Sadly, this is a business lesson that often used as examples of failures. But, should we consider them failures? Perhaps another lesson from the music industry would be apt here – if you had a one-hit wonder and continues to have airplay and downloads, you are not a failure.
My childhood was dictated by a few well-known facts about the USA automotive market. One, I lived in California. This was a very convenient place for importers to start their operations first, as its ports were across the Pacific from Japan and the Republic of Korea. Also, the state’s market had a track record of customer acceptance of Japanese and Korean imports. Toyota and Nissan started in California and saw their fortunes grow there over time.
We also had the opportunity to work with some great automobiles – also, too numerous to list beyond the four we posted before. Maybe, someday I’ll have a list of everything that made this website and my own media work worth these past eight years.
TweetHave you ever looked at a vehicle out on the road – or in a parking lot – and wondered "why would anyone own such a thing?" Sounds judgmental, right? It is…or, not. The big thing about the vehicles we drive is that we choose it for a reason. Maybe it's the interior space. Maybe, …
Perhaps it needs a mask. Nissan created a new preview site for their upcoming GT-R coupe as a play on the multitude of videos posted of their prototypes in action at the Nurburgring. Each one of these testers had a black mask obscuring the front end of each vehicle. Therefore, Nissan dubbed their preview site after the "black mask." This gives the upcoming supercar a bit of mystery before its official unveiling at the upcoming Tokyo Auto Show.
Tweet Everyone loves a Grand Am! – All Photos by Randy Stern This decade saw six brands simply disappear from American showrooms: Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Mercury, Saab and Suzuki. They join the misbegotten that danced in front of us for our dollars. Some of these brands ended a lengthy history of success – and failure. …
Tweet All photos by Randy Stern Failure is something that society either hates or loves. How does a failure occur? Mismanagement is one source of the problem. Incompetency is another – perhaps notes as the biggest source of failure. Timing can be attributed to failure, if the market does not respond at the right moment. …
Tweet All photos by Randy Stern O, Five Favorites, we hardly knew ye… Frankly, the old Five Faves have been set aside somehow thanks to Auto Show coverage, going Way Off Road and whatever floats V&R's boat…er, car. That does not mean we are thinking about that magic number. Ah, but there is a spark …
Tweet Photo by William Maley/Cheers & Gears As predicted by various people in the know, it still came as a surprise. It was announced on Monday that American Suzuki Motor Corporation would realign their business to concentrate on motorcycles, ATVs and marine power products. The realignment translates into a major sacrifice – the sale of …
At a time when the call was to tune down the horsepower and prepare for an oil crisis, a recession and a never ending war overseas, domestic automakers figured it was high time to build another round of compact cars. By going smaller, there were two routes to take: Build them domestically or import them from a global partner somewhere. Three out of the four North American automakers chose the latter.