On Thursday 04 October 2001 04:14 pm, David N Waldmann wrote:
> Selling their soul?. It's what people want. So far as I know all major car
> companies are publicly held. That means accountability for profit. As such
> they do not have the luxury of "loyalty to the brand" or "soul of the
> marque". It is a very real fact that SUVs are the craze. If I'm the CEO of
> BMW I'm going to be saying "If they're going to drive an SUV at least let
> it be a BMW". Ditto for any other mfr be it Cadillac or Ferrari.
That is true, but at least to me it tarnishes the image of a company if it's
built up its reputation for providing certain types of automobiles and
nothing else. It takes a long time to build up brand loyalty and image -
doesn't take long to tear it down. In the long run that can be much more
important and valuable. And sometimes companies DO take the route of not
following the fad. Seems I read somewhere that Jag rejected the idea of an
SUV because that's just not what they do. I just don't look at the company
the same way. I frankly haven't had much of an opinion of Cadillac since the
Cimarron. Kind of "I thought you made luxury cars. Go back to what you do
best."
> That said, I agree that 79.908% of the people who own SUVs would be better
> off if they replaced them with station wagons or mini-vans.
True. We have a minivan and for everyday stuff it's much more versatile and
roomier.
> Add to that the
> fact that are another 23.2% of them are owned by single people or couples
> who should be driving LBCs and you see that by logic there should actually
> be a vacuum of SUVs. However, the buying public is rarely logical. Why do
> you suppose that there are so many successful "snake oil" products out
> there that make their creators wealthy?
Why do you think Bill Gates is a multi-billionaire? ;-)
I actually thing there should be drivers license ratings kind of like for
airplanes. There are, but the groups are too big. SUVs (or any vehicle) over
a certain size should require a separate driving test. I have a 1970 Chrysler
Imperial awaiting restoring (I hope) that is probably bigger than most of the
SUVs out there! A tad over 20 feet overall length bumper to bumper.
Eddie
1971 Midget
1992 Caravan
1991 Dakota 4x4
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