Incentives, Marketing, Product News, Sales, Save Money | No Comments »
Friday, March 20th, 2009
GM's struggles to survive have put its most female-friendly division at risk, but the operators of the Saturn brand and dealerships are doing their best to keep customers interested. The lineup of products and no-haggle, no-hassle sales atmosphere should still be attractive to a lot of women.
Posted in Advertising, Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Green, Incentives, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing | No Comments »
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
All you folks who've closed your minds to the possibility that Detroit can do anything good with four wheels and an engine should read this story. It will show you how wrong you've been for some years, but does not point out that you're probably spending more money on Japanese ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Thursday, March 19th, 2009
The theory with a cash-for-clunkers program is that reduces air pollution by getting older vehicles off the road and helps the economy by allowing people to buy newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles from North American car companies.
Posted in Financing, Gas Issues, Incentives, Marketing, Program For Change | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009
Deals keep getting better on new cars, as auto companies struggle to find the right level of incentives to get buyers back onto their lots. The customers who decide to buy should get a better deal than ever.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Financing, Incentives, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Friday, February 20th, 2009
In an effort to get some buzz going for its sub-compact Fiesta model from Europe, Ford is looking for 100 people in the U.S. to test the car for several months. There's a website you have to visit, and of course you'll be required to post something on YouTube.
Posted in Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009
When the time comes to actually buy a car, it's often difficult to understand which features you should make sure are part of the package. This story helps you sort out which things are worth the extra money and which aren't.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Marketing, Safety, Sales, Technology | No Comments »
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Not being able to buy a new car online costs most consumers money, consumer groups believe, so there's a push to change the way auto purchasing works as part of the overall restructuring of the industry.
Posted in Buying Tips, Financing, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Pricing, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Saturday, February 7th, 2009
The third version of the popular RL crossover model will go on sale soon, with a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $36,800 for the front-drive model and $38,200 for the all-wheel-drive. There's also a handling fee of $825, which you do not have to pay, though the company and the ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Dealerships, Design, Marketing, Pricing, Product News | No Comments »
Thursday, February 5th, 2009
Even though female viewership of the Super Bowl has been going up in recent years, apparently the news hasn't gotten through to the companies that pay big bucks for commercials.
Posted in Advertising, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing | No Comments »
Monday, January 26th, 2009
The Italian company's recent allegiance with Detroit's Chrysler could mean as many as seven new vehicles, mostly of the small, fuel-efficient kind, three bearing the Fiat or Alfa-Romeo logos and four with the Chrysler badge. It will take a while before they're all on sale.
Posted in Dealerships, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
It's a little unfair to say that what the children of Baby Boomers want is not on many car companies' menus at present, but it is true that many changes will have to be made if they want to attract younger buyers in large volumes.
Posted in Advertising, Children, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
The days of having nothing but a few gauges that most people didn't understand are behind the instrument panel, which is historically known as the dashboard. Soon enough they will be considerably more adaptive and interactive than you could possibly imagine.
Posted in Advice, Children, Driving Matters, Gadgets, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Saturday, January 17th, 2009
Not as small as a Smart but smaller than a Rabbit, this four-door model will probably deliver better fuel economy than both of those model and many others, and for less money. Whether it will appeal to enough North Americans to make it viable remains to be seen, particularly since ...
Posted in Gas Issues, Marketing, Pricing, Product News, Safety, Warnings | No Comments »
Friday, January 16th, 2009
Ford has decided to make 100 units of its popular Fiesta subcompact model (with gas, insurance, concierge service, etc) to US citizens who create the worthiest videos. See details on this web page.
Posted in Advertising, Cute stories, Driving Matters, Incentives, Marketing, Save Money | No Comments »
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
We can't vouch for the stability of the company itself or the quality of its products or any of those other sensible consumer things, but we do think it's worth pointing out that a firm called Road New England (which is in Florida) is creating motorcycles and motorcycle accessories for ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Gas Issues, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Time was that a BMW or Mercedes had safety, quality or ergonomic levels that less expensive cars couldn't come close to offering, so there was some rational reason for buying them. But those days are long gone. Now about the only thing you get for the extra money is the ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Parts, Pricing, Safety, Save Money, Technology | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
Some hyper-mileage geeks were surprised that Honda's latest version of its Insight hybrid doesn't register better fuel economy, and they probably won't be happy that it was done in the name of fun. Regular consumers, on the other hand, are likely to feel differently. That's Honda's hope, at any rate.
Posted in Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Green, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
It's beginning to look like the possibility of Americans buying inexpensive little cars from China (including an EV model that runs on batteries and comes with an engine to recharge those batteries to extend the range) is going to turn into one of those things that's always two or three ...
Posted in Dealerships, Driving Matters, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Save Money | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Once upon a time the Ford Taurus ruled the giant mid-size sedan market in America, and now the struggling company hopes to earn some of those sales back with a revised Taurus for 2010. No matter how good this car is, however, Ford will have a tough time convincing the ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Pricing, Product News, Sales | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
There may still be a good reason for some people to pick a lease over an outright purchase, but GM has made it clear that it won't be subsidizing leases the way it used to, which means it won't make sense for most people to go with a lease. Leasing ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Financing, Marketing, Warnings | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
By far the most exciting development in gas-saving vehicles the last couple of years has been the cars that might be called extended-range electric vehicles, with the Chevrolet Volt being the most famous. Unlike hybrids, which have two drive systems (a regular engine and a battery) these vehicles are only ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
One of the auto industry's most regular critics takes a look around the Detroit auto show and finds that Detroit's car makers are doing a lot better job than many Americans and members of the government thought.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Before consumers got scared off by high gas prices, many of them found the Chevrolet Equinox a nice compromise between a car and the bigger SUVs on the market. Well now the Equinox is back and features a lot of the charms of the Malibu sedan that won the auto ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Design, Green, Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
At the end of a few words from an auto journalism's widely appreciated for being a smartass, there is a wealth of information on the BEV available in the press releases from Ford and Magna.
Posted in Design, Green, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
More than many people in government and the general public (especially its bloggers) seem to understand, switching away from the big, over-powered, gas-guzzling vehicles that the public was demanding less than a year ago to the hyper-green fuel-suckers it still doesn't seem interested in (hybrid sales are down) is going ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Green, Is There A Lesson Here?, Marketing, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
If electric vehicles and hybrids are ever to make a significant impact on the amount of oil used on this continent, they will require a steady and stable stream of batteries. Which is why a lot of companies, including General Motors, are determined to see that they come from North ...
Posted in Design, Green, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
Lots of revisions to the droptop little car make it safer and more accommodating, though not much was said about fuel economy. Maybe this car is just too much fun to worry about that. After the short introduction in the attached story there's a link to the entire press release, ...
Posted in Accidents, Design, Driving Matters, Marketing, Product News, Technology | No Comments »
Sunday, January 11th, 2009
Not so many years ago Mercedes-Benz had four models that the German luxury maker updated every decade or so whether they needed to or not. Now, of course, there are more than a dozen different Merc models and they're updated, revised or repeated with impressive regularity. The latest model reveal ...
Posted in Marketing, Product News | No Comments »
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
This story gives you a pretty good idea of the kinds of new car deals that are being offered today.
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Incentives, Marketing, Product News, Save Money | No Comments »
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
While every new vehicle does come with a guarantee that the costs of repairs will be paid by the car company, there's considerable difference between what the car companies will pay for. That is to say, a certain item may be covered by one company, and not another. So one ...
Posted in Advice, Buying Tips, Dealerships, Marketing, Parts, Pricing, Product News, Save Money, Technology, Warnings | No Comments »
Friday, January 9th, 2009
More recently than you might imagine, the only electronic component of a car was the AM/FM radio. But those days are behind us and much of the geek universe is anxious to add more computing power and technology to our cars. Some of it even a normal person will find ...
Posted in Buying Tips, Driving Matters, Marketing, Product News, Safety, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, January 8th, 2009
The in-car Sync system was mostly about portable entertainment at first, but now Microsoft has upgraded it to include traffic news, directions, personalized news and more. So far, Sync has been extremely successful and looks like it might become a much bigger feature in vehicles from Ford and, in time, ...
Posted in Driving Matters, Gadgets, Marketing, Product News, Program For Change, Technology | No Comments »
