Branding Suicide – The Big 3 and Family Sedans

GM, Ford and Chrysler are struggling with some serious issues due to real and perceived reliability issues, unit labor costs and their obsession with building gas-guzzling cars. Those are complex issues involving union contracts, management decisions, government regulations, and consumer perceptions of quality. The Big Three can fairly claim that not all associated problems are their fault.

But branding decisions are another story and Detroit has made a number of stupid mistakes that were easily avoidable and clearly the automakers’ fault. Some of the most glaring mistakes are in the family sedan category, among the top models for several manufacturers due to their high sales volumes. The Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, for example, were the third and fifth best-selling vehicles in the US in 2008, with units sold at 411,000 and 351,000, respectively.

American automakers have really screwed up in this category. Take Buick, for example. Buick currently makes a couple of models that are highly regarded in the automotive press for their quality, fit and finish, nice interiors, and sophisticated drivetrains. The problem is that most consumers have never heard of these models because Buick created new brands for them: “Lucerne” and “Lacrosse”. Why create new names? My guess is that the branding “experts” at Buick or elsewhere at GM decided that the vintage Buick car nameplates were too “dated” and had too much negative brand value. So instead of using names long associated with Buick, such as Park Avenue, LeSabre, or Century, they switched to new names for the updated models.

Problem #1: GM doesn’t have the money to launch new models properly, so the vast majority of consumers are unaware of the new nameplates.

Problem #2: The Buick Century and LeSabre recently won reliability awards from JD Power, accompanied by the message that these models are no longer in production. Oh.

And yet these models are still in production, they just have new names. The Lucerne is a replacement for both the Park Avenue and the LeSabre, while the LaCrosse replaces the Century. How many car buyers know that or will investigate to find out? Not many, so the PR effect of the JD Powers Awards is nullified.

Ford is no better. At one point, the Ford Taurus was the best-selling car in America. Ford did not invest in the model and it was no longer competitive with class leaders, the Honda Accord and Toyota Camry. Rather than invest to rehabilitate the brand, Ford scrapped it and renamed its successor “Fusion.”

The Fusion is a great car; it is well designed, safe, well equipped and very well built. Ford’s problem is that it has very little brand awareness because the name is new to the market and, like Buick, Ford doesn’t have the money to advertise it enough.

Around the same time they introduced the Fusion, Ford also introduced a new, larger car, which it chose to call the “500,” a moniker it used on a number of vehicles from the ’50s through the early ’70s. This is also a nice car and one of the safest vehicles on the road. Again, Ford didn’t have the money to raise awareness of the 500 and there’s no “halo effect” of a 40-year-old recycled brand, so sales were terrible.

To address this dilemma, Ford chose the curious route of renaming the 500 “Taurus,” despite the fact that it is in a different class of car than the old Taurus (the new one is much larger). The Fusion, which was the actual replacement for the old Taurus, retains its name. So if you’re familiar with the historical “Taurus”, the new one doesn’t match your image of it. If you’re looking for the latest Ford vehicle to compete with the Accord and Camry, then you want a Fusion, a model you probably know very little about.

Buyers looking for a family sedan don’t have to expend energy figuring out which Toyota or Honda models are meant for them; almost everyone knows the Camry and the Accord. If you want to find the equivalents of the Big 3, you can choose between the Fusion (not well known), the Buick LaCrosse (unknown), the Chrysler Sebring (a name better known for its two-door convertible model, not the four-door sedan). ) or the Chevy Malibu (better known but relatively unsupported by advertising).

Based on brand name strategy alone, guess who’s winning the family sedan war?

I mentioned at the top of this post that the Camry and Accord were the 3rd and 5th best selling models in the US in 2008. Curious about the models that round out the top 5? The best-selling vehicle of all was the venerable Ford F150 pickup, followed by its direct competitor, the Chevy Silverado. Fourth place went to the Honda Civic, which means the top five places went to nameplates that have been around for several decades.

Armed with that knowledge, what could have compelled the Big 3 to remove the nameplates from their family sedans? I think it was “brand suicide,” and it illustrates just one more way Detroit has gotten itself into a very deep hole.