What happened to the days when just about any automotive brand could be defined in a word or two? Porsche: Performance. Ford: Big Trucks. Hyundai: Cheap. Mini: Well, mini.
These days, just about every car company is reaching to be something new in order to appeal to a wider audience and sell more cars to more drivers.
For example, Ford–long known as one of the kings of big trucks and SUVs–has been surprisingly successful at selling small cars. The Focus, Fusion, and Fusion hybrid all get good ratings for quality, fuel economy and safety.
Porsche has announced plans to release several new hybrids. Hybrid Porsches? Seriously. While they claim that these vehicles use hybrid technology to enhance performance, it’s difficult to believe that the primary impetus behind this is anything other than an attempt to appeal to buyers who like the idea of having a car that has “everything.” If you can drive a Porsche and feel as if you’re helping the environment…well, well-to-do greenies are probably putting in their pre-orders right now.
Hyundai just announced plans for a $60,000 luxury car with massaging front seats (they’re optional, I admit.). But still, the mere fact that Hyundai’s brand strength has improved so much over the last couple of years that it would even think of trying to sell cars for $60,000 is fascinating. And they also have turbo and hybrid models in the mix.
Add to this that Mini is releasing the Countryman next year–a crossover with available all wheel drive–and it’s tough to argue that the automotive world hasn’t gone nuts. With the great car “crash” of 2008, I was beginning to think that for the first time ever consumers would have fewer choices when it came to choosing a new car. But I’m beginning to think this just isn’t the case. With existing car companies churning out more models than ever and new electric car companies popping up all over the place, consumers will still have more choices than any intelligent–and frankly, rational–person would ever try to research.
Of course, if nothing else, there’s certainly plenty of new fodder for the automotive press. And blogs, too.
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