2 ms·

BMW is not a good example. It might be an illutrative marketing and positioning example, but as an owner of one these ultimate driving machines I can certainly

by eps 15y ago

BMW is not a good example. It might be an illutrative marketing and positioning example, but as an owner of one these ultimate driving machines I can certainly say - never again. They set the plank very high and failed to deliver. From firmware that was antiquated on a delivery to spending few days in service every few weeks - that's just not one typically expects from a brand new 100K car. In other words - if you are not competing on features, make sure you deliver on those ambiguous marketing messages you use instead. Because the less precise you are the more your customers will assume and the greater their disappointent will be.

lsc 15y ago
Did you really expect a $100K plus car to be as reliable as a honda? I mean, my expectation of any highly complex low-volume product is that I'm going to hit a lot more bugs than with a similar high volume product, no matter how much care was put in by the manufacturer. But actually, I think BMW is an illustrative example. They spend dramatically more on advertising per-unit sold than Honda does, they have a dramatically worse reputation for reliability than Honda, and yet I believe they maintain a higher profit margin on a much lower volume vs. Honda. Honda, here, has the "feature" of reliability; this is a big thing for nearly everyone, and it takes a /lot/ of marketing dollars to make people choose to pay more for a product that lacks that particular feature. So yeah, if you can get rich people to pay extra for nothing more than good marketing, hey, more power to you. But, without continual and consistent marketing outlays, someone else will come along with a better, cheaper product, and unless you can outspend them, Honda will eat your lunch.
bane 15y ago
There's an old adage I've heard, with various high-end cars inserted as appropriate... "You really need to buy two BMWs, one for the road and one for the shop". (replace BMW with Jaguar, Ferrari, etc.) Two other minor recommendations I give all of my friends looking to buy a new car: read Consumer Reports long term reliability rating (or similarly http://www.truedelta.com/ http://www.truedelta.com/) and find your car there. If reliability is an important factor in your purchase, these are the resources to go for your answers. For safety try sites like http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ and http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/safety-recalls/carcrashtest/crashtestvideo.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/safety-recalls/carcr... for videos.

by eps 15y ago

lsc 15y ago

Did you really expect a $100K plus car to be as reliable as a honda? I mean, my expectation of any highly complex low-volume product is that I'm going to hit a lot more bugs than with a similar high volume product, no matter how much care was put in by the manufacturer. But actually, I think BMW is an illustrative example. They spend dramatically more on advertising per-unit sold than Honda does, they have a dramatically worse reputation for reliability than Honda, and yet I believe they maintain a higher profit margin on a much lower volume vs. Honda. Honda, here, has the "feature" of reliability; this is a big thing for nearly everyone, and it takes a /lot/ of marketing dollars to make people choose to pay more for a product that lacks that particular feature. So yeah, if you can get rich people to pay extra for nothing more than good marketing, hey, more power to you. But, without continual and consistent marketing outlays, someone else will come along with a better, cheaper product, and unless you can outspend them, Honda will eat your lunch.

bane 15y ago

There's an old adage I've heard, with various high-end cars inserted as appropriate... "You really need to buy two BMWs, one for the road and one for the shop". (replace BMW with Jaguar, Ferrari, etc.) Two other minor recommendations I give all of my friends looking to buy a new car: read Consumer Reports long term reliability rating (or similarly http://www.truedelta.com/ http://www.truedelta.com/) and find your car there. If reliability is an important factor in your purchase, these are the resources to go for your answers. For safety try sites like http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ http://www.iihs.org/ratings/ and http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/safety-recalls/carcrashtest/crashtestvideo.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/safety-recalls/carcr... for videos.