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The Persuader
My personal blog, started in 2006. No paid or guest posts, no link sales.
Posts tagged ‘Fiat’
06.11.2021
Here are November 2021âs imagesâaides-mĂ©moires, photos of interest, and miscellaneous items. I append to this gallery through the month.
Notes
Nice to see BoConcept advertise on Lucireâs website (they were an early print advertiser).
Triumph 1300, Hillman Avenger Super and Range Rover advertisements via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
More on the Ford Sierra at Autocade.
Mindfood advertisement on the Lucire website: it might not be worth a lot but I’m still happy to take some money off my colleagues.
Aston Martin Rapide, photographed by me.
Audi R8 Typ 42, more at Autocade.
More on the 1968â70 Dodge Charger at Autocade.
Mercedes-Benz 280SL pagoda and Fart via George Cochrane on Twitter.
Renault 15 via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
Tags: 1960s, 1970, 1970s, 1980s, 1982, 1983, 2000s, 2001, 2009, 2019, 2021, advertisement, advertising, aeroplane, Aotearoa, Aston Martin, Audi, BL, BoConcept, car, China, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Ford, GM, humour, JY&A Media, Lucire, magazine, Mercedes-Benz, modelling, NASA, New Zealand, publishing, Range Rover, Renault, retro, SAS, Sports Illustrated, Sweden, Triumph, Twitter, UK, USA, Volkswagen, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara Posted in cars, China, gallery, humour, internet, media, New Zealand, publishing, UK, USA | No Comments »
01.10.2021
Here are October 2021âs imagesâaides-mĂ©moires, photos of interest, and miscellaneous items. I append to this gallery through the month. Might have to be our Instagram replacement!
Notes
Chrysler’s finest? The 300M rates as one of my favourites.
The original cast of Hustle, one of my favourite 2000s series.
Boris Johnson ‘wage growth’ quotationâwhat matters to a eugenicist isn’t human life, after all. Reposted from Twitter.
For our wonderful niece Esme, a Lego airport set. It is an uncle and aunt’s duty to get decent Lego. My parents got me a great set (Lego 40) when I was six, so getting one at four is a real treat!
Publicity still of Barbara Bach in The Spy Who Loved Me. Reposted from Twitter.
Koala reposted from Twitter.
Photostat of an advertisement in a 1989 issue of the London Review of Books, which my friend Philip’s father lent me. I copied a bunch of pages for some homework. I have since reused a lot of the backs of those pages, but for some reason this 1989 layout intrigued me. It’s very period.
Fiat brochure for Belgium, 1970, with the 128 taking pride of place, and looking far more modern than lesser models in the range.
John Lewis Christmas 2016 parody ad still, reposted from Twitter.
More on the Triumph Mk II at Autocade. Reposted from Car Brochure Addict on Twitter.
The origins of the Lucire trade mark, as told to Amanda’s cousin in an email.
More on the Kenmeri Nissan Skyline at Autocade.
Renault Talisman interior and exterior for the facelifted model.
The original 1971 Lamborghini Countach LP500 by Bertone show car. Read more in Lucire.
More on the Audi A2 in Autocade.
Tags: 1960s, 1967, 1970, 1970s, 1971, 1977, 1980s, 1989, 2000, 2000s, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, actors, actress, advertisement, advertising, Alarm fĂŒr Cobra 11: die Autobahnpolizei, Audi, Audrey Hepburn, Australia, Autocade, BBC, Belgium, Bertone, Boris Johnson, British Leyland, car, celebrity, China, Chrysler, COVID-19, design, email, England, Eon Productions, family, Fiat, film, friends, futurism, GenĂšve, Germany, graphic design, high-tech, Hong Kong, humour, Hustle, Italy, James Bond, JY&A Media, Lamborghini, law, Lego, London Review of Books, Lucire, Marcello Gandini, marketing, media, Nissan, parody, politics, Red China, Renault, retro, RTL, science fiction, Scotland, Switzerland, technology, toy, trade mark, Triumph, TV, Twitter, typography, UK, USA, Volkswagen Posted in cars, China, culture, design, gallery, Hong Kong, humour, interests, marketing, media, politics, TV, UK, USA | No Comments »
02.09.2021
Here are September 2021âs imagesâaides-mĂ©moires, photos of interest, and miscellaneous items. I append to this gallery through the month. It sure beats having a Pinterest.
Sources
The 2016 Dodge Neon sold in México. More at Autocade.
IKCO Peugeot 207. More at Autocade.
Double standards in New Zealand media, reposted from Twitter.
The cover of the novelization of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Nice work on the use of Americana, which does take me back to the period, but I’m not convinced by this cut of Italian Old Style. I just don’t remember it being used that much.
Daktariâs Cheryl Miller as the new Dodge model, in her second year, promoting the 1971 Dodge Demon. This was a 1960s idea that was being carried over with minor tweaks into the new decade, and it didn’t work quite as well as the earlier Joan Parker ‘Dodge Fever’ advertisements (also shown here in this gallery).
House Beautiful cover, January 1970, before all the garishness of the decade really hit. This is still a clean, nicely designed cover. I looked at some from the years that followed on House Beautifulâs website, and they never hit this graphic design high mark again.
That’s the Car and Driver cover for my birth month? How disappointing, a Colonnade Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
French typesetting, as posted on the typography.guru forums.
Read books, humorous graphic reposted from Twitter.
My reply in the comments at Business Desk, on why it made more sense for me to have run for mayor in 2010 and 2013 than it would in 2022.
Seven years before its launch, Marcello Gandini had already styled the Innocenti Mini. This is his 1967 proposal at Bertone.
JAC Jiayue A5. More at Autocade.
Phil McCann reporting for the BBC, reposted from Twitter.
Car and Driver February 1970 cover. As a concept, this could still work.
Tags: 1960s, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1970s, 1971, 1972, 1974, 2010s, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, actress, Aotearoa, BBC, Bertone, book, Brexit, British Leyland, Business Desk, car, celebrity, Chevrolet, China, Chrysler, Dodge, FCA, Fiat, film, France, GM, graphic design, Hollywood, humour, IKCO, Innocenti, Iran, Italy, JAC, Lamborghini, layout, licensing, magazine, Marcello Gandini, marketing, mayoralty, media, MĂ©xico, modelling, modernism, New Zealand, Peugeot, politics, PSA, publishing, Qatar, racism, retro, Saudi Arabia, Sawahel Aljazeera, Stellantis, technology, The New York Times, Twitter, typography, UK, USA, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara Posted in business, cars, China, design, France, gallery, humour, interests, leadership, marketing, media, New Zealand, politics, publishing, technology, typography, UK, USA, Wellington | No Comments »
11.08.2021
Here are August 2021âs imagesâaides-mĂ©moires, photos of interest, and miscellaneous items. I append to this gallery through the month.
Sources
Volkswagen Gol G4âmore at Autocade.
The fake friends of social media being the junk food equivalent of real friendships, from this post by Umair Haque.
Stay at home, wear a maskâgeek humour shared from Twitter.
Thaikila swimwearâseems to have an interesting history.
More on the Fiat 124 Sport Spider here at Autocade.
Jerry Inzerillo, first male on the cover of an issue of Lucire anywhere in the world, in this case the August 2021 issue of Lucire KSA. The story can be found here on our website.
Tags: 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, 2000, 2010s, 2011, 2021, actor, advertisement, advertising, Bali, Brazil, business, car, celebrity, COVID-19, culture, fashion, fashion magazine, Fiat, Ford, France, Google, humour, Indonesia, internet, Jerry Inzerillo, Lucire, Lucire KSA, magazine, Mazda, newspaper, Otosan, prediction, publishing, Renault, Sean Connery, society, Turkey, Twitter, UK, Umair Haque, USA, Volkswagen Posted in business, cars, culture, gallery, internet, publishing, USA, Wellington | No Comments »
05.04.2021
Here are April 2021âs images. I append to this gallery through the month.
Sources
Tania Dawson promotes SomĂšrfield Hair Care, sourced from Instagram.
Austrian model Katharina Mazepa for Dreamstate Muse magazine, shared on her Instagram. This was an image that was removed from a PG blog at NewTumbl last yearâapparently this was considered ‘nudity’ and rated M.
AMC promotes the Gremlin, the US’s first subcompact car. More on the Gremlin at Autocade; 1970 advertisement via Twitter.
Volkswagen 1302S photographed in June 2018, one of the images Iâve submitted to Unsplash for downloading. I did have the owner’s permission to shoot his car.
St Gerard’s Church and Monastery atop Mt Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand, photographed by me and also submitted to Unsplash.
Facebook group bots: someone else was so used to seeing bot activity on Facebook, they made a meme about it.
Holden Commodore Evoke Ute, an example of ‘base model brilliance’. More at Autocade.
Morris Marina ad via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
Innocenti Mini 90 and 120 via the Car Factoids on Twitter.
The aerial shot of Rongotai in 1943 is from the Air New Zealand collection. This is a scan of a photostat Dad made for me in the 1980s. The piece of paper was getting a bit old so I thought it was time to make it digital-only. The â1929â marks the site of the original Rongotai Aerodrome, I believe.
Instafraud, from Bob Hoffman’s The Ad Contrarian newsletter.
Alisia Ludwig, from her Instagram, photographer unnamed.
Fiat X1/9 brochure, from the Car Factoids on Twitter.
More on the Peugeot 508 (R23) at Autocade.
Model Skyler Simpson at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa, photographer unknown, via Instagram.
Tags: 1940s, 1943, 1970, 1970s, 1972, 1974, 2010s, 2013, 2018, 2021, advertisement, advertising, Air New Zealand, AMC, Aotearoa, Auckland, Austria, Autocade, BL, Bob Hoffman, Brexit, British Leyland, car, celebrity, China, design, Facebook, Fiat, Florida, Ford, fraud, Germany, Getty Images, GM, graphic design, history, Holden, Instagram, Italy, magazine, Marcello Gandini, media, modelling, New Zealand, Peugeot, photography, politics, PSA, Rongotai, social media, Stellantis, Tampa, Tania Dawson, Twitter, UK, Unsplash, USA, Volkswagen, Whanganui-a-Tara Posted in cars, China, design, gallery, internet, marketing, media, New Zealand, politics, technology, UK, USA, Wellington | No Comments »
05.03.2021
All galleries can be seen through the ‘Gallery’ link in the header, or click here (especially if you’re on a mobile device). I append to this entry through the month.
Sources
Ford Taunus by Otosan, 1992: more at Autocade.
Tipalet advertisement, sourced from Twitter. Based on what my parents told me, this wouldnât have appealed even then!
Fiat Ritmo Diesel, Tweeted by Darragh McKenna.
Emory University letter, Tweeted by HaĂŻtian Creative.
The Jaguar XJ-S was first marketed as the S-type in the USâmore at this Tweet from the Car Factoids. More on the XJ-S here on Autocade.
Bree Kleintop models Diff Charitable Eyewear, shared on Instagram.
Alisia Ludwig photographed by Peter MĂŒller, from Instagram.
The Daily Campus, February 19, 2021, and Metropolitan Police newspaper quote, sourced from Twitter.
Ford Cortina Mk II 1600E two-door, one of 2,563 made for export only. Source: the Car Factoids on Twitter.
Alisia Ludwig photographed by Weniamin Schmidt, shared on Instagram.
Ford Cortina Mk II 1600E advertisement, sourced from Twitter.
Morris 2200 HL advertisement: more on the car at Autocade.
More on the Dodge Charger L-body at Autocade.
More on the Samsung XM3, also at Autocade.
Tags: 1950s, 1959, 1960s, 1970s, 1975, 1976, 1980s, 1982, 1990s, 1992, 2019, 2020, 2021, advertising, Autocade, British Leyland, car, Chrysler, Dodge, error, Fiat, Ford, Germany, Instagram, Italy, Jaguar, Korea, marketing, media, modelling, newspaper, Otosan, racism, Renault, retro, Samsung, Turkey, UK, USA Posted in business, cars, culture, gallery, marketing, UK, USA | No Comments »
01.01.2021
Let’s kick off January’s images right here!
Click here for all months (or hit ‘Gallery’ at the top of the screen, if you’re on the desktop), here for December, and here for November. This post explains why I wound up doing the gallery here.
I append to this entry through the month.
Sources
Changan Uni-T, more at Autocade.
Cartoon from Textile Cartoons on NewTumbl.
Twenty seventeen newspaper clipping with Donald Trump from The Herald.
BMW image from Kolbenkopp on Twitter (more at this post).
Bestune B70 Mk III, more at Autocade.
Bridal gown by Luna Novias, and featured in Lucire.
Citroën AX-330 advertisement from 1970 sourced from here.
Chilean Peugeot 404 advertisement sourced from here.
Ford US full line from 1972 from Consumer Guide.
Xpeng P7, more at Autocade.
More on the Lancia Beta Monte-Carlo in Autocade.
Clarins model from the Lucire archives.
Ford Cortina Mk III by Hyundai advertisement from the Car Factoids on Twitter.
Tags: 1970, 1970s, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1980s, 1986, 2000s, 2005, 2017, 2020s, 2021, advertising, Aotearoa, Australia, Autocade, beauty, Bestune, BMW, Brexit, car, Changan, Chile, China, CitroĂ«n, Clarins, fashion, FAW, Fiat, Ford, Germany, humour, Hyundai, Italy, Jacinda Ardern, Korea, Lancia, Lucire, magazine, marketing, modelling, New Zealand, newspaper, Peugeot, politics, retro, Scotland, Stern, technology, The Herald, Twitter, UK, USA, Xpeng Posted in cars, China, gallery, humour, New Zealand, politics, technology, UK, USA | No Comments »
23.01.2020

Stuart Cowley for Lucire
I havenât spoken to Holden New Zealand to see if weâre following suit, but as far as Australiaâs concerned, 2020 will be the final year for the Astra and Commodore, as Holden transitions to selling only trucks (utes) and SUVs.
Here we are, with its most competitive C- and D-segment models for a long time, and Holden decides to abandon them.
New Zealand did briefly chart its own course recently with the Holden Spark, which it secured supply for even after its cancellation in Australia, but it’s unlikely to depart from what’s happening in Australia.
Beyond the obvious question of âWhat will the cops drive now?â itâs a sad development for a brand thatâs been part of the Australasian motoring landscape for decades, even before 1948 if you count the Holden coachbuilt bodies before the war.
Holden points to the rise in truck and SUV sales and the decline in passenger car ones, and, unlike Ford, it canât blame a lack of marketing for themâover here, itâs been fairly consistent in promoting each one of its lines.
Over in Australia, Holden sales collapsed when domestic production ended, but in New Zealand, where we have no such allegiance to âBuy Australianâ, I saw some reasonable salesâ figures for the Opel Insignia B-based Commodore. And it is a good car.
The chief reason, I imagine, is that after GM sold Opel to PSA, which seeks now to merge with FCA, it didnât really want to buy cars off a competitor. And PSA really didnât want to be paying royalties off each car it sold back to GM. Basically, the supply chain ainât what it used to be.
By 2021, PSA will launch a new Astra based on a platform to be shared with the third-generation Peugeot 308, and Insignia Bâs days are numbered, too, as it transitions that to a PSA platform (if PSA doesnât just cancel it altogether). GM would earn nothing from this 2021 model, so there would be no point going forth with it.
GM has also killed off the Cruze in Korea, the US and MĂ©xico, leaving Argentina the only country that still makes it, so it wasnât as though it had anything else in the C-segment that it could bring in to Australasia. Many of its Chinese-market models are on the GEM platform, regarded as too basic for our needs, and there seemed to be little point to getting them complied with our standards or having them engineered for right-hand drive. Basically, there isnât an alternative.
This frankly strikes me as all a bit defeatist, not unlike Fordâs decision to kill off all passenger car lines (bar Mustang) in the US a few years ago.
Toyota will have you know that the C- (Corolla) and D- (Camry) segments are doing quite well for them, and they are quite happy to pick up some conquest sales from the Americans.
Iâm not sure if âWeâre not doing that well there. Oh well, letâs give up,â is much of an attitude to adopt when certain segments could reignite as consumer tastes shift. And if one really wanted to competeâif there was a willâthen one could.
What I fear is that GM isnât Mystic Meg and even though my previous post was in jest, there is a serious point to it: people might wake up to the big frontal areas and poor aerodynamics and high centres of gravity and general irrelevance and inefficiency of the SUV for everyday use. I mean, I still canât reconcile people complaining that petrol prices are too high while sitting in a stationary SUV with the engine on awaiting someone, anyone, to leave a spot so they can park right outside the shop they wish to go to. While claiming they are concerned about the planet. I have a C-segment car because I do think petrol is expensive. And even if you had an electric-powered SUV, youâre still affected by the laws of physics and your charge wonât go as far if the aerodynamics are poor. I thought we got all these lessons in the 1970s and 1980s.
Just as I warned that killing Plymouth was a mistake for DaimlerChryslerâbecause recessions can come and people want budget brandsâI question whether becoming the vendor of âAustraliaâs own truckâ is a smart tactic. There are some segments that have a base level of demand, or so I thought.
Of course, this leaves PSA to do the inevitable: launch Opel as a brand in this part of the world.
Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller said as much when PSA bought the firm, and while his eyes were probably on China, they could apply equally here.
I realize Opel flopped in Australia when an attempt was made a few years ago, but unlike Australia, Opel has a reasonable history here, with its Kadett GSis and a full line of Vectra As sold in the 1980s and 1990s. Kiwis know that the Opel Vectra and Holden Vectra are part of the same lineage. And I have to wonder if the brand, with its German heritage, would do well here.
Imagine the scenario where Opel launches here in 2022 with not just Astra and Insignia (because Kiwis love their D-segment wagons, unlike the UK), but with the Crossland X and Grandland X as well.
Theyâd have the goodwill of the Astra name (just as GM predicted), and there may be enough Kiwis who have positive impressions of their Vectra As. Even our family one sold recently to a South Islander after my friend, who bought it off me, decided to part ways with it. Mechanics still think highly of the Family II units those cars had.
And somehow, I think being independent of GM is a good thing in this caseâno conflict of interest, no wondering whether Mokka might cannibalize Trax, resulting in stunted marketing.
The new design language is looking sharp and I think it would find favour among New Zealanders who are currently buying Volkswagens and Ć kodas. Theyâd also be a darn sight more reliable, too.
If youâre thinking the market is too crowded, remember VW didnât think so when it determined SEAT could have another crack in the late 2010s.
I canât be alone in thinking thisâcertainly Australian media were speculating if Inchcape could bring Opel in to their country this time last year. Whoâll take it on?
Tags: 2020, 2020s, Aotearoa, Australia, car, car industry, Chrysler, FCA, Fiat, GM, Holden, marketing, New Zealand, Opel, Peugeot, PSA Posted in business, cars, marketing, New Zealand, USA | No Comments »
01.11.2019

Companies in FCA’s and PSA’s histories did once produce the Plymouth Horizon, so historically there is some precedent to a trans-Atlantic arrangementânot to mention the type 220 and 179 minivans and the commercial vehicles currently in PSA’s and Fiat’s ranges.
This is a few days old, but it’s nice to know that these hurriedly written thoughts on a private Facebook group reflected what I read a day later in the automotive press.

Copied and pasted from the above (and yes, I know it should be e-208):
I read that as well, Jonathan. Elkann would be chairman and Tavares the CEO. I guess Fiat had to move on from talking with Renault while they have their internal squabbles. While some praise Marchionne, I thought it was foolish to let the less profitable marques suffer as he didâthe global economy doesnât stay buoyant all the time and at some point not everyone will want a hotted-up Alfa or Maserati. Especially as there seems to be no cohesive platform strategy. I think Fiat realizes the shambles itâs actually in despite what the share price says. There is some sense to have PSA platforms underpin a lot of Fiats (letâs face it, very little of the Fiat range is on a Fiat platformâthere are GM, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Ford and PSA bitsâand the old Grande Punto platform can only go so far), but the more premium marques will still have to have unique platforms.
Fiat really needs to do some rationalization of its own before approaching others but my sense is that itâs gone too far down this road and has no investment in either next-generation B- (Jeep Renegade) or C-platforms (Giulietta) where a lot of European sales will still lie. Its only real prize here is Jeep.
Tavares will be able to slash a great deal and Europe could look good quite quickly, but I doubt anyone has any focus on the US side of things other than Jeep. PSA has some limited experience in South America but it wonât be able to integrate that as easily. And neither has any real strength in China despite being early entrants, with, again, Jeep being the exception. (Peugeot, DS and CitroĂ«n are struggling in China.)
He had claimed that PSA was looking at some sort of alternative retail model for the US, but it also seemed a bit far off.
If this happens, I think Tavares will âdo a Talbotâ on anything Fiat-related in Europe, eventually killing the Fiat marque (with maybe just a 208e-based 500 remaining), and keep Alfa Romeo, Maserati and Jeep. Chrysler will remain with the Pacifica, Dodge might still have the Durango, but everything else would get the chop unless they consider bringing in a rebadged 508. Ram and Fiat Profissional will stay as separate entities. Fiat do Brasil will get some PSA tech. Then there might be some logic to what is left but I still feel Fiat has to get itself in order first.
On reflection, maybe I was a little harsh on Sergio, as ignoring the mass-market brands has left FCA, with a portfolio of specialist and premium ones, a reasonably good fit for an organization that has the opposite set of strengths.
One question remains: which is the cheap brand, the Plymouth, here? You can’t always go premium: sooner or later, economies weaken and people will want something entry-level. There may be wisdom to retaining Fiat in some shape or form. One more 108 variant can’t hurt âŠ
Anyone notice a pattern here? That any company that owns Jeep eventually diminishes its own brand. Willys, Kaiser, AMC, Chrysler, and Fiat are either dead or no longer the forces they once were. Renault managed a controlling interest in AMC with 46·4 per cent in 1982, but that was bought by Chrysler five years later. At some stage, we must tire of these massive vehicles, and already there’s a suggestion that, in the US at least, nonconformist younger buyers are eyeing up sedans. Great if you’re Nissan in the US (and China), not so much if you’re Ford.
Tags: 2019, Alfa Romeo, branding, Brazil, business, car industry, cars, Chrysler, CitroĂ«n, Dodge, DS, Europe, FCA, Fiat, France, history, Italy, Jeep, Maserati, merger, Mopar, Peugeot, Plymouth, PSA, USA Posted in business, cars, China, France, USA | No Comments »
01.01.2019

On this Pope Gregory Arbitrary Calendar Start Day, I wrote to a contact of mine at Renault New Zealand.
In mid-2018, I joked that, since Renault had no dealers in Wellington (never mind what’s listed on their websiteâthe only people who can see a dealer there are psychic mediums), I could sell them out of my house.
Today, I may well have gone some way toward doing that, as someone I know would like a test drive of a first-gen Captur after I put it into her consideration set. After all, I put my money where my mouth is with Renault, so when I recommend one, I do so with some authority.
In the same note, I detailed some observations about Renault New Zealand’s marketing. I have since forwarded it to their top man in the country.
âą Renault NZ’s marketing has been really stopâstart over the years. Every time it feels like there’s a revival, there’s a ra-ra moment that lasts a few months, then nada. Just in the last decade and a half I can think of Clio IIIs being pushed, including a giveaway in the Herald, and the price was right, then nothing. There was some talk about pushing the MĂ©gane III at the turn of the decade, and again it fizzled out. (You may know that in 2010, IIRC, Renault sold 14 cars that year.) The Instagram account itself is an example of a flurry of activity, then it goes quiet for ages.
âą I know within the group there are other brands that management see as more profitable, but I see massive untapped potential. You know you’ve got it right with Captur and Koleos: relative to the promo budget you are moving them, and that says the product is what Kiwis want. It’s worth investing in, and I reckon you should get fans like me, and the South Island club that’s quite active, to help you push it. Land Rover does well with its loyalists in Britain, and I think this is something Renault really needs to doâreach out to us and get some word of mouth going. If I have got you one sale already, there are many others who’d do the same.
âą Kiwis want to see continuity in model lines, which is why the Auris never became the Auris hereâToyota NZ was smart enough to keep the Corolla name going. Fiat’s fatal mistake is letting so many model lines die: not that long ago, it killed every passenger car range in New Zealand in favour of just the 500. Loyalists who bought Bravos and Puntos had nothing to trade to. When the Punto came backâactually a totally different car and a far less advanced Indian importâthe goodwill had gone. There’s the same danger here with all those old MĂ©gane, ScĂ©nic and Clio buyers of the 2000s. There aren’t many as loyal as me who take matters into their own hands and do a private import. So do think about continuing some lines. Captur will get your Clio buyers, but us MĂ©gane ones have nowhere to go. Fluence was a flop (eight in NZ all up?) but as heated as the C-segment is, not everyone wants a Corolla, 3 or Golf. It might still be worth bringing in lesser MĂ©ganes, and the wagon will get those lifestyle buyers. A well-specced wagon would actually have very few rivals in NZ, if pricing and marketing are right (again, get the fans involved). Alaskan will workâbut only if we truly see that Renault is here to stay.
I concluded all that with, ‘And I reckon Hiroto Saikawa is dodgy and he was trying to cover up his own incompetence by framing his old boss and mentor. But that’s another story.’
Even if I sold one car, I might become the city’s top Renault seller. ‘If you find a better car, buy it.’
Tags: 2018, 2019, Aotearoa, car, car industry, Carlos Ghosn, family, Fiat, Hiroto Saikawa, history, marketing, New Zealand, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Wellington, Whanganui-a-Tara Posted in business, cars, marketing, New Zealand, Wellington | No Comments »
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