http://www.just-auto.com/ Dave's automotive industry blog - from just-auto.com en-us ©2008 All content copyright just-auto.com. Published by Aroq Ltd. Mon, 12 May 2008 23:15:20 GMT Mon, 12 May 2008 23:15:20 GMT just-auto.com - RSS Feed just-auto.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 20 http://www.just-auto.com/images/small_logo_auto.gif http://www.just-auto.com/ 100 21 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1801&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 This week I have been driving around in a press fleet Cadillac BLS 1.9 CDTI Wagon. I wanted it to coincide with the interview I did with Jonathan Nash (below link). It's a pretty good piece of kit - the 1.9 litre diesel engine is turbocharged, there's plenty of load space, nice interior finish, subtle but definitely not bland styling (the Cadillac 'origami edges' figure). And the handling is sharp on what is a fairly sizeable car. No complaints and an easy car to live with. Comments in the office on the styling were pretty favourable, too - plenty thought it resembled a Saab (BLS is also made in Trollhattan). In short, it deserves a fair hearing amongst its mainly German peers here in Europe. But will it get one or more accurately, will there be enough customers who are attracted to the idea of a Cadillac badge on their status symbol? 'Do different' might make an appropriate brand tagline. One thing though - I certainly don't think Cadillac will be emphasing Teutonic-like peer values, as per Citroen C5. This is an American brand and there's a project ahead on communicating or maybe even reinterpreting Cadillac values for Europeans. But hang on, it's built in Sweden...but there again Saabs will be built in Germany with the next 9-5, BMWs are built in the US etc. Place of final assembly is perhaps less important if other associated brand values are very strong. It's a question of balance. Just realised re Jonathan Nash. We are a similar age, but he's ginger and has a good hair spread that has a lot less charcoal grey than me. Fair play: ginger upside. And, also, he sounds a wee bit like Chris Evans, too (listen to the embedded audio file on the below link...). Wait a minute, he actually looks like Chris Evans! Someone needs to ask him what he's doing in the Radio 2 drivetime slot. editor@just-auto.com () Fri, 09 May 2008 15:03:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1801&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1800&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Marketing and selling large premium cars isn't all that easy for the French outside of France. The German brands have something of a stranglehold - in Europe, especially. PSA is developing what it believes is a credible strategy - 'competitive premium' - essentially levering off the volume business on component sets to produce a low-cost premium offering in each segment and undercutting the established premium brands. I think it will be an uphill struggle in an area of the market where brand equity counts for a lot. Citroen is most definitely a value-driven brand and I think that counts against it in premium segments. But it will be interesting to see how the strategy unfolds in the market. The right price point can count for a lot, too, so maybe with good product there's a chance to build a reputation (and people who consider a Citroen brand premium car may have low initial expectations). And first off, perhaps you'd want to mix it a bit on the old brand image front, try and dispel some ingrained perceptions and maybe even suggest that you are already right up there with the established players... In the UK, Citroen is certainly having a go with the C5 and an advertising campaign on TV that has drawn some criticism for its 'Nazi imagery'. A group of MPs said this: 'This house notes with regret the stereotypes used by Citroen to market the new C5 as Unmistakably German, including imagery, symbolism and style reminiscent of the 1930s. '[We believe] this is counterproductive to the reputation of Citroen and urge it to withdraw the advertisement.' Personally, I think it is harmless and rather funny. Judge for yourself. editor@just-auto.com () Fri, 09 May 2008 13:03:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1800&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1799&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Russia's Ural Motorcycles is selling its two-wheeler product with funky sidecars to Australia. Is the 'George and Mildred sidecar' due a revival and maybe a reinvention? I dunno and it's a slightly disturbing thought in some ways. I came across Ural Motorcyles in Australia via something in the Sydney Morning Herald and I must say I find this all rather amazing - there are even sidecar adventure tours Down Under. I guess it's a relatively fuel-efficient transportation mode and Two Fat Ladies on their venerable Triumph with sidecar certainly rocked. One of those weirdly cool cult things due a mini revival? Fido's chariot? editor@just-auto.com () Fri, 09 May 2008 11:46:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1799&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1798&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I see the creative juices have been flowing over at Chrysler which is being hurt more than most by high gas prices. Buy a selected Chrysler model and Chrysler will subsidise the cost of the fuel going in the tank via a special credit card. It's an interesting one and I must say I like the inherent gambling element involved with holding the fuel price constant for the next three years. Will the actual pump price rise or fall and by how much? Who's judgement do you trust - Chrysler LLC's Chief Economist or your Auntie Pam's? Seriously, I wonder if other manufacturers are looking at this. Sure, you can say it's just another incentive (and it's capped of course), but it might be one that flies with consumers on the back of a feel-good factor which goes with filling the tank for 'just' USD2.99 for the next three years. A guy at Goldman Sachs has just forecast that the price of oil could conceivably rise to USD200 a barrel within six months. Yup, that 2.99 price might start to look like a real bargain. There again, the price of oil might just go the other way when peace breaks out in the Middle East, the dollar recovers on a stronger than expected 2009 US economic rebound and yet more oil is discovered off Brazil. As any gambler knows, there are no sure bets. And I wonder what the most fuel uneconomic Chrysler vehicle covered by this 'fuel protection' incentive is? editor@just-auto.com () Wed, 07 May 2008 17:56:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1798&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1797&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 With the price of oil where it is, there's a general assumption going around that the issues for future electric plug-ins are confined chiefly to vehicle (lithium-ion battery) range and performance alongside some consideration of the CO2 used up in power generation. I've not heard much on what the issues may be for the electric power utilities. If that aspect is not completely ignored in the discussions that go on in the auto industry, it's often assumed that what comes out of the wall socket will be there and at the same kind of price as we pay today. It couldn't actually end up being more expensive than liquified fossil fuel could it? This article in the WSJ caught my eye. editor@just-auto.com () Fri, 02 May 2008 14:42:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1797&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1796&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Just how far can premium or prestige brands go down the volume road? It was a question that had me thinking after meeting with Jonathan Nash, who's in charge of Saab and Cadillac sales in the UK. He turns low volume on its head and maintains that it can be an advantage in terms of delivering a more personalised customer experience. There might be a few people out there who snigger at that one, given the way Cadillac has undershot on volume, but I think he has a point. Does the brand image start to suffer if the brand's cars are everywhere you look? How far can you take it? I guess if the tide is rising and people have more money to spend, the fact that millions of people can buy formerly exclusive designer clothes and upmarket car brands is a good thing - a simple consequence of rising affluence. BMW 3 Series outsells Ford Mondeo in UK these days; so what? And when these things do become ubiquitous, then the people who formerly wanted exclusivity can move on to something else. In Europe, a Caddy is a pretty exclusive thing, not exactly a cool thing (let's leave gold wheel Escalades to one side, that's a hip-hop micro-niche) but maybe that will come? In Motor Industry Magazine, Martin Derrick asks whether BMW can avert the “Burberry risk”. “Remember Pierre Cardin? Or Ben Sherman? Or Burberry and Stella Artois? “What they all have in common is that they were premium brands which lost some of their sparkle as a direct result of boosting sales volumes too aggressively. Worse, they started being associated with – how shall I put this? – less than premium customers.” As sales volume grows, is there a worry that BMW’s nice cars will fall into the wrong hands? Derrick said that growth will continue: “because people are getting more affluent and are living longer so there’s no question of demand for premium cars falling in the short term”. editor@just-auto.com () Thu, 01 May 2008 18:30:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1796&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1795&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I've been sent a very well produced booklet from the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) Trust. You can download it for free (below). It contains plenty of data on the UK but there's a section on international comparisons at the back. It's a good summary compiled from a variety of sources. I defy anyone to not raise their eyebrows over a few of the stats within it. Here are a few: Today's new lorry (what us Brits sometimes call freight trucks) is quieter than a new car made before 1982. The years 1934, 1941 and 1966 were the worst years for deaths on Britain's roads. Fatal and serious injuries peaked in 1966 and then began falling. Road deaths in cars and also pedestrians killed on the roads have gone down sharply since 1990. A recent significant decline in 'slight injuries' began as recently as 1998. Which country comes out worst on road deaths per thousand population? Russia, by quite a big margin (careful on those Moscow streets if you're going to watch the big football game there later this month). And within the UK, maybe take a little more care when travelling in Northern Ireland which comes out worst among the regions in terms of KSI (Killed or Seriously Injured) rate on the roads per 100,000 population.. Over the last twenty years or so (comparing 1985 with 2006) annual UK sales of cars with engine size 1.8L-2.499L have trebled (0.3m pa to 1m) while sales of cars with engine size less than 1.2L have more than halved (0.44m to 0.18m). I wonder what that table will look like in twenty years time... editor@just-auto.com () Thu, 01 May 2008 17:27:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1795&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1793&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Here's an odd one to check out over your coffee break. Do you recall an ocean going car transporter - Cougar Ace - in the Pacific that ran into trouble a while back, aground on its side (I've dug out the story links from our archive - below)? Its cargo of 4,700 Mazdas was rescued, but the cars had been resting at a crazy angle for weeks. What damage may have been done to the cars? Not all that much you might think (they are well strapped in), but the mere uncertainty was enough for Mazda to conclude that its best option was to claim the loss on the insurance and scrap the cars. The Wall Street Journal got the story on the scrapping process and have sent us the link to use (bottom link, below). The video clip in the article is worth a look. Sad to see such treatment meted out to 'new' cars, but there you go. They even smash the CD players with hammers and drill holes in the tyres to stop them finding their way out on to the black market. JAPAN: Mazda rules out selling rescued cars as new US: Mazda scraps 4,703 Cougar Ace cars editor@just-auto.com () Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:15:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1793&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1792&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 If there was ever a sign that Ford has really turned a corner with its latest financial results maybe it is the renewed buying interest of Kirk Kerkorian. This is the guy who took a hosing with his DCX shares (and lost a court case for compensation) and more recently failed to engineer control of GM via manoueverings involving Carlos Ghosn. Now he's taking an interest in Ford. I wonder what the Ford dynasty makes of that, but, as they own most of the voting stock, they probably aren't too concerned about any future Tracinda manoueverings. It looks more like a vote of confidence in Ford and it's turnaround course. editor@just-auto.com () Mon, 28 Apr 2008 16:13:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1792&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1791&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I was up at BMW/Mini's Plant Oxford on Friday to meet up with Oliver Zipse, the Plant Director. We had a chat in a large building that is reserved for Mini events (an interview article for just-auto is in the works). It's also a place big enough to gather everyone together for occasional company meetings. There is some showcasing of the present product and, I was pleased to see, plenty of Mini heritage on display. There were wall-posters of old ads alongside some very pristine looking Minis. And in the corner of the hall was something truly extraordinary - the Austin 'Wildgoose' Mini Camper. editor@just-auto.com () Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:28:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1791&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1790&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I have heard Rob Golding make caustic remarks about the big German company AGMs before and I don't think Volkswagen is by any means unique in its quaint procedures, though Ferdinand Piech is perhaps a master in manipulating them for his own ends. Sounds like Rob's patience threshold was finally breached yesterday and he could not help but indulge in a little venting. Poor lad had a lot on with financial results yesterday and didn't much care for the bit players being given too much time by VW to meander aimlessly while the big questions were barely addressed, the untouchable Piech apparently revelling in it all. Must say, I enjoyed Rob's footballing analogy at the start of his piece. Clearly things haven't been going smoothly down at 'The Valley' (home to his beloved Charlton Athletic) lately - off or on the pitch. Just what is the world coming to when getting a beer at a major (I'm being kind) sports event is that difficult? Note to self: don't wind him up even further about the Addicks being condemned to another season out of the top flight - he might explode. editor@just-auto.com () Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:19:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1790&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1789&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Ford's Q1 results today look pretty good. The loss in North America is well down and there's a surprisingly big profit in Europe. I don't see any smoke and mirrors at work with one-time items or anything like that - it looks genuinely good. The only slight negative is Volvo Cars tipping into the red (timing is just a little ironic with profitable LR and close to breakeven Jaguar leaving the fold). Found myself reading Sam Toy's (ex-Ford UK chairman and MD, 1980-1986) obituary in The Times newspaper recently - he died at the end of last month aged 84. He was a big believer in the need to improve efficiency in the British auto industry and opposed protectionism. One of the things he had wanted to do was engineer a Ford takeover of BL, something which he believed would have 'strengthened the whole of the British motor industry'. You can see the thinking. Ford could use the increased volume to get scale economies and promote efficiency gains among its suppliers. And there would have been the PAG-like talk of shared engineering architectures and the like - and we know where that eventually went. I wonder, though, how that might have turned out and I wonder what Sam Toy made of the UK auto industry's transformation since 1986 - when Nissan was the only Japanese OEM here and Ford made cars here in big numbers (now that Jaguar and Land Rover have gone, Ford Group makes no vehicles in UK, despite being market leader in passenger cars). editor@just-auto.com () Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:47:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1789&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1788&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I am back from Frankfurt now. It was quite busy yesterday. I shelled out €22 at the JD Power forecasting conference venue for wi-fi Internet access for the day, so felt compelled to get some stories out live from the event. The €22 charge seems excessive, but what can you do? Swisscom had me over a barrel. Anyway, I was sat in the corner tip-tapping away (links to items posted yesterday are below), while attempting simultaneously to listen to the content-rich proceedings. I was also still determined to catch up with people I knew at the event during any breaks. And there were telephone messages to collect, people to email, as per any day. Incidentally, the Flybe travelling experience (Southampton-Frankfurt return incl. all taxes GBP144) was pretty good after an inauspicious start. Going out on Tuesday, the Dash 8-400 turboprop got as far as taxiing down the runway and the double bell ready for take-off before the captain decided there was a technical problem that needed looking at. So it was back to the stand and a bunch of people in high-vis jackets conversing with the captain, much scratching of heads. We eventually had to change planes and that meant a two-hour delay. The captain said the problem had everyone perplexed and ‘might be a wiring problem’. Perhaps it was a dodgy sensor. While we could all have done without the inconvenience, they did rustle up a replacement plane and on reflection, I’d rather they play safe with things like that every time. Rather paradoxically perhaps, I was now feeling better about flying Flybe. But the delay meant I got to Frankfurt airport around 8:30pm and by the time I had caught a train and walked from the main rail station (I actually wanted the exercise) across the city centre to my hotel it was ten o’clock. Return flight on Flybe yesterday went like clockwork and the staff seemed pretty good. All in all, I’d use the airline again. The small Frankfurt hotel I stayed in I found on a website and it is part of a chain (VCH). At €77 a night it was excellent value. Clean and modern, good buffet breakfast (great coffee, always a good barometer) and it just meant a ten-minute walk to the conference venue yesterday morning. Friendly receptionist said the minibar in my room was included in the price. This I had to see and I wondered if she had meant excluded rather than included. But no, it really was included in the €77 which was fully all-in, including breakfast. Okay, the minibar wasn’t exactly stacked with goodies, but there were a few bottles of juice, water and there was even a bottle of beer in there. Nice touch. I’d stay there again. And I like the German way of saying ‘Morgen’ to literally everyone you come across first thing - as in walk into the breakfast room and bellow ‘Morgen!’ to no-one in particular. Cracks me up. And there’s always a good response. You get that more in the smaller places. Suffice to say on the hotel front, that a few people I spoke to were paying five times as much for a single night elsewhere… After lunch and just before the afternoon session I did a quick video clip with Bob Schnorbus outside the conference venue (Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof) on the ‘how bad will it get?’ theme. You can click on it below. His answer to that question is that the US light vehicle market is getting near the bottom on the basis of the economic situation as we currently know it. However, if things were to worsen, there’s potential to go lower and get nearer to an annualised SAAR light vehicle market rate of 14m units. But Bob’s not saying that we're there, yet. I had quite a long chat with him about how political forecasts get. He reckoned he’d stuck his neck out recently in going under 15m for 2008, but that he was far from alone now, everyone revising down. One thing to watch will be the rebound. How quickly will the market come back? Bob’s cautious on that one. Before I left for home, I had time for a quick drink in the bar with JD Power’s European production analyst and old DRI (it's called Global Insight these days) buddy and partner in crime Arthur Maher. Good to see him on good form and still remembering our antics in Frankfurt back in 1993... GERMANY: European car market outlook mixed – forecasters GERMANY: US light vehicle market headed under 15m – JD Power GERMANY: Logistics costs a barrier to CEE expansion – ArvinMeritor JD Power analyst Arthur Maher unwinds editor@just-auto.com () Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:03:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1788&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1787&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Nice day to be out and about - looks like spring is finally sprung here. I am flying to Frankfurt this afternoon to attend the JD Power Global Automotive Outlook Conference. As I said earlier this week in the weekly newsletter, the event should be useful in terms of getting a view on how bad things will get this year in the US and in Europe. (If you don't already get the weekly highlights email, you can sign up for it here.) As part of my ongoing efforts to travel as cheaply as possible while also avoiding the biggest and most unpleasant of the UK's busting-at-the-seams airports, I'm flying with Flybe out of Southampton. I've got just one item of hand luggage (coming back tomorrow evening, so travelling light) and my boarding pass is already printed off. Good to go. Must remember to buy some drinking water and a ham sandwich before getting on the plane - I don't think there will be complimentary champagne and smoked salmon on this one. editor@just-auto.com () Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:49:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1787&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1786&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I hear Auto China press day in Beijing yesterday was quite an ordeal for many. First off, there was the problem of getting to the showground due to the roads being, well, rather busy. It's probably not unconnected with boming auto sales and maybe you can't expect to have your cake and eat it. Some pretty senior executives got held up in the gridlock and many had to brave the heavy rain to walk the last mile or so to the exhibition grounds - Carlos Ghosn was reportedly among the big wigs resorting to Shanks's pony. The physical trials of getting to the show were compunded by more logistical hassles concerning an overloaded online registration system inside the venue. For those lucky enough to get inside for the bunfight and general jostling the fun didn't end there. I understand there weren't enough taxis to take the hordes home afterwards, ensuring a further drenching in the rain for some lucky ones. editor@just-auto.com () Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:48:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1786&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1785&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Looks aren't everything, but they do count for something where cars are concerned. GM in Europe appears to have at least got the styling right with the Vectra replacement - the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia. editor@just-auto.com () Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:46:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1785&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1784&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 He's a senior executive based in San Diego but who spends a week of every month in Farmington Hills. He believes that the regulatory framework imposing on the kinds of vehicles that car firms are forced to design should be radically redrawn so that we could get things like super-efficient three-wheelers. He's got a big soft spot for a coupe designed in the US by a team led by a Brit and that has a Japanese brand badge on the grille. He's also wary of the often voiced assumption that Americans are going to have to love small cars. He's of Mexican, Lebanese, and Iraqi descent, and was recently honoured as Latin-American Executive of the Year at the 12th annual Urban Wheels Awards. Who am I talking about? You can read the interview I did with the gent concerned in the latest issue of Lotus Engineering's proActive (if you are not yet registered, you do have to sign up to see it, but that takes 10 secs and the downloads - including the full archive of past issues - are 'free, gratis and for nothing')... editor@just-auto.com () Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:02:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1784&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1783&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 Maybe you hepcats out there already know, but GM in North America has been enlisting the assistance of rapper Fifty Cent in some of its marketing events. In New York recently, Mr Cent helped out at a Pontiac press conference and shared the stage with Bob Lutz. I just happened to be searching GM's media website for something and I stumbled upon this transcript. I was wondering what Fifty might have had to say for himself. As you can see if you click on the below link, Bob Lutz and Jim Bunnel's remarks are faithfully reproduced verbatim. However, there's an odd paraphrasing of whatever it was that Fifty had to say. Did the big Five-0 deliver a fast-running stream of street patois that had the hapless GM transcriber lost? Or did he impart a 'spontaneous' customised just-for-Pontiac rap (crankin' Pontiac from illin Generaaal, cup of tea and I'll shoot your spanieeel, no I won't, 'cos I respec da animaaal, I'll shoot you instead and you be dead, and you ain't gonna ride like no maniaaac, but I can 'cos I still got my...Pont-eee-aaac!)? Please forgive me for that. Lost the plot for a sec and imagined myself on MTV's Cribs stepping out of an Escalade with very shiny wheels and blacked out windows. Perhaps the Fifty paraphrasing by GM here could have been condensed to just one line: 'Fifty thought of his fat fee, said Pontiacs rock and asked what the truck will be called.' editor@just-auto.com () Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:47:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1783&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1782&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I heard an upbeat tale from Jonathan Nash, responsible for Saab and Cadillac in UK, earlier. Well, you would expect him to be upbeat I guess. One thing I will say - the guy is very keen to communicate with the media and that's not something I always find when I interview senior execs. He also spoke pretty candidly about a couple of things - like, say, future product or past mistakes - where I've seen others in similar situations prefer to back off. There's a good product story with Saab on its way - new 9-5, 9-4 crossover (replacing the somewhat cynical rebadging for the US in the 9-7x 'TrollBlazer', the 9-4 will be based on the rather fetching 9-4x concept, with proper Saab design cues, will be made in Mexico and will sell in Europe) and a 9-1 around 2012. GM appears to be finally getting the Saab product act together now and new segments will mean higher sales. Russelsheim for Saabs? He had a good answer on that. And the product development at Cadillac is now becoming much more attuned to global tastes, unlike previous European disasters. Only trouble is, the interview running for much longer than I was expecting, I've got one heck of a lot of interview transcript to wade through. One thing about both Saab and Caddy. In Europe, they are left-field choices for people who don't want, say, a BMW or Merc. A quirky choice. But as Mr Nash said, much lower volume than the big Germans can be turned to your advantage in terms of things like the dealer experience. Overall, maybe Saab isn't the busted flush it seemed not so long ago. In any case, who'd buy it off GM - it's not exactly a sellers market for unwanted brands right now. GM really has no option but to put some money in and maintain the brand, sweat the asset a bit. And when you are coming off a very low base (loyal Saab customers are out there and never went away) growing volume in the future on the back of some new product maybe doesn't sound so daunting. Same with Caddy, though I remain a little more sceptical about Cadillac's chances in Europe. At the end I did a quick video clip in his office. editor@just-auto.com () Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:03:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1782&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1781&lk=alrt3&amd=3072 I have been sent a free article from the WSJ about Ford's new marketing campaign in the US - tagline: Drive One. It's an interesting strategy that Ford is adopting in order to make some headway with the buyers who dismiss Ford out of hand when making purchase decisions. They are, apparently, apathetic about Ford products. And there may be some cynicism among dealers that needs to be broached too - dealers are a key part of this campaign. Sounds like a serious initiative with laudable aims - communicate product strength/improvements, get sceptics behind the wheel and get dealers involved as true advocates of the product. Good that a company like Ford can do something fresh like this - and by implication acknowledge past mistakes. But as Jim Farley notes, the US market will certainly be a tough place this year. And the full impact of this campaign may not be known for years. editor@just-auto.com () Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:23:00 GMT http://www.just-auto.com/bd.aspx?id=1781&lk=alrt3&amd=3072