Are US car companies completely clueless when it comes to the UK?

HardRockCamaro · December 23, 2010, 06:46:46 AM

I'm mainly talking about the lack of advertising.

I mean, Cadillac do no advertising (aside from the odd poster at a couple of motorway services) and wonder why they can't shift their cars (cancelled diesel engine being another bone head decision), Jeep do no advertising at all as far as I can see, apart form in a car magazine has anyone seen ads for say the Chrysler 300C or even their people carrier?

The European car firms, Ford UK, Vauxhall, Peugeot, Renault, BMW, Mercedes etc all advertise, only the *most* exclusive do not.

Take the latest Jeep Grand Cherokee ad that is playing in the US at the moment, given our winter weather the last 3 years why do they not play this in Dec/Jan/Feb in the UK?

In the US I couldn't get away from Grand Cherokee ads, they were all over the tv, they were on the screens at petrol pumps in gas stations, they were on billboards etc. And they're really good ads, far better than the stupid ones we get over here with puppets and god knows what else that don't even show the damn vehicle:

philoldsmobile · December 23, 2010, 07:40:49 AM

I have wondered that. I guess they see it as a small market, but without advertising it always will be.

Granted, the US companies are never going to be big sellers over here even with the best advertising in the world (people simply wont go to caddy for example, if they are looking at a BMW, even if the car is considerably better), but you do need to speculate to accumulate.

Aside from Jeep though, i'm not sure the American manufacturers have much that would sell over here, caddy will never ever sell on badge alone, none of the other big three build large cars have the quality or badge to do it (caddy at least seem to be building decent cars at last) and frankly the smaller yank cars are either rubbish, or re badged pacific rim cars we already get.

If you were spending £50k on a car, would you buy a caddy knowing they might pull out of the UK yet again and leave you with no service backup, or a BMW / Mercedes that you know will be supported forever? the last STS's were being knocked out for £15k brand new / ex demo in 2002, desperation on that level is not going to install confidence in the general public.

Caddy in particular have retreated more times than a frenchman in a battlefield in the UK marketplace.

Incursus · December 23, 2010, 07:58:11 AM

I'm not complaining I'd much rather people bought Land Rover and Jaguars

Also if I get a caddy I want it to be something different from the norm and to have a poor second hand value

Andy · December 23, 2010, 09:46:36 AM

Would be cool to see the Dodge Challenger ad get some play over here!

A fair few would choke on their tea if they saw it I reckon!

HardRockCamaro · December 23, 2010, 06:20:14 PM

The problem is that people in the UK have an old perception of Cadillac mainly pink, fins and chrome, or the Escalade. Very few ever saw or heard of the STS.

Without advertising and getting the cars out there on films (which to be fair they do a bit) even with the new quality they are not going to sell unless people know they're good. Having said that it's academic without a diesel engine these days, the only exception being the sports models and while the CTS-V wipes the floor with the M5 in every test I've ever seen, be it straightline drag, skid pans, or even lap times at any race track, no-one knows this. Ask anyone which is faster around a track, a CTS-V or an M5 and every person will say the M5, even though they are wrong. It's all about perception. Again, Cadillac had excellent ads the last few years in the US:

This would have been good for the arrival of Cadillac on the scene, arouse some interest, what is it etc (but you'd do it today with the much better CTS of course):

Land Rover now owned by Tata do not have the money to develop a hybrid system for their cars, something which they perceive as a problem, as GM do have the money for hybrid technology they could have pushed that for the SRX (ok this ad is for the larger Escalade, but you get the idea, a Range Rover will not do 24mpg around town, more like 10-12 at best.

When the tax laws changed to make 1/2 ton pickups the hot ticket for company vehicles the US big 3 were really in the best position to exploit it, instead they did nothing in this country until after the Japanese has established themselves as the ones to buy, loaded up with chrome etc (something we know the Americans do very well).

Incursus · December 24, 2010, 03:53:29 AM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

but you'd do it today with the much better CTS of course)

and without all that body roll at the end.

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

Land Rover now owned by Tata do not have the money to develop a hybrid system for their cars, something which they perceive as a problem, as GM do have the money for hybrid technology they could have pushed that for the SRX (ok this ad is for the larger Escalade, but you get the idea, a Range Rover will not do 24mpg around town, more like 10-12 at best.

Indeed though someone gave the money to develop the C-X75. Of course they would need a butt load more to put it into production.

The Evoque will supposedly do 58mpg (combined cycle) with Emissions: 130g/km of CO2.

The 14MY Range Rover.....feck knows

All I know about is the standard Start Stop and it adjusts it's body dynamics for motorway driving. (slams itself to the deck etc

)

philoldsmobile · December 24, 2010, 04:03:27 AM

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

The problem is that people in the UK have an old perception of Cadillac mainly pink, fins and chrome, or the Escalade. Very few ever saw or heard of the STS.

the STS still wasn't good enough though, it was a decent enough car in its own right, but drive a top line BMW or Merc, and the sts was light years behind, hence the reason it got an utter drubbing in the press. most people heard of it, but for the wrong reasons. FWD rendered it a total loss in that market sector too.

in that sector of the market you simply cannot have poor build quality or poor handling - the two weakest points of the STS.

the CTS was better, but even then, still not quite up to the job. only now is the CTS good enough to take on the Germans, but it doesn't need to be as good, it needs to be better. Its like Alfa and rust proofing or skoda reliability - you don't have to just equal, you need to exceed the competition in order to crush the reputation.

caddy have an even bigger job, they not only have to change peoples perception of themselves, but they have to change peoples perception of American cars in general, and while chrysler are turning out the dross they are, its not going to happen.

HardRockCamaro · December 24, 2010, 06:16:23 AM

Bizzarely I found an old video of Clarkson reviewing the original STS and he didn't actually sate it as much as you might think. In fact, he said the faults were made up for by the incredible engine. So he didn't go mad over it, but it wasn't a caning.

The thing is though, it doesn't matter if the STS was any good or not, or FWD or RWD. The point is, hardly anyone has ever even heard of it much less seen it. So even if it was way better than a BMW it still wouldn't have sold, not because of the badge, but because no-ne knew it existed...