Wither Lenny Hunt?

[Tihol Tiholov]

Brett Dikeman wrote:

>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.

I like that rant, go Brett!   Ralf Nader can use a good disciple (positive
connotation).