Re: Niche marques

[Simon Favre <simon@domain.elided>]

Scott Fisher wrote:

>"Do you mean that there are people who make a decision to buy one car
>instead of another because of its FEATURES and its RELATIVE VALUE?" I
>said, doing my best impersonation of Claude Rains as he shuts down
>Humphrey Bogart's gin joint in "Casablanca."  "Are there actually people
>who don't care what kind of car they own, as long as it has the most
>stuff they want for the least amount of money?  What kind of sick,
>twisted reason is THAT for buying a CAR?"

Afraid so, sport. I think the following quote sums it all up:

"No one in this world, so far as I know...has ever lost
money by underestimating the intelligence of the great
masses of the plain people."
        H.L. MENCKEN (1880-1956)

The preceeding is often misquoted as, "No one ever went broke 
underestimating the taste of the American public," and mistakenly
attributed to either P.T. Barnum, Brandon Tartikoff, or Lee Iacoca.

The point is that most consumers in the modern era, particularly in the
US, couldn't give a rat's a** about which company has the grandest 
tradition of style, competition, innovation, or whatever. Most of them
are now buying SUVs. Those that are buying cars want cupholders, leather
upholstery and automatic transmissions. Either that, or they want one
they can get a lowering kit for and a stereo loud enough to kill fish.
Taste? Style? Casualties of war.

One of the big things consumers look for these days is service. Let me
repeat that, SERVICE! Most consumers, given a choice, will buy something
bland and live with it IF they can get prompt, courteous, CONVENIENT 
service for it. This is one of the things I believe Alfa never, ever 
understood. Alfa claims it is no longer a niche manufacturer. They claim
to be a mainstream mass producer of stylish automobiles. Unless they can 
set up a dealer network that makes SERVICE as CONVENIENT as it is for 
brand X, the consumers will stay away in droves. To Fiat, it isn't the 
cost of federalization that's keeping them away, this is. Between the 
marketing campaign they would need, and the dealer network, I don't see 
them coming back anytime soon. As long as the cars have to be serviced
by those who service niche cars, then to the average consumer, there's
no difference. This means they can't sell them to the average consumer.
If they can't sell them to the average consumer, there's no point in
bringing them into the country. At least now, Fiat knows it doesn't
understand the US market, even though they are reluctant to admit it in
public.

Simon (currently shopping for a spousemobile, and a 164 isn't an option.)

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