Trends in Auto Marketing
 

Auto Marketing never fails to keep me wondering. For instance, I'm always looking out for new offerings of 4-door hatches that aren't SUVs. There are surprisingly few. When I see sensible products like this Toyota:

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/54350toy.jpg

I realize it's not coming to America: it might displace sales of gas guzzlers here...so we can't have them.

And then, some things happen that seem so contrary to a sensible product direction that I want to scream. For example, take the Toureg Cabrio:

http://ecomodder.com/imgs/touareg-cabrio.jpg


I just shake my head and remember nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. It seemed the epitome of the "wrong direction" in so many ways. I had to look at it a few times before I saw that it was a "day of the innocents" joke. I'm so jaded, I fully expected it was a real product. :rolleyes:

My jaw dropped at the sight of the VW. For a second, anyway.

Is this an example of the trend being bucked?

Saturn's 4-door Astra? Arriving pretty much unchanged from the Euro version, to the delight of the reviewers I've read...


http://blogs.cars.com/photos/uncateg...stra4door1.jpg

Nice looking car. If it has a good economical engine they got a real winner on their hands.

I think this is an example of how an April-fools-day-type hoax seamlessly plays into what we've come to expect in aotomotive trends. The question is why is the trend so Machiavellian?