Network Planning

The presence of Dan Akerson, General Motors' CEO, Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, Takanobu Ito, Honda's CEO and President, and Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover's CEO, shows how international the 2012 Sao Paulo auto show has become. Brazil has always been a key market for many OEMs – for example, it is the second main market for Chevrolet and Renault – but it has been closed, with many products only offered in the country and in neighboring Argentina.

However,...

There is a lot of buzz about the Audi plant that will be built in San José Chiapa, Mexico. The press refers to it as "Audi's first car plant in the Americas," but this is not correct. Audi produced the A3 in São José dos Pinhais, Brazil between 1999 and 2006, in a factory now totally owned by Audi's parent company, Volkswagen. Golf (still in its fourth generation), Fox and SpaceFox are produced there. It was a joint venture between Audi and Volkswagen – Audi had 25% of the factory.

The A3 brought...

I am planning a trip to the NE of China to visit my parents. I usually fly to Beijing and then take a train during the next day to arrive at their home. After booking my flights, I called my official chauffeur, a retired uncle living in Beijing, to arrange for my usual pick-up. This time, he asked a lot of questions about my flight arrival time and when my train will leave the next day. It seems his car is not allowed to be on the road from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. each...

Recently, I was at MediaPost's ReVision Conference about targeted television advertising. The day was interesting and informative. We've come a long way from your old cathode ray tube TV or the little TV sitting on top of the big TV from yesteryear. I'm talking web-enabled televisions, set-top boxes synthesizing digital data, and of course, streaming television/video services online. With all of this new technology it became very apparent that television viewing habits are changing dramatically....

While North America and Europe likewise are affected by dealer bankruptcies and network downsizing, Turkey strives for new growth superlatives. Istanbul is building a new mega dealership whose concept completely contradicts the general trends in automotive retail networks. With more than 200 shops on 117.000 sqm (and even an 800-metre test track on the roof of the building!), "Autopia Europia" (opening in 2011) will probably become the largest Auto Mall in the world.

Autopia was designed to...

• The Near Term Future in the Auto Space (Thilo Koslowski, Gartner)
• Integration of CRM Data and Transactional Information (Chris Cawston, SCI)
• Hyundai Motor America...

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Tesla's headquarters in Palo Alto, CA with a couple of colleagues. Personally, it was the highlight of my week-long business trip in California. To see individuals talking about and planning for the emergence of electric vehicles was very motivating and stimulating. The team we met was engaging, smart, and well-read on the market.

Tesla, for those who don't know much about them, is about building electric vehicles for today and tomorrow. And not golf...

What were the top 10 questions from the OEM and OES delegates attending the Polk EuroCar Seminar in the UK on 20 January 2010?

1. If you could only do one thing with respect to marketing in this environment, what would it be or in what area would you focus?
2. You have covered a great deal of ground, what type of marketing has been most effective / impactful?
3. Are there any other challenges that 'keep you awake at night'?
4. Can you share with us where or from whom dealer network planning can be most...

My major take-away from last night's World Congress presentation was the sharp role reversal between guest speakers Yoshimi Inaba, President and COO of Toyota Motor North America, Inc., and Mark Reuss, President of GM North America.

Mr. Inaba spoke first about Toyota's recent successes and challenges. He calmly and confidently highlighted their current and future products, large R & D investment and employee charitable volunteer activities. The audience was left with an impression of a bright...

There's still a lot of press regarding automotive industry challenges like the recent GM and Chrysler bankruptcies and related dealer closings, but has anyone looked at the domestic  OEM’s market share lately? I have and the industry trend is very sobering – GM, Ford and Chrysler combined retail market share has dropped over 10 percentage points during the last five years and is currently hovering around 40%. Yes, almost two out of every three vehicles currently purchased at retail in the U.S....