YOUR ARE THE EXPERT: Which Brands Are Floundering And What Brands Are On Fire?

As I said when we first introduced our Brand Image Meter one year ago, when it comes to the power of brands and the inescapable importance of brand image, “It’s the one thing that car companies – both good and bad – cannot escape. How a brand is perceived can make or break a car company, regardless of how long and illustrious a run that brand has enjoyed up until any given point in time, because one false move or one discordant note can be crippling in a matter of months.”

Even though much has gone on in this business since I wrote those words, the reality of that statement rings truer than ever. Brand image is so integral to the success of an automaker that after building a great product (of course), image wrangling has become the No. 1 priority in this business

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GermanNut - 6/5/2013 5:27:56 PM

-5 Boost

Audi is clearly on fire:

1) It's focused strategy of spreading its manufacturing facilities around the world (the new plant in Mexico, which will build Q5 SUVs starting in 2016.)

2)Diversifying its model range both downmarket (A3 sedan) and upmarket (high-end A8-based SUV) with particular focus on sporty SUVs (Q2, Q4, Q6)

3)Focusing its sales efforts on increasing sales in extremely important global markets such as China and the United States.

4) A $17 billion investment through 2016 on new products, facilities, and technologies.

Satriani1 - 6/5/2013 11:31:17 PM

-4 Boost

Germannut, yes,. Audi is on fire:
- No. 7 in terms of year-to-date sales growth (YTD 2013 over YTD 2012) for all car brands sold in USA.
- In terms of luxury car brands, only Porsche and Cadillac are growing faster than Audi. See my post below.

nguyenvuminh - 6/5/2013 7:08:26 PM

-4 Boost

GermanNut - You are a nut. And your penchant to defend anything with Audi is resembling JRob with his BMW, which is over the top.

JRobUSC - 6/5/2013 7:57:37 PM

+1 Boost

Again bringing me up in conversations I'm not involved in. You're starting to worry me, buddy. It's not healthy.

Patronus - 6/5/2013 8:07:58 PM

0 Boost

Floundering - Honda/Acura, GM, Chrysler, Fisker, Volvo

enthusiastx11 - 6/5/2013 9:02:19 PM

-1 Boost

based on sales, volume of new product, innovation...

on fire: audi, bmw, ford

floundering: lexus, honda

don't really know other brands well enough to comment.

enthusiastx11 - 6/5/2013 9:03:06 PM

0 Boost

oh...and hyundai and kia are on fire. some amazing quality design and product innovation given the pricepoints.

Satriani1 - 6/5/2013 11:02:55 PM

-3 Boost

The linked article gives the subjective opinions of the AutoExtremist blogwriter (he claims to be from auto advertising and that he is influential). Who is he? He doesn't even know the difference between a brand and its car model (e.g., he portrays Corvette and Range Rover are brands)

A more objective indicator of the hotness of brand image is to compare how much year-to-date sales are increasing over the past year.

USA Auto Sales by Brand: Top 10 ranked by percentage increase: 2013 Year-To-Date Auto Sales (Jan to May) over Jan to May 2012 (average is + 7.2%)
Brands marked wth an asterisk* were also in the top ten in percentage increase for the month of May 2013 over May 2012 (average is + 8.1%)
1. Cadillac: + 37.6% (69,750)*
2. Porsche: + 30.9% (17,609)*
3. Dodge: + 23.2% (268,571)*
4. Ram: + 22.8% (144,127)*
5. Subaru: + 21.1% (165,362)*
6. Buick: + 16.0% (82,759)
7. Audi: + 15.4% (60,571)*
8. Ford: + 13.9% (1,024,000)
9. Bentley: + 13.6% (970)
10. Jaguar: + 12.5% (6,161)*

Here are a list of auto brands the AutoExtremist claims are hot or warm -- compared against percentage increase in sales Jan to May 2012 over Jan to May 2012:
Alfa Romeo (no info)
Aston Martin (no info)
Audi + 15.4%
BMW + 8.2%
Bentley + 13.6%
Cadillac + 37.6%
Corvette (Corvette is a car, Chevrolet (warm) is the Brand, duh. Corvette model - 13.1%, Chevrolet brand )
Dodge + 23.6%
Ferrari (no info)
Lamborghini (no info)
McLaren (no info)
Mercedes-Benz + 10.2%
Range Rover (Range Rover is a car, Land Rover 0.3% is the Brand, duh)
Rolls-Royce (no info)
Toyota + 4.6%
Tesla (no info)
VW - 0.4%

http://tinyurl.com/m8635so

http://tinyurl.com/lwzcqjw

vdiv - 6/6/2013 10:57:25 AM

-1 Boost

Tesla (no info)

Yeah if one has their head in the sand that may be the case.

However Satriani1 makes an important point, how does one objectively measure the success of a brand? Sales? Profit? Stock price? Public perception? Impact on the industry/innovation?

Satriani1 - 6/6/2013 11:50:22 PM

-3 Boost

vdiv: "Tesla (no info) Yeah if one has their head in the sand that may be the case."
There was no information/data on Tesla in the sites I gave and therefore I put "no info". The reason is simple: Tesla refused to provide monthly sales data in the first three months of the year in the way that other car makers do, and thus this site was unable to chart the info in order to make an apples to apples comparison. Second, there were no Tesla Model S sales in the first few months of 2012, and thus no comparison could be made.

BimmersNme - 6/6/2013 10:05:31 PM

-3 Boost

IMO
Hot: AUDI, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche.
Warming-up: Land Rover, Jaguar.
Floundering: Acura, Honda, Volvo.

aussie2u - 6/6/2013 10:25:58 PM

-2 Boost

Tesla. M5 performance, Audi interior, Japanese detail, all made in America. It's the ultimate sleeper can and car company right now. They just exceeded Fiat too in market cap ($11 billion). It's no Fisker...

Satriani1 - 6/6/2013 11:55:47 PM

-4 Boost

No way the Tesla has M5 performance. In an earlier post, I compared the 'Audi S6' and 'Tesla Model S Performance' using the instrumented tests of Car and Driver Magazine. The top performance Tesla Model S does not have M5 or S6 performance. And from pictures the Tesla's interior is no Audi. t6esla's over-inflated market cap will probably plunge once the market's romance with the Tesla wears off.

JRobUSC - 6/7/2013 6:45:59 PM

+2 Boost

I'd categorize Tesla as being hot. Sales are good, press is overwhelmingly positive, stock prices have tripled in a year. My only concern, though, is all their profits have been from selling carbon credits, not from actually selling cars. So I don't know how sustainable that is.

poot66 - 6/7/2013 11:36:48 PM

+1 Boost

I think most in the auto industry are doing well but one that is floundering is Suzuki and Mitsubishi.