Re: BMW isn't our foe, it's Lexus

["Matthew A. Cenzer" <mcenzer@nwu.edu>]

>Let's face it, BMW is a damn good car company
>Lexus is therefore our enemy, they are the makers of boring cars that have no
>sporting character what so ever.  Even more so, Cadillac is the most opposite
>of Audi as you can get, I can't believe how their cars just get uglier and
>uglier every year!

I couldn't resist adding my 2 cents to this discussion.

Let's face it, most Americans buy cars for image rather than engineering or
performance. It is possible to play the image-marketing game and still make
good cars.  High-performance, well-engineered European-style cars portray
an image which many people want to project. Cars like BMW and Mercedes-Benz
are going to attract  more image buyers than performance buyers simply
because their image is fashionable.

Mercedes-Benz has figured this out and even seems to get the irony of their
situation. Has anyone seen the ads for the M-B handbag? I quote: "You've
always heard owning a Mercedes made a statement. (Even though you bought
the car entirely for the engineering, of course.) Well, now you can make
another one. With these handsome leather designs..." nudge-nudge...

BMW is trading on its performance image and most BMW buyers are satisfied
with image alone. Illustrtation: around here (posh North suburbs of
Chicago) I have seen lots of new M3 4-doors in the past couple of months,
most of them with automatic than manual transmissions.

Honda has a greater claim to a history of high-performance engineering (in
cars and motorcycles) than other Japanese manufacturers. Yet in the US they
sell the NSX as an Acura while in Europe it is badged as a Honda. Why?
People will not pay $70,000 for a Honda, no matter how good a car it is.

Lexus and Infinity? Let's just say that these brands exist solely because
of image-marketing. If tail-fins and chrome came back, who do you think
would have them first?

Audi has always been more concerned with its engineering and performance
than with its image. That's why the people on this list drive them. It is
also the reason that Audi has lagged behind the other Germans in US market
success.

Enough ranting for me.

--
Matthew A. Cenzer
Department of History
Northwestern University
mcenzer@nwu.edu