Poll, worst lemon: Yugo Vs. Taurus

Marketing. Chrysler was in the minivan market first and they own the word "minivan" in the public's mind. A couple of the basis rules of marketing: Be first, burn a word into the public's mind, own that word and that market.

And somewhere around the time of 01/27/2004 10:20, the world stopped and listened as noname contributed the following to humanity:

The Granada was the one with the electronic ventura carburator. That thing never worked right and nobody could figure out what was wrong with it. You turn a corner and the engine would die. You couldn't pass a dealership before the engine died. Something to do with a "black box".

It was only one or two years that used the VV-2700 carb. Problem was the slides were made of plastic, and they would warp and then stick in their bores. We sold a lot of conventional carbs to replace them. Holley had a bolt-on replacement.

Other than those few years, and that |And somewhere around the time of 01/27/2004 10:20, the world stopped and |listened as noname contributed the following to humanity: |> In article , |> snipped-for-privacy@invalid.pacbell.nospam.net.0123456789 says... |> |>>And somewhere around the time of 01/25/2004 06:42, the world stopped and |>>listened as Andrew contributed the following to humanity: |>>

|>>

|>>>Which vehicle holds the title for being the worst lemon ever? |>>>

|>>>I nominate the Taurus and the Yugo. Please vote for one of these |>>>or submit another vehicle that you think is a bigger lemon. |>>>

|>>>Andrew |>>>

|>>

|>>Ford Pinto |>>Ford Granada |>>Chevy Caprice Classic Wagon |> |> |> I'll take exception on the Granada, I still see a few on the roads |> today. I had it's twin, the Mercury Monarch. The car ran great no matter |> how much abuse I threw at it. It got totalled when it was ten years old. |> | |The Granada was the one with the electronic ventura carburator. That |thing never worked right and nobody could figure out what was wrong with |it. You turn a corner and the engine would die. You couldn't pass a |dealership before the engine died. Something to do with a "black box". | |-- |Daniel Rudy | |Remove nospam, invalid, and 0123456789 to reply.

Rex in Fort Worth

No doubt that the robots are much better at assembling things. But they're expensive.

Someone took my saying that Mexican labor meant poor quality. It's true

- but not from a racist perspective. Why would you build cars using human labor when robots do that job as well or better? Cost.

By taking the cheap way out you automatically reduce the quality.

Fast, cheap, right. Choose two.

And the Chrysler minivan was a direct steal from the Renault Espace minivan.

Regards,

Marv

Bob Hetzel wrote:

No one wanted a "microbus". Wrong word choice on Volkswagon's part. Chrysler took the marketing plunge with minivan and won. BTW - I don't recall the exact year, but wasn't the microbus out of production when Chrysler stepped in ?

FWIW, Volkswagon has a penchant for stupid marketing words. Take for example "Fharfurnugen" (sp?). They owned that word, it just sucked as a marketing word.

|>

|>"Cheapo American compact cars" (at least in the postwar era) started |>out with vehicles such as the Nash Rambler, Kaiser's Henry J, and the |>Hudson Jet. (Bring in the small niche manufacturers and you have cars |>like the King Midget and the Crosley.) I don't think any of these were |>as bad as the Yugo!

King Midget was a plywood car with a lawnmower engine. I think you probably meant Nash Metropolitan, which was an Nash built in the UK. I'd take a Yugo over either of these, although a Crosley Hotshot would be a good thing to find. Rex in Fort Worth

I wouldn't care to bet any money on whether the VW microbus had higher sales figures than the Chrysler minivan, domestic and/or worldwide. Not that many hippies left over from the '60's bought minivans...

When I went to Korea , There were these cars that looked like a small Jag XJ6 . To my surprise it was a Ford Granada. I'm sure it was collaboration between Ford and Hyundai or Kia. That car (early 80's ) would have been a hit in the US on looks alone.Anyone ever see one of these ?

Ford Grenada?! Hyundai had several upmarket models, looked like small Jaguars or even scaled down limousines, rather popular with businessmen and salesmen. About the size of a Ford Taurus or a bit smaller. With a tax structure such that most all of them had two liter engines or less. This was roughly early to mid 90's. A few genuine Mercedes, BMW, Jaguar, and every now and then a big huge mid-60's American steel whale driven by the very rich.

Huh? No one? Don't you still see them on the road? I do. This would imply that people wanted them, stupid marketing aside...

I think you missed my point. AFAIR< the microbus was out of production for a few years. I think that's when Chrysler stepped in, but I could be wrong. I don't follow either company that close.

As to the VW being on the road... yes, they were and are. They are still a marketing failure.