Are you seriously saying Chrysler quality was better in the 1970s? Because if you are, how about a nice used bridge?
Most auto makers aim for the middle of a market.
It's not made here, and the poster was advocating (it seemed) Chrysler making a large 2-door here.
Smaller than what the poster was asking for. He wanted something like the old muscle cars.
Yeah, that will be a huge seller. Viper performance at Ferrari prices.
And wasn't what the poster asked for.
Nice try, but the GT40 is a sports car, not a muscle car. The GTO is a revival, and we'll see what happens. I guarantee you, if GM didn't have the Monaro already handy in Australia, they never would have built it here.
The Celine ad campaign was for the entire Chrysler brand, not just the Pacifica. And yes, sales were slow at first, but have picked up. In August, for example, they sold 7436, and 7589 in September.
Well, considering that Mercedes, BMW, VW, and Audi sell here, and more importantly, make a profit, maybe we should listen to the Germans.
Who has talked about an SUV off the LX? True, Chrysler is said to be planning on calling the Magnum a truck, but we all know the tricks makers play with that label for CAFE purposes.
It sure will be cheaper than the $40k and up SUVs Americans love to buy.
What on earth would you call the Dodge Magnum other than some sort of truckish "utility" vehicle.
Have a look:
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A sports-luxury sedan should not be sharing the same platform as that Magnum beast. But because it is, that explains a lot of the look of the industrial-looking 300.
It's more truck-looking than car (or station-wagon) looking.
Buy the way, here is what Chrysler is gonna pull out of their hat if they think Dodge needs a replacement for the Intrepid:
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Again, all LX-based "cars" will look more like tonka toys.
It was clearly said last week, that they sold so far only 4800 units on 3 months on a projected 60000 units. 7500 a month is outrageously optimist and there would certainly no be the following bad news.
I think the problem with Chrysler advertising (in general) and the Celine ads in particular is that Chrysler doesn't do saturation advertising like Toyota (zoom-zoom) does.
I've never seen these commercials with Celine (but it is true that the first one spends too much time on Celine and not enough on the Pacifica).
"It is not as though Chrysler wasn't warned. Sources say Chrysler's ad agency, BBDO Worldwide, of Troy, Mich., discouraged its client from using the singer for its commercials. Still, the campaign went ahead despite test numbers showing that Ms. Dion appealed to a much older audience than Chrysler wanted."
Hey, that should do them fine with the new LX cars. Chrysler has the
65-82 year-old demographic locked up with the LX cars and their high belt-line giving the ocata-genarians the "safe" feeling they're looking for when they cruise the mean streets. I predict Chrysler will use Barbara Streisand to advertise the LX cars.
"They were trying to class up the image of Chrysler, and it didn't have enough excitement," he said. "Dodge has performance. Jeep has a rugged personality. And maybe Chrysler had its nose a little too far up in the air."
Buhaha.
"But during testing, BBDO's focus groups told Chrysler that Ms. Dion appealed to consumers with an average age of 52. Mr. Schroer asked for additional BBDO research to justify the ad campaign, a source says. 'Make it work' "Schroer told [BBDO] to go out and test again," a source says. "He said, 'Make it work.' Chrysler now says the average age of a Pacifica buyer is 53."
Well it worked didn't it. Someone tell me why the 53-year-old crowd is buying family-type vehicles? Stupid. Mr. 53-year-old should be buying an up-scale sedan, not a small family bus.
Thanks for including the link as I went to the site and read it. I think it is time for you to stop posting out of context and get up to speed on what is really happening.
Here is what was ACTUALLY in the article: "Dealers sold only 4,828 Pacificas in the first three months on the market after projecting 60,000 sales in the first year."
It is interesting in your posting how you have changed the wording to say "they sold so far only 4800 units on 3 months on a projected 60000 units".
Let me point out to you that there is a BIG difference between the actual "4,828 in the first three months" and your "they sold so far only 4800 units on
3 months".
"Saintor" further stated:
If I remember correctly the Pacifica was introduced in April so from the article to which you posted the link, 4,828 were sold between April and June. Lloyd posts 7,436 in August and 7,589 in September (I bought mine on Aug. 29). As THAT is the case how is 7,500 a month "outrageously optomistic"?????
I've never seen them either but I don't think that it's lack of saturating advertising that's the problem with them. Frankly the problem with all 3 of these ads is that they showcase Celine Dion, they don't showcase the cars themselves. It's a pretty basic almost newbie mistake made when advertisers try using popular singers and popular music to apply to advertising.
The problem with a lot of TV advertising these days is that too many of the directors of the ads have forgotten the point is advertising a product, not telling some kind of story. Compare McDonalds and Coca-cola advertising to these Chrysler ads - with McDonalds ads, notice that within a second of so of the ad starting, your going to see the Mickey D's logo, and most likely the name McDonalds. Same with Coke. Naturally the ads are dull, uninteresting and boring, but they do succeed in pounding the company name into your subconscious.
Seems that Chrysler's "former" global sales and marketing chief (Jim Schroer) became infatuated by the idea of Celine and forced her down the throats of the ad companies. 'Make it work.' he told them.
You know, Buick's ads where they use the ghostly "Harley Earl", while being corny, still comes across with a half-decent ad that gets their message across in a watchable way.
Wouldn't it be a hoot if Lee Iacocca did some commercials for Chrysler a-la Harley Earl? (At least Coconuts is still alive). Heck, wouldn't it be a stroke of genius to make him President of Chrysler group?
Iacocca is a bit over 78 years old these days, and his last 5-6 years or so has been tied up running EV Global Motors (electric bicycles) and Lido Motors USA (small electric cars) While the guy has name recognition, what market segment is it with? Not the younger buyers, that's for sure. And you have to ask, for how long? It would be pretty risky to try and design a marketing strategy around someone that old. He might live another 15 years - but he might die tomorrow.
I frankly think that the best thing to happen to Chrysler would be for it to continue to lose money. Give it another 3-5 years of losses and Damlier is finally going to get sick of losing money on it, and will sell it to someone else. Damlier doesen't understand the bulk of the American car buying market and never will. They have been real successful in the luxury market in the U.S. because they understand how those buyers think - but that market doesen't think like the majority of U.S. Chrysler buyers. As long as they remain successful in the luxury market they never will be able to understand the Chrysler market, and we are going to continue to see more goofs like this Celine Dion ad campaign.
Fairly typical though. Polaroid used to run ads with 2 big names back in their hay-day but when they did surveys, everyone associated the celebrities with Kodak.
No, I've told you a dozen times it was '69. Actual horsepower was already dropping in '70, although the engines didn't get re-rated (officially) until 71. :-p
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