" Glitzy ? and Grim", article by Joseph B. White, The Wall Street Journal
This article reveals a lot of marketing issues in auto manufacturing industry nowadays. It
is not a secret that U.S. auto makers are going through some tough times right now ?
some of them like GM feel it more than others. However, the situation remains critical:
it's not a secret that Japanese auto market has been by far more successful for quite some
time now and sales of American cars continue to decline.
Perhaps a lot of answers to these problems come from choosing the right strategy for the
positioning and marketing the product as well as responding to the market needs in a
timely matter and in the right way. Most all of the U.S. auto makers offer upgraded
models of some very successful in the past SUVs and trucks. However, the article
stresses, this year is definitely is not the " year of the truck" or " year of SUV". People
want better gas mileage (as the gas prices surged last couple of years, it became an
extremely important factor for consumers), better prices and design.
The article shows that it is possible to successfully turnaround company with the help of
the right marketing strategy. Nissan and Chrysler are often ?cited examples of that.
Nissan was all but dead in 1999 when Ranault executive Carlos Ghosn announced a far
reaching "revival plan". Buoyed by some well-designed new cars and trucks and
relentless cost-cutting, Nissan is now one of the industry's most profitable companies.
The article suggests that U.S. industry should adopt a new marketing strategy instead of
the old one, re ...