Wither Lenny Hunt?

Brett Dikeman quattro at frank.mercea.net
Thu Jun 22 16:19:37 EDT 2006


On Jun 22, 2006, at 12:36 PM, William Magliocco wrote:

> I was reading a posting on a VW TDI site this morning,
> where it was mentioned that the head of VW USA is now
> a fellow named "Hallmark".

Adrian Hallmark was the head of Bentley, and he's been brought over  
to VW to try and do something about VW's pathetic sales.  Which I  
think is why Hunt came over to VW...

> What happened to the venerable Lenny Hunt, onetime
> head of AoA?

Hunt went from Audi to VW in 2004; he then went to Bentley for less  
than a month (seriously) and I think now works for Kia.

I wonder when car companies will figure out that it's the quality of  
the product and its reputation, not the figurehead.  Putting the head  
of Bentley in charge isn't going to suddenly make the US population  
think "hmm, I should go and buy a VW." After fiascos like the 1.8t  
coilpacks, t-belt tensioners, sludging, etc...people just had enough.

Just like people used to buy a Mercedes because it was built like a  
tank and a worth the money short-term to avoid long-term streams of  
breakdowns; it used to be that virtually every cab no matter where  
you went in the world was a 240, because they never broke.

Just like people used to buy Audis because they were practical...

Now every manufacturer is obsessed with fashion (how many times can  
Toyota redesign the headlights on the Camry?  A: Every year, of  
course) and gizmos (wasn't there a day when a car was for moving  
yourself from A->B?), and then wonder why people have the brand  
loyalty of a Jack Russell Terrier on Cocaine.

-B


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