Showing posts with label Ford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ford. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Model A to Z of failure...

...rather of failure in terms of product innovation!

Alan Mulally may well be on his way to driving Ford out of its problems, innovatively sans any grants from the Fed, but that really doesn’t imply a century sans a single error at innovation! Ford’s Model A and Edsel are two cases proving the point. Ford’s decision to halt the production of Model A (as it was preparing the launch of its first low-priced V8) in 1932, cost it millions in dollar revenues. Why? Introduced in 1927, Model A was the second most popular product from Ford’s stable after Model T. Then came Edsel in 1952, which proved a bigger commercial failure, as the product wasn’t able to match buyers’ expectations after the success of the Thunderbird model. The car was positioned against GM’s Oldsmobile. But the old & conventional Ford design and more importantly, the name which resembled an image of a tractor (Edson) finally resulted in cooking up a complete product failure in the US automobile market.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Bad drivers? Worse buyers!

B&E’s Savreen Gadhoke argues why manufacturing cars for the fairer sex does not make for a good business plan in India... [and the lady is serious!]

If women are bad drivers, men are worse! But statistically, that sweet correlation – however much I personally might want to the contrary – does not apply to car purchases. And probably, this is the reason why many women, especially in India, are not seen driving cars [Of course metros are an exception; though even in these areas, purchase patterns of women are no relative matches to those of men]. As a matter of fact, there aren’t many cars that are manufactured exclusively for women in India. And if you’re a car manufacturer, about to tempestuously experiment with a plan for the fairer sex, perish the thought Jim, women in India more often than not take the back seat!

Although Henry Ford was (in)famously focused on keeping women in the passenger seat, Ford had in reality started marketing cars for women way back in 1912. But that was the US. Graeme Dawson, Australia’s top market historian, shows how way back in 1968, women for the first time outnumbered men amongst new applicants for Victorian drivers’ licenses. But that was Australia. A 2006 Chinese survey showed how “Chinese women car buyers have grown to a record 32% of the total buyers,” with the top ten models being bought by them being “Chery QQ, Honda Fit, Nissan Tiida, Chevrolet Spark, VW Polo, Suzuki Swift, Chevrolet Sail, Peugeot 206, Audi A4, FAW Vizi (the redesigned model of Toyota Yaris).” But then, that’s China! Despite driving by woman being banned in Saudi Arabia, government owned Saudi Aramco’s last year’s research shows how “car ownership among Saudi women climbed to 60 percent between 2003 and 2006!” You got it! That’s Saudi Arabia!


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)