Four Simple Steps to Success for Detroit

I’ve been watching for “Domestics” here in Jersey for a bit. I see a lot of trucks/SUVs. A lot of minivans. Cars? Not as much. The lot at work is full of Acuras, Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, BMWs…

I don’t think Jersey is alone. “Detroit” has lost generations of car buyers, and they need to take them back. Here’s an action plan:

1. It’s the Product, Stupid.

Pick a market, any market. If you’re going to compete in it, your offering has to better the best in the field (let’s just go with generic consumer opinion and call this company Honyota). If you feel your car is the best in the market niche, you’ll do stuff like pull Honyotas into your showroom and dare people to compare. That is the true sort of bold move it will take; not a marketing slogan, not a ‘tough’ image. Tell people “We benchmarked the Honyota Camcord, and after we matched it, we bettered it. Our car is the new benchmark.

2. Marketing your way out of the cellar

Show people, specifically, why your car is better. Not “a great value”. Not “$3,000 less than a Camcord”. Better. Period, End of message. You’ll have to mention promotions and such of course, but the unmistakable message has to be “our car is better”. Because it is (see number #1).

3. Fix the dealer body.

Now it gets tricky. Customers think they’ve been screwed by the dealer, the dealer thinks they’ve been screwed by Corporate, and everyone thinks Corporate doesn’t give a toss.
This is not a position of strength. Some progess was made with the ‘customer one’ program, but that’s probably all been flushed. I don’t know if anyone takes the Five Star system seriously. I hear many complaints about Five Star dealers, yet there’s a reason why my small town dealer has gotten our families’ business since 1980 – and the existence or lack of a ‘Five Star’ banner has nothing to do with it. They’re a small outfit, with a small lot and without the gleaming new corporate building. We have however gotten fair deals on the cars that have been bought there new and used (86 New Yorker, 87 Horizon, 89 Lebaron, 90 Imperial, 92 5th Ave, 04 PT, 05 PT) and when they need service they’re reliably fixed the first time. Maybe a good start would be to retool the Five Star program to reward the dealers with the happiest customers, and to actually help the dealers make and keep people happy. Again, “spy” on the industry leader, and better that experience.

None of the above is optional, and none of it is enough either. There are a lot of people singing “Won’t get fooled again” as they drive by Big Three dealers, so the most herculean task will be:

4. Convince people you really, really mean it this time. Really.

GM has several deep home runs out there now, and they’re having a bit of trouble with #4. The key here is you don’t want to beg, it shows weakness. From #1 to #3 the key has been acting from a position of well earned strength. Don’t muck it up now with test drive vouchers for HOnyota owners or such. Stay on message, bring back the “If you can find a better car, buy it” because, now, you do have the better product – no qualifiers needed. This is where Detroit needs to go for the Grand Slam, because it’s possibly the last pitched battle for Chrysler and Ford especially.

Oh, and you can’t screw up. No grenading transmissions, no popping head gaskets, no jerking around owners, no ignition fires…..again this is not optional. Sure, things slip through, but the A604 style disasters are simply a death knell at this point. Head gasket problem? Fix it fast, fix it right, kiss the….feet….of affected owners. But avoiding the problem is #1 on the list, and avoiding the PR nightmare is the new #1 if something slips through (and it will, even on Honyotas)

In a sentence, Detroit simply has to be better than the competition. I don’t think “competitive” is going to cut it.

I think they can do it. However, if they haven’t already instituted the above mindset, they may already be too late (barring some huge quality gaffes by the competition).

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Car show, Cerberus

Well, long time no write!

On Sunday I had the opportunity to snap a few pics at a local car show, so I did. There were a couple very interesting cars, but we’ll get to that later.

First off I’ll touch on Chrysler being freed from Daimler’s thumb. Huzzah!! For one brief moment I’d like to just revel in the possibilities, the chance of a newly (and truly) independent Chrysler Corporation, one that’s lean and able to quickly adjust to changing markets, one that has its corporate fingers on the pulse of the markets in which they enter.

Ah, nice.

Unfortunately that’s not yet reality. There’s a lot of harm to reverse, a lot of ground to be retaken. There’s the UAW negotiations, which will be key. There’s the marketing, which needs to be addressed. And of course, there’s the product; opinions of which vary but there’s no doubt much improvement can be had. In no way do I think Chrysler is near out of the woods, but at least now they have every chance to start moving in the right direction.

On to the metal:

Here’s a nice 1951 DeSoto. I don’t see these often at shows, and this one is in nice shape.

Moving up 10 years, and one of the stars of the show, a 1961 300G!

This is a beauty. That’s a 10 year old paint job, and it looks showroom.

IP shot, featuring the ‘swivel seats’ that were a Chrysler exclusive.

The rear of the car. Hmm, something about those switches on the center console….

Power window switches! I never knew about that. Our PT’s have a link to this car, how cool!

One more car to show, one I’ve never seen in person before:

Viper GTS ACR!

Had to get a nice shot of the graphics.

Viper interior.

And wrapping it up with the mighty V10!

Hope you enjoyed….