Nope, too late to polish the turd. If you can't get people to even go
> into the showroom (aka new car sales yard) to look at them - which seems
> to be where the problem bites - then all the "improvements" you suggest
> won't make an iota of difference.
It is difficult to polish turds, it can be done but is it really worth Japan investing in a massive amount of expensive turd polish?
As I see it I discussions with mates, the root causes of the problems
> lie in perceptions - two of them. First is the risk of MMAL shutting
> the doors. Second - and the reality doesn't count - is that it is "just"
> a tarted up Magna. All the advertising they did seems to have made
> little impact on the traditional large/family car buying segment.
The root cause of MMAL's problem is that they lost touch with their core market proposition - cars built for d******ds by d******ds.
Until MMAL can communicate their core market proposition effectively they will continue to lose market share.