Markethaus Musings

On the heels of the Chevrolet cry to visit Edmunds to dare to compare (see Blog entry March 5), we have exhibit b and c in the annals of marketing. In the quest for relevance and approval, the Pontiac brand invokes two powerful brand names; one that capitalized on the search phenomenon, the other a prime destination for auto shoppers on the web. Does this really help Pontiac? We think, at best...it's a push.

Exhibit B:

Google Pontiac. We did. Several of the sponsored results take you to sites other than Pontiac...some do their best to send the user to any brand, including Carpricesecrets, Carquote.autodiscountgroup.com and Alltheautomotive.com. One of the links we tried in AlltheAutomotive is for WhyPaySticker.com that encourages me to submit a price quote for the Kia Amanti and Mitsubishi Galant when I request a quote for the Pontiac G6. Hmmm....not sure this is what Pontiac had intended.

Exhibit C:

"Check out our stats and see how the others can't match up using the KBB New Vehicle Comparator." Again...we did asked.

Here's how a Pontiac Grand Prix V6 2WP69 Sedan 4d fared relative to the class leader, Toyota Camry LE V6 2552 Sedan 4D, according to KBB. After reviewing a mind-numbing row of stats (no helpful editorial to assist the amateur car shopper), the thing that jumps out the most is that the Camry has about the same price and horsepower, but some important technical and safety features not included or standard in the Grand Prix, including

• standard disc brakes with ABS
• standard traction control
• standard full spare tire

The Grand Prix however has some standard advantages, incl.

• Nav system
• Hands free phone

Knowing the Camry's better resale value (not shown) and purported quality (also not discussed) would make one lean towards the Camry. A Nav and hands free phone, although nice, are not as important to me as improved brakes, traction control, the full spare and the better resale/quality potential. You can add aftermarket Nav and phone. Not the knock out punch that needs to be delivered...and in heavyweight bouts, the challenger rarely wins a close fight with the judges. So...why advertise a brand name that potentially detracts and distracts from the Pontiac brand?