German Automaker Targets U.S.
Relax, everybody. It’s only a marketing blitzkreig.
In keeping with its German roots, Volkswagen has announced an ambitious global plan … to increase sales of its cars outside of Europe.
The German car company is looking to “broaden appeal while retaining core its base” — which is a lot like telling your girlfriend you still love her but you want to be able to sleep with other people.
The results in both marketing and dating tend to be pretty similar. You’ll look back in a couple of years and realize how good you had it.
Dilution of a successful brand is rarely a good idea. Volkswagen made its reputation coupling German engineering with smaller, unique-looking cars.
Now, they want to build larger cars and “expand the model line into additional segments, such as seven-passenger crossover SUVs” in an effort to increase sales and attract “more of the shoppers who reflexively buy Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords.”
Buying a new car is not a reflex. It’s not like when you decide to buy a new car you go to your doctor and tell him you’re feeling this urge to make a major durable goods purchase and then he hits you just below your kneecap with a rubber hammer and you blurt out, “Toyota Camry!”
Looking to expand your line of product offerings to increase sales opportunities is not a bad thing. It’s just that you shouldn’t market outside your image using the same brand name.
If Volkswagen wants to compete effectively, they should make sure their newer, bigger cars are marketed under a different brand name in much the same manner as Honda didn’t dilute their small, fuel-efficient image with a ritzy version of the Honda Civic but instead created a new luxury division, Acura, to target high-end buyers.
Volkswagen should also look to avoid long, run-on sentences like that last one.
The point is, as hard as it is to believe, your customers and your girlfriend, like you for you.
If you want to increase your options, you just need to be careful how you handle the situation. Are you listening, Volkswagen?
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Looking to appeal to American drivers, Volkswagen announces its GPS system will no longer yell at you and say, “You vill make ze right turn and you vill like it!”
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The Volkswagen we know and love…
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Image: Zuma Press
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