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In America, there are many people who would only buy American. At this moment there are only a few American luxury manufacturers: Lincoln, Cadillac, Buick and Chrysler, but that is a large stretch, and to the exception of the norm, Tesla. If you have brand loyalty like a lot of older Americans do then you are probably either thinking I am a Ford person or I am a Chevy person. If you are a Ford person then you have one option. If you are Chevy person then you have the flashy Cadillac or the understated, more conservative Buick. I'm not surprised at all that Buick exists considering all the old farts in America that want to buy a luxury Chevy/GM car.
And I think TCoat's initial statement was way off. He assumed people buy cars they want, and the sales numbers dictate desirability. If that was the case then Bugatti must be the most undesirable brand in the world because of their pitiful sales numbers. 'Oh but a Bugatti like a Porsche or other expensive brands is out of most people's price range.' Well, then we can also say Ducati must really be an undesirable brand because a $15k vehicle is super cheap, and anyone could afford a Ducati Monster, right? The answer is of course no people can't because a motorcycle is not a primary vehicle for the average person, so its sales can't be measured against its affordability. And that segues into the 86. The 86 is a reasonable primary car of a few people, and it is still only a reasonable secondary family car for a few people. That doesn't mean a lot of dad's driving minivans don't wish they had it, and even if the model had poor desirability, that doesn't mean the brand does; i.e., Toyota and Subaru, the whole point of the article.
There are too many brands I will probably never buy. Because of the metric system vs the imperial system, I'll probably never own an American vehicle. I like to work on my cars, and I find the imperial system utterly ridiculous. I currently find the front of the Lexus lineup hideous and the fact that they are all automatic compounds my general distaste for the brand, over the last few years. Even after saying that, I appreciate the strides Toyota/Lexus are making to revive its sports car lineup. Some of the new Lexus sports cars are gorgeous, even with the hideous hour glass grill. While Mercedes has some good looking cars, in the Euro luxury world, I've just never cared for the brand. I'm more of an Audi/BMW guy. On the Japanese side, Mitsubishi's departure from sports cars will only hurt their brand image more. It doesn't matter what sells in the highest volume. If a manufacture doesn't produce interesting, passion and sport, driven vehicles then the brand will lose desirability. Toyota realized that fact, so they are taking measures. They may believe that the man in his twenties buying the 86, might also buy the Camary for his family in his thirties and a Lexus GS model in his forties, so catch them while they are young, and try to gain brand loyalty. Mitsubishi might be sinking, and I wouldn't want to be on that ship.
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