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, Mon, 1 Jul 2002 09:58:38
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I would bet that the importer holds the notion of the car getting muddy and dirty on a gravel road is perceived of as being unbecoming of a near-luxury car. Racing in Le Mans (A high status event, known widely around the world) is very different from belting up a mountain in Colorado, which few people outside of enthusiasts have heard of. BMW won two World Championship rallies (1973 Austrian Alpine, 1987 Tour de Corse), but never endorsed rallying because they equated it with mud, dirt and bent panels, which was not the image they wanted to project of their cars. I'm not saying SAAB is right or wrong in their approach, I am just giving what I think is their reason for not promoting Per's success on Pikes Peak. It is still a very small event which most of the public know or care little about. If Stig had won in his Ford, I don't think Ford would have based an advertising campaign around him either. I know Ford's circumstances are different, but this is not like winning the Winston Cup or Indy. I would suspect that a full page newspaper ad with a shiny new car parked in a scenic location would sell more cars than a picture of a 9-3 in warpaint on an obscure event... Hyundai is working hard to improve their brand image, but quickly stopped using pictures of Rally Tiburons in full flight in their ads. Rallying and hillclimbing are at present fringe motorsports, and the PR benefit from winning at them is probably fairly limited. This may change in the future, rallying is definitely growing in popularity, but it has a long way to go. Soccer has found it very difficult to catch on here, and think of the resuorces open to MLS compared with the SCCA. Imagine how difficult it is for rallying to rattle NASCAR, Busch, Craftsman Trucks, Midgets, NHRA, Champ Cars, IRL, ALMS.....
On the subject of tying Per back to the 96, remember somebody posted here a while ago about a SAAB dealer who was told to remove a 96 he had on display in his showroom?
posted by 4.17.148...
, Mon, 1 Jul 2002 09:58:38
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