So the continuous re-cycling of names seems a bit haphazard. Where is it going?
Customers new to the market (and hence hopefully your long term future customers if you snag them at that age) do not have an understanding of what a fun thing a real Mini was (a long time ago) and so how does the original value of the name bring significant value? Or is it just about being able to put up pastiche black and white segments in car adds. Lets face it if you ask most of the yoof who twiggy is they will have no idea. The same is true of the FIAT 500, I doubt any one (with their right mind) under 40 would have even seen one, never mind have rosy tinted spectacles of driving one. By modern standards making the old (Nuova) 500 the benchmark in the add makes no sense? The new one is totally formulaic and has nothing of the innovation of the old new one.
So it would appear that using the name where the old models do not exist but the actual new product does almost match the style of the old one gets away with it?
Then progress to Mustang (Mache) and Crapi, an easy way of distinguishing between the original (Capri) and new (Crapi). The real (V8) Mustang is still in production and so direct comparison can be made and the Mache is left looking daft. I do not think it is a bad BEV/SUV compared to many but it acquires a bit of a stigma by using the name. I hear one whining up the hill each morning and in isolation it looks okay. Every time I see one all I think is "that's not a Mustang, do they think we are stupid, fools, I am not buying a Ford if that's what they think". More chance of a negative reaction than a positive? I know we have a couple on the forum so would welcome their feedback and apologise in advance for my negative portrayal. How did the name impact your decision. My opinion being only/exactly that.
Looking at the Crapi, like the Mini it is unlikely that the younger audience is aware of the old car. Other than their parents having possibly conceived them in the rear of it and getting that cheeky grin when asked "was it a cool car?". So, again, the benefit of trashing the Capri name is? Sepia toned nostalgic photos in the add because they need something to provide differentiation between that and every other VW/Geely sourced iPad charger SUV on the market. That no one wants according to current sales figures. That's before we look at the frighteningly me-too Polestar styling. Same size as the Mache you say, how odd, I wonder what happens to the Mache next cycle? Poor sales figures and overlap so it's not being replaced, what a surprise.
The irony is that they bought back the Puma (lovely little Coupe using excellent Fiesta running gear on first launch) as the first modern SUV and with the removal of the Fiesta it sells very well. Fair to say there was a little bitching about the use of the name but it did not stop the sales once they forced us into it. So on the next round of brain dead planning we can see that the Puma will come back as yet another BEV/SUV as it is already half way there. Perhaps using the VW ID2 platform?
So whats left of Ford Europe, are we on the way to the far end of a cul-de-sac, irrelevance and extinction? Will Ford Europe just become another brand under the VW empire? Audi, VW, Skoda, Seat, Cupra, Ford. Will the US just sell it off to them?
The alternative, a new identity. Polestar, Pork Taycan and to a large extent the ID range so comparisons are not made directly. I would love to be a fly on the wall when all these decisions are being made in the various boardrooms.
(Ford Boardroom, Crapi sales tank and there is a boardroom fight. They have little to fall back on, Fiesta and Focus having been shot.)
Why did we choose that name for that car? Did we not learn from the Mache episode?
We already owned the name and web domain sir/madam boss, do you know how expensive it is to get a new unique .com domain?
Yes, about 1/1000000th of the amount we spent re-skinning and promoting to market someonelse's toy and then tanking a company and it's share price. Now I can never go on holiday to the Amalfi region as the locals will eject me for wrecking the name of the beautiful island.
The more I look at the industry right now the more I see some really odd activity. Between this vacillation, tariffs, government short term meddling in green (ha) targets, work from home and a tightening economy you have to worry. China, welcome, we have made it easy for you.
/semi-ironic, incomprehensible mode off.......
