Car Throttle

A lot of research goes into making a car.   While something as straightforward as a Corvette seems like it would leap directly from a designer's pen to the production floor, there is marketing research and focus groups that work out the tiniest of details, from styling to ergonomics.  Most of the time, these techniques work well - if something does well in a focus group, chances are it'll do well on the market. Sometimes it doesn't.  Maybe it's because management decided to ignore the focus groups, or got the wrong demographic, or changed the vehicle too much between research and production.  For whatever reason, sometimes even the best (or worst) laid plans result in an absolute stinker of a car, that dealers can't push off their

I love viral marketing.  It's way more amusing than real marketing. Whereas real marketing is a multi-billion dollar industry that bets on the fact the average consumer is dumber than the average advertising department, viral marketing is a bit more grass-roots, personal, and often times humorous.  I mean, who can forget the whole Audi vs. BMW billboard battle?  Or Bob Lutz's "The CTS-V will smoke anything on a racetrack!" challenge? The latest brand to cash in on this less-professional advertising tactic is BMW's Mini division.  As you may have heard, Mini challenged Porsche to a race-track duel at Road Atlanta in June.  Porsche, in their typical snobby way (hey, with a history like Porsche you're allowed to be snobby) said no.  Mini responded by

Now here is something unique and innovative! Many car companies have done advertising in games like Need for Speed and Gran Turismo, and some also in emerging platforms like the iPhone. Particular VW group companies, with Audi producing 2 games, an A4 and 24 Hour Lemans game, VW releasing a driving game featuring the Polo and Seat one with the Cupra. Now Volvo wants to get into the action with a pretty cool looking PC game. It pretty full-featured with great graphics. Best thing of all, it's free! The car Volvo is featuring in the game is the S60 Concept. Volvo is banking on the car heavily in the future to create sales growth and do battle in the lucrative mid-size luxury segment. So smart move Volvo helping up to build name and design recognition for the S60 in the younger