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What Will You Do When Your Favorite Brand Dies?
With the auto industry restructuring, it is most likely some brands will be going away for good. What if it's your current vehicle? Share your concerns here.
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2001 BMW 330ci/E46, 2008 BMW 335i conv/E93
Short of GM going under altogether (not that far fetched) I'm seeing brands that might go away but the underlying car still being around - kind of like when Oldsmobile died. I mean other than sheet metal not much unique will go if Pontiac goes.
I STILL say GM should have your testimonial up on billboards...
But if Buick ever went, you might find you quite liked the Lexus ES.
I don't expect Toyota or Honda to go under or leave the U.S. market, but I wonder what will happen to Subaru, c/o Fuji Heavy. Will they make it? If they become a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota in the next 10 years, I see their brand eventually being diluted and messed up by Toyota management, much the same way GM messed up every foreign brand it touched. OTOH, if they make it through the next 5 years and out of the recession intact, they will probably be able to remain independent.
Meanwhile, I am hoping that some of the more interesting European brands (starting with Fiat) really do find their way back into the U.S. market. As much as Honda pretty much has a car for my every need, I sure would like at least one opportunity to have something with a bit more personality.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
If I were to go to Lexus, it would be the LS. The ES is nothing more than a glorified Camry. Heck, the Toyota Avalon seems like a nicer car.
If you look at the Subaru forum, it looks like they're doing fine despite the economy.
The Acura RL has an awesome interior, but the exterior is awful along with no available V-8.
But how much is a Lacrosse a "glorified Impala"? I would say the ES is at least as much glorified from the regular Camry V-6. However, I wonder if the ES would be big enough for you, and I suspect it wouldn't be.
The Acura RL, OTOH, is pretty cramped inside. And the TL is now dog-ugly, so Acura is clearly out for you. Perhaps a Mercedes E-class? A Volvo S80? But then, Volvo's future is on shaky ground too....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
I guess I could see myself in an E-Class, though the S-Class is more my size of car. I would still immensely fear the maintenance and repair costs.
For instance, how long did it take them to finally pull the plug on Oldsmobile? I think the announcement was made in 2000, just before the redesigned Aurora came out. Yet they were still building Oldsmobiles through 2004.
And Plymouth had been standing on death's doorstep for decades, but finally got the courage to ring the bell in 1999, and in 2001, was welcomed in. Once upon a time, Plymouth was Mopar's volume seller, competing with Ford and Chevrolet. However, it started getting starved of products in the 1970's. Dodge outsold Plymouth in 1979 and 1980. In fact, in 1979, I think even Chrysler outsold Plymouth! Plymouth bounced back for 1981-82, but from 1983 onward, Dodge was the dominant division.
In the old days though, things moved much more quickly. Edsel went from birth to death in about 2.25 model years. DeSoto had some of its best years and highest market share in 1955-1957, yet by 1959 it was well-known that it was slated for the chopping block. In 1960 it saw a drastically reduced lineup, and the 1961 production wrapped up on November 18, 1960.
In the past, Pontiac was always my favorite GM brand, but other than the G8, they haven't made anything that's really turned me on in a long, long time now. I like Chrysler and Dodge, but in recent years the only products I've really liked from them were the Charger/300, and the Ram. I gotta admit though, if a bunch of money suddenly fell into my lap, I'd be tempted to go out and buy a 2009 Ram! :shades:
I'll miss those brands if they go away, but I'll find something else to buy. Heck, if forced to choose a new car today, I'd probably be more likely to get a Nissan Altima than I would a GM or Mopar product.
I'll have my eye out for used Sky's in a few years or a Saab 9-2x if you can find one.
I've been thinking about going used my next time around. I bought my Intrepid brand-new, and while I've liked the car, sometimes when I think about the depreciation it makes my stomach turn! It stickered for around $21K. I forget how much I actually paid now...I want to say around $19,500, but all I remember is the out the door price, which with tax, tags, title, an extended warranty that I probably paid too much for, et al, came out to $22,389. I never bothered to look at used Intrepids before buying (the Intrepid itself was sort of a spur-of-the-moment purchase), but not too long after noticed a 1-year old one at Car Max, with about 10,000 miles on it, for $15K. And then started seeing 1-2 year old ones with under 20,000 miles for more like $11-12K.
Was that 2001 Aurora a good car? I always liked those. Did you get the V-6 or V-8?
The downside was all the ribbing I would take for it being an old man's car , I was only 39at the time!
Actually, if it wasn't for the Valiant, Dodge would have outsold Plymouth in 1960! As a whole, the Dart lineup- Seneca/Pioneer/Phoenix, outsold the equivalent Plymouth Savoy/Belevedere/Fury/Sport Fury line. Dodge did have the bigger cars that Plymouth didn't, the Matador/Polara. But Dodge wouldn't get a version of the Valiant until 1961, as the Lancer, and it wasn't nearly as popular as the Valiant.
When did that happen and which engine is the V8 option? Perhaps the one that was in the LS?
2009 BMW 335i, 2003 Corvette cnv. (RIP 2001 Jaguar XK8 cnv and 1985 MB 380SE [the best of the lot])
Someone will always step in to take their place and after a few years we will forget them. They are just car companies they are not people that we need to treat like they are a living thing. It is no different than when we lost so many electronic companies, someone always steps in to make us forget what used to be.
As for Subaru, I would miss them too, and there I do have some real concern for the company's viability without a tie-up or buy-up, but OTOH they are a lot less distinctive than the likes of Porsche. Honda and Mitsubishi pretty much have all of Sube's territory covered between them.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
but why? It is just a car nothing more. Do we miss Dussenberg or Cord? Do we miss D-Jags or any other number of classic vehicles? It is just a tool made up of pieces of material. They would be replaced by something else or the will survive but it won't matter because they too will change and those that loved the old Speedster will have to wonder what ever happened to the old 911.
I believe Porsche /VW will survive and some of the others will as well but in reality what does it matter if Subaru is gone? We survived Studebaker, Nash, Hudson and several others and no one lost much sleep over them. Even Mini Cooper is just a name the car is gone. The new one is nothing like the origional. It might look a little like one but that is it.
There are cars I miss but it is much like any other tool when a new and improved one replaces the old one you soon forget the old one.
To give you a classic example I remember having a 1966 VW bug. I thought it was a great car and it was so easy to maintain and drive. Got reasonable fuel mileage and was about as simple to own as any vehicle I have ever owned. Around 1994 to 1996 I got a chance to to pick up a clean 71 VW bug. I got a new rebuilt engine and transmission and replaced the carb and exhaust with a Bug spray and stinger. I sold the car a year later because I got tired of working on it all the time. It was then that I remember I used to work on my old 66 all the time as well.
Do I miss air cooled VW bugs? Nope. Would I get another one if I had to pick between a Hyundai today and it? Nope. And you know I don't like Hyundai.
But Porsche isn't my favorite brand so it isn't part of the question for me. But what I would do if one of my favorite brands died wouldn't be to buy a Porsche. Unless they were the only choice left. Otherwise if a new private company comes along, or even Porsche, and offers me something that doesn't use gas or oil I won't miss any of the old cars. Not even when I get old enough to be assigned a walker to drive.
Amen to that brother. I owned 3 Studebaker cars and a PU. They all got better mileage than anything else in Detroit. I always figured they were run out of business because the others could not compete. Quite frankly NOTHING built today is really worth get excited about. If GM, Toyota, Ford, Honda and Chrysler all went belly up, I would not lose a wink of sleep. I doubt I will ever buy any of them again.
They made the hawk and the Super Hawk and they were anything but rust buckets. But most of all they had one of the best sports coupe ever.
http://photovalet.com/data/comps/VCC/VCCV06P07_10.jpg
It was so good they continued making long after the company shut down. Still life went on and no one lost much sleep over it. If Honda dropped off the face of the earth buyers would just buy Toyotas. If they don't make any more Mazdas people will simply buy Hondas or whatever is being sold. I am no different than 99 percent of the people in the US. I will buy what I can buy and I will not worry all that much about what I can't buy. Take a name tag off of one car and put it on another and if I like the car I don't care who made it. Unlike some people I was not fooled for a second when Toyota came out with the Scion. It was a Toyota just like Buick was GM. I would burst peoples bubble every time I would see one and they would say, oh it is a new brand from Japan. I would point out it was a Toyota and some might disagree and say it was only serviced by Toyota. We would walk over to the window and I would point out the Toyota name on the back window glass.
Honda tried to pull the new car on us with Acura but it was only Acura here for so many years it was a joke. It was a Honda with a different name plate.
A bit long winded but it was to simply point out that a car is just a car and it doesn't matter who puts their name on it.
As for those refurbished GM cars, you'd definately would have a market with me!
I have only lusted after two cars in my life. The D-Jag was one but never realistic. But the Avanti was always one of those cars I wanted to drop the hammer on. I even thought about getting one of the later models with the corvette running gear. It was one of the cleanest sports coupes ever. IMHO
I too would be sad, because it affects so many jobs if a company went under. All the family's out there that get hurt. I don't wish that, even for GM. They have so much potential to raise that value bar. This is all my opinion, so nothing personal. The new camaro is amazing!!
That would be neat though to refurbish a few models. The older GM cars are actually better made, and worth more than the new models.
I am also intrigued, however, that so many here miss Studebaker so much. Me, I wasn't alive when there were Studebakers being made in the world.
I agree with the general feeling here that the mass manufacturers are all about the same, and none are worth missing. It's a shame we have so few niche carmakers still operating out there. That was part of the reason for my Porsche comment and my mention of Subaru. They are two distinctive, niche automakers still selling new cars in the 21st century. There aren't many, and once Toyota swallows up the remainder of Subaru there will be one less....
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Subaru is only distinctive because of it's engine not because it is so different you wouldn't think it came from an asian drawing board. Once Porche decided to build a SUV they lost a edge in the being different game as well. They have no more Panache than BMW and so are simply another car. even thought the position of their engine is different. But get inside a VW SUV or a Porsche SUV with all of the badges removed and one is pretty much like the other.
So if they all went and were replaced by cars made by Gruman, TRW, Matel but were designed to be cost effective and would get us off of foreign oil in the fewest years who would miss the old cars? The old companies never came to my house for dinner of attended Church where I do or invited me over for a Bar-B-Que so what would I care if they were replaced? I would only worry about the lost jobs. The the big six I am nothing more than a number, always have been always will be. To me they are nothing more than a company that thinks of me as a number. No reason to morn their passing.
Historically they were interesting because they were the one manufacturer who successfully went from building carriages to be drawn by horses to building horseless ones. They were doing some very nice things up to the end, the nicest being that Avanti. They just didn't have enough cash to keep going.
Buy my second-favorite brand.
The 1953 models also had a flexible frame that was designed to absorb shocks before they reached the passenger compartment. Only problem was that it made the hardtops feel and sound "junky." The frames were so flexible that, with the hardtops and coupes, when the engine was mounted on the frame, it caused so much flex that the body wouldn't mate properly with the front clip! This delayed production of the Starlight and Starliner coupes. The panel fit wasn't all that great, either.
They were beautiful cars that needed a company with more resources to develop them properly.
Another car that needed more development dollars was the AMC Pacer. It needed a front-wheel-drive layout, and the use of advanced computers to design the body for greater strength and less weight. But AMC couldn't afford those things, so what you got was a futuristic body with outdated underpinnings butchered to fit the unusual proportions.
that's the environmentally responsible thing to do.
Kia Don't make anything that Hyundia doesn't. Badly styled abortions that cater to the Jerry Springer wanna be a guest, and illegal alien set.
Subaru. They ruined the WRX by making it a ugly hatchback. Not that the old one was good looking. Rest of their lineup is a bunch of yawners.
Mistubishi. I am surprised they are still here. What do they even make except that Evo for the ricer crowd? Never see any of them on the road and dealerships are closing all over the place. R.I.P.
Suzuki. Stick to the motorcycles. You ain't making it in the car business here with those warmed over 10 year old designed Hyundias and unreliable badged Nissan trucks.
Acura. Whomever designed the new "face" for Acura should have his job eliminated right now. Just wamed over Hondas anyway. Same historic transmission problems as my wifes Odyssey.
Infinity. Uglify an already ugly car and you have a Infinty. Everytime I see an FX, I want to throw up. I'm waiting for the clowns to get out of it when I see it stopped at a light. While I'm at Nissan, new Maixima, the Rouge, Murano, Armada, and the Titan must of been designed by a Japanese blind school retard. None of these would be missed one bit.
Lexus could dump the RX and EX. I mean we had the AMC Pacer. Why bring it back as a RX? EX? Isn't that a Camry? Why pay more for uglier bodywork and free coffee at the dealership?
Saab and Volvo? Merge them and keep the big Vovlo wagon and sell it through Saturns excellent dealer network. Saturn can keep the Sky and Aura. Saab? Don't know enough about them to keep or dump product.
Honda can dump all of it's trucks. Ridgeline, Element, and Pilot are just plain stupid looking and useless. You want a truck? Buy a REAL truck. Those jokes Honda are selling are worthless junk after any hard use.
Pontiac can get rid of its trucks and SUV's. Let Chevy do the truck thing.
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What truck does Pontiac sell? Doesn't it just have the Torrent, a rebadged Equinox?
Not sure how the Lexus RX crossover is a reinvented AMC Pacer, can't grasp the connection there. I bet Lexus won't be dropping the RX and ES, as they are its two highest-selling models.
Me, I would miss Subaru, but not Mitsu or Suzuki. Kia actually has some interesting, Asian-funky models either out or about to be released, including the Soul. Let's allow them a little more time to express themselves... ;-)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Brands appeal to the underconfident."
If you can't see the resemblence of the RX and the AMC Pacer, you should take another look at that Lexus Bathtub. And I still wouldn't waste any money on anything from Korea. I don't care how much they are wooing Edmunds.com with trips to resorts and dinners for favorable write ups. I ve heard from too many people horror stories about shoddy workmanship and over promising sales reps.
I stand by my original post.