car wars

Maybe US-based automakers would be in better financial shape if they could sell cars in Japan.

Yes, they re-badge cars in Europe (Vaxhaul, Holden, etc) but what about Japan? Does free trade really exist between the US and Japan?

Just curious: of what is a Vauxhall a re-badge then (besides Adam Opel, that is)?

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Yes of course it does. The problem is that Japanese automakers know exactly what the average Japanese consumer wants, and provide it to them. US automakers don't operate like that - instead US automakers know exactly what the US market wants, but since it doesen't jive with what their marketing people want to sell, they just build whatever the f*ck they want and rely on advertising to propagandize the US consumer into thinking that what they want is what the factory wants to sell.

This tactic works only when your marketing firm knows the culture that it is trying to brainwash. The US auto firms have marketing departments that understand US culture, but they don't understand Japanese culture that well. so they can't do that very successfully in Japan.

We see the same thing when DC comes over here and tries selling cars that have front ends that look like the vehicle smashed into a wall at 60Mph. That sort of design plays well in Europe for whatever rediculous cultural reason, but what plays well here is the perception of big fat horsepower. You will notice that DC learned this quite rapidly and adjusted their advertising campaigns to match.

Ted