what sells (hint: rarely a product)

[Pottree@domain.elided]

In a message dated 10/21/2002 10:57:11 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:


> certainly the 147 is larger than the mini, but in the usa, they would fight 
> in the same market.  and, ya conweniently left out the focus svt & the vw 
> gti, which i also mentioned, as well as a bunch-o-asian hot hatches, which 
> i dint....  for the 147 to be competitive in the usa, it would need at 
> least one model, priced in the low $20k's, which had sporting goodies & at 
> least 170hp...  again, i don't tink many usa buyers would ante up $40k+ for 
> a 250hp wersion...  (unless it were awd, or rwd, of course!)  for ~$1k 
> worth of aftermarket exhaust & computer chip, 250hp is readily attainable 
> w/the 1.8t used in the vw's, for one thing...
Certainly our spelling champ makes some good points, but one thing this 
analysis leaves out -- and a very key issue in the USA market -- is, ahem, 
pedigree.

Now here within our chicken coop we know that the Alfa pedigree, even if some 
may feel its been diluted by FIAT ownership and the looming specter of GM, is 
nonpareil; that there s no way some former cheapo motorbike maker from Asia 
is in the league of the Legendary Marque of High Performance.

But in the real world of the sales floor, anything with wheel from GERMANY is 
going to be more highly valued by USA consumers than (nearly) anything else 
from anywhere else.  The Germans have done a magnificent job of selling their 
high tech, high craft culture image here.  I don't pretend to be the 
all-knowing Oz, but whether or not BMW is the Ultimate, or MB is as good as 
it used to be, or Porsche is this or that, does not matter at all.  In the 
statistical world of the marketplace, the value of a German pedigree is worth 
tens of thousands -- not in what the thing itself is worth, but in what 
people are willing (eager!) to pay for it.  It represents rock-solid value, 
which means if you buy German you not only are valuable enough to accumulate 
enough money to pay the premium, you know your stuff, too.  That is their 
absolutely strongest selling point, bar none.  All the rest is really 
ass-lick*ng.

Now, our friends from Japan have also done a remarkable job, and in less than 
2 generations have turned around the phrase "made in Japan" from a mark of 
derision to badge of quality.  They are masters at this.  And at this alone, 
they have pretty much conquered the USA auto market, perhaps lagging somewhat 
behind the fleet sales that keep the domestics in stock options.

Italy has a couple of highly exotic superpremium marques, but they are so far 
removed from the ordinary experience of USA motorists that they pretty much 
don't count in the marketplace, especially as they are treated now.  To the 
balance of the market, the idea of an Italian product is poison.  And even if 
it was not poison, it would be next to impossible to complete with the 
Japanese, let alone the Germans, or even the Swedes, or -- dare I say? -- the 
Brits, because in any test they would pull in dead last.

I don't think it absolutely has to be that way, but there it is.  

There is NO POSSIBLE WAY even the greatest and most refined 147 could sell in 
commercial numbers in the USA in the $20k range.  $20 car buyers would not 
want it because it is an unknown from a problematic origin.  Those who have 
more money, or who want to buy prestige wouldn't buy a $20k car.

Once you get above the cost of a 6-year-old Mazda or Chevy, the decision 
moves pretty quickly from one tat is about the car itself to one that is 
about the buyer and his or her psychology.  It would be a colossal mistake to 
try to sell Alfas to compete with Integras; Alfas are from ITALY (boo, hiss) 
while Integras are from our trustworthy friends in Japan who do not desert 
the market, who have a reputation of being reliable, who have dealers, parts, 
wash the car with oil change, etc.  A 147 isn't a good fit with a recent 
college grad; a 147 is a better fit with the design director of a major 
airline or the creative director at a midlevel ad agency or a production 
sound designer in Hollywood, or a well-known architect (Frank Geary recently 
was quoted in the NY Times -- with photo of himself and car -- that he gets a 
new BMW 7 every year and every one is better than the last; THAT's how to 
sell cars into a segment!!!)... and these people would not want to be caught 
dead in a car affordable by a punk out of school (pardon my French) when the 
people they need to impress or at least play golf with are in $55 MBs and $75 
Jags, and $60 Porsches.  

If you set aside trucks and their evil spawn, what kind of cars DO sell in 
the USA?  Which ones are anything like Alfas?
Why isn't THAT the place to start to figure out how to sell them, instead of 
hoping for a return to  a former time when you could get into a market using 
the crutch of low price?

Get real!  Alfa could sell cheap cars in the USA if they were really and 
truly cheap, say $2000; but then dumping is against the law.  When you get 
into the realm of actual modern-day auto prices, there is no way they can 
afford to play in the lower-priced segment, as much as you or I would like to 
put a new one in the garage at the lowest cost.  For just one practical 
thing, where would they get the money to support the brand if they sold them 
so cheap there was never any profit to reinvest to begin with?

Charlie
LA, CA, USA
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