It ain't NECESSARILY so...

["Joe Garcia" <corsanostra@domain.elided>]

In a message dated 01/07/2002 3:52:26 PM Pacific Standard Time,
Pottree@domain.elided writes:

>Easy one!  S. Florida has a big population of retired Jews.  More than >you 
>might expect in the USA will not buy things from Germany.  Plus, >the heavy 
>concentration of retirees skews to a price bias.

Hmm. Plausible, but--for this market anyway--not entirely correct. In the 
submarket where I am (Coral Gables, for those of you scoring at home) the 
retiree population is considerably less than the average for both Florida 
and the U.S. in general; and the concentration of consumers who identify 
themselves as Jewish is far less than in other areas of SoFla (such as, say, 
Boca Raton or Aventura or Miami Beach).

There are also, keeping on the Lexus tangent, Lexi that are essentially the 
same price as their Teutonic counterparts and THOSE outsell--again, at least 
here in the Miami metropolitan area--the aforementioned German competition, 
above and beyond any anti-German bias. Would this hold true in, say, 
Indiana? Louisiana? Montana? I'd GUESSTIMATE that it would.

>Here in LA-LA Land, the opposite is true, especially among the affluent, 
>influential set.  The cost is a majr, major ADVANTAGE, and >the more it 
>costs, the more favorably it reflects on YOU and how much >YOU are worth as 
>meat on the open market, or how well the pieces of meat you slice 10% from 
>are doing, or how many million dollar homes you sold this month, etc.  
>People was to show it, flaunt it, and enjoy >it (of course, many times this 
>is also a gift, something an ill-afford >lease to keep up a front, etc.).

Ovah heah, PERCEIVED price is a major, major advantage which is why reverse 
sticker shock is a big deal. Most people in the SoFla market will readily 
believe that a Lexus X costs the same as a BMW Y or a MB Z. My guess would 
be that the rest of the country is closer to the SoFla way of thinking 
(definitely NOT the SoFla way of driving, which leaves native Bostonian 
drivers pulled to the side of the road, paler than usual and trembling like 
aspens) then the SoCal way of thinking.

>People who do not know how may cylinders are in their shiny new BMW >have 
>bought (leased, chosen) is mostly because it has 2 key features, >both 
>unrelated to performance: it is HIGHLY LEASEABLE because it will >retain a 
>good % of its value... and it is known to be and LOOKS >expensive, which 
>reflects well on you, showing you are hot shit.  When >others know that you 
>are piloting around am $85,000 car or a $250,000 >car or a $57,850 car, you 
>get bragging rights and showoff points that >perhaps are not so important 
>in Lansing, Michigan or Chattanooga, >Teen... but of course, in those 
>places they will stuck to a Chevy or a >truck and wouldn't be good 
>candidates for some wacky, sexy, Eye->talian, fix-it-again Tony job.

I agree wholeheartedly on your 1st point and if you change "known to be" 
with "perceived to be" (perception is reality, said my MKT301 textbook) you 
can count me aboard.

>One of the best things GM can contribute to the mix is a great great >deal 
>through GMAC.  THAT will make all the difference.  That and the >paint and 
>ass-kissing customer service.  WE want and expect a terrific >product but 
>you know what?  ALL cars these days are pretty terrific, >at least compared 
>to the primitive state of affairs when OUR Alfas >were new models.  We 
>think of buying and holding, but the market at >large doesn't, it thinks of 
>something that will be problem free for >the whole 24, 36, or even 60 month 
>long term of the lease, at which >point there will be something new in the 
>driveway anyhow.

Ass-kissing customer service isn't good enough. :-) It has to be the sort of 
thing that if another person did this to you, your spouse would demand you 
walk around with a large scarlet "A" (and not "A for Alfa.") emblazoned. But 
yes, I agree with you there also.

-Joe in reasonably sunny SoFla

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