The more things change… November 21, 2009
Posted by richard in : History , 2commentsTWO decades ago, the car industry was in a recession, too. 1991 was a year of depression, sales shrinkages and dealer drama.
Sound familiar? Well, looking at the news of the day, the parallels extend far further than that. Yearly sales were around 1.8 million, well down on the all-time record of 2.3 million in 1989. Rather similar to this year’s prediction, too.
This led, explained Autocar & Motor’s David Sutherland, to ‘plant idling’ – shutting plants down for weeks and months on end. Honda, Nissan and MINI will be familiar with this.
He also looked at a few individual brands, rating their performance over the year.
Ford used to claim 30 percent, but the maker was suffering, mainly because of the rubbish Escort. 25 percent was the total experts said it would have to put up with (today, Ford commands 17.5 percent. There’s a difference).
Rover (remember them?) was still doing well – the Brit-built Metro was brilliant, as were the 200 and 400. Even the archaic Maestro and Montego were finding homes in large lease and daily rental fleets, albeit with massive discounts.
Citroen was on the up, with the ZX bringing market share up to around 3.5-4 percent. Again, oddly similar to what it holds today. Funnily, expert Garel Rhys noted the firm’s pricing throughout the ‘80s was competitive, ‘and it will have to beep up the aggressive marketing strategy’…
BMW was pleased: here is where the 3 Series really started its shift to the mainstream, with the launch of the E36. Sutherland reckoned the biggest problem would be getting enough right-hookers.
‘It’s a good time to launch a small car because in this recession a lot of people are considering down-sizing,’ said a BMW GB chief.
Lest we forget, Japanese makers were still selling under quotas, meaning they were cushioned against the recession. Nissan was the largest: it could sell 6 percent of the UK market total. Interesting, and not long to last.
But, today and quota-free, is there really that much difference in volumes? Toyota has 5 percent, Nissan has 3.2 percent, Mazda has 2.3 percent…
There were differences, though. In 2009, it’s been scrappage-boosted private buyers who have kept the market up. Company car drivers did that in 1991 – retail sales were knocked by price rises and high interest rates. The latter isn’t a factor now, and scrappage has reduced the impact of the latter.
18 years ago seems like only yesterday, yet you’d still think there would be huge changes in the UK market. And, with no Rover and more makers eating into Ford’s share, there have indeed been.
Still, though, the framework remains intriguingly familiar…
If Ford played chess, don’t take it on
Why scrappage is now inevitable
Ford gloom hides people carrier revolution?
How to do motor industry PR brilliance November 9, 2009
Posted by richard in : What I learned today , 1 comment so farBANGERS4BEN is Car Dealer Magazine’s big money-raising car rally for the automotive industry charity.
BEN provides benevolence to those who need it, which takes serious funds. Hence, the Car Dealer Magazine challenge. MkII.
Plan? Buy an old banger, for £250, then drive it to John O’Groats. And back. No, it doesn’t sound at all simple. Despite this, a record 30 teams entered the challenge this year.
Including Hyundai’s PR office. And, having bought a ‘classic’ £250 Hyundai XG30 – aka Hyundai’s Rolls-Royce – the crew decided a little tweaking was called for.
Result? Brilliance. Utter genius. A triumph.
What? The Hyundai Hy-Roller, that’s what. This is not just any Hyundai XG30. This is a… Hyundai Hyundai XG30.
It’s been given:
• 2-tone paint
• Silver ‘chrome’ grille
• ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’ (or, for pedants, a spray-painted Barbie)
• Smart alloy wheels off a Hyundai Motor Show car
• Ribbons on the bonnet
• A be-capped driver and top-hatted ‘groom’
• A bride in the back (don’t fancy yours much, Mike, etc)
Yes – Hyundai’s PR top man Tom has turned it into a wedding express! Complete with Hyundai badge for his cap, and the grizzliest-looking blow-up bride you ever did see. Total magnificence.
Detailing, from the Rolls-style silver bonnet, to the chrome stick-on frames for the frameless (!) doors, is exquisite.
Where are they now? Somewhere north of Inverness, en route to John O’Groats.
There is no missing them. Meaning that Hyundai, in one fell swoop, shows the entire country its human side is a blimmin’ funny one.
Question is, are they coming back via Gretna Green?
Advice from Ford’s Walter Hayes
How Ford put the boot into the Sierra
Zen and the art of chucking out November 8, 2009
Posted by richard in : What I learned today , 1 comment so farCAR industry chaps have done me a massive favour, by switching to online press packs and USB stick image files.
See, I’m rubbish at throwing stuff away. Great at hoarding stuff, mind. Bad state of mind for a motoring journo – gorgeous press packs, lovely images, books, boxes, nice things, all sorts. Delivered every day. And so very keepable.
Throw in magazines, books, leaflets, partworks, this, that and everything else, and you’ve one bulging house full of stuff. Indeed, TWO houses: I’m selling my gaff, so am at my parent’s place, filling this up, too. Not good. So, inspired by Zen Habits, I’ve started – shock horror – throwing away.
You read right. Throwing away.
All was going well, until last week. Sorted stuff for the recycling dump, and left a complementary pile of must-absolute-dead-cert-keep alongside. Rubbish taken to the dump, I then, err, forgot about the life-changingly-important stuff. Went to the Tokyo Motor Show for a week. Came back today, and found it had… gone. This, too, had been chucked.
Filled with dread, as I discovered this, my life flashed before my eyes as I stumbled, staggered, swooned and succumbed to shock. For half an hour, I felt the world had plain come to an end.
Then it struck me. I hadn’t, actually, looked at that stuff for, maybe, five years. Yes, some of it was interesting, but would I really use it ever again? See, there is a Zen argument: got too much stuff? Put it in a box. If you then don’t look at it for six months, (or feel the need to in that time) throw it. No messin’. Just bin it.
I’m not quite at such an advanced stage yet, but maybe there’s a lesson there.
I kinda like keeping stuff because I think it’s knowledge and insight on file. And, thus, stored learnedness. Really, though, it’s nothing of the sort. If I’m not doing anything with it, for years on end, it’s next to useless. It’s not in my head, but instead there, waiting, redundant, useless.
Theodore Roosevelt was, apparently, a great speed-reader: he, though, devoured info, soaked it up, maybe made a few notes. He certainly didn’t keep everything. He chunked it then chucked it.
This, Ricardo here needs a new mindset. Don’t lazily keep stuff. Do something with it. Indeed, the very title of this blog tells me what to do.
In the future then, here’s a commitment. To really tell you what I learnt today. Rather than leaving it sitting in a cupboard, gathering dust.
So, if anyone has any advice on how I should adopt this new soak-up-and-chuck mindset, please share it with me; I’ll reflect on it, and do the same…
The Maestro of the instruments
The Leyland Titan November 1, 2009
Posted by richard in : History , add a commentI well remember the Leyland Titan. One used to operate on the local WM Travel route, on occasion.
It stood out because, to all intents, it was a double-decker Leyland National. And thus a bit weird-looking.
My recent bus epiphany has also revealed, though, that it stood out for another reason: the very fact that it was running at all in the West Mids was a rarity. See, this Leyland project wasn’t the biggest of successes, relative to aspirations.
The so-called B15 project was revealed in the inter of 1975, as a natural extension of the rear-engined National ideal. The engine was squeezed in here because an edict of Titan was that mechanicals took second place to the driver and those who paid for it, the passengers.
Instead of using that notoriously smoky 510 National unit, it would use the good ol’ Gardner 6LXB unit. Which, it seems, is a bit of a favourite amongst bus makers of the time. A sort of omnipresent VW 2.0-litre TDI forerunner.
Like the National, there was to be just one size. 9.5m long, 2.5m wide and 4.4m tall. One or two doors were available, and access was via a low step: thanks, again, integral construction. Ooh, and Leyland also got the ergonomicists in, to design the layout for the entry and exits.
London Transport got a prototype in 1976, two years before official delivery, and ended up taking the bulk of the 1125 built between then and 1984. West Midlands Travel? Well, they had a handful on test. They even bought one or two. But soon sold them to… London Transport.
All, it seems, except the one that I used to see on occasion.
Not quite the big hit that was intended, the Titan revived a famous Leyland name, but not its immense popularity. Pity: in many ways, this highly modular production methodology really was ahead of its time. Meant nothing to WM Travel, though. There, the Metrobus was the titan of the fleet…
