BrandlandUSA™

While nostalgia can be a reason to bring an old brand back, strategy is the best reason. And so we hear that Nissan might just bring back the Datsun brand. And it’s not because Generation X remembers that The Bionic Woman, Jaime Sommers, used to drive a 280Z, and still wants one. Not sure why [...]

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The Dodge Dart will return next year; see www.dodge.com for pictures and information about the January 9, 2012 “reveal”. Based on an Alfa Romeo Giulietta, it is truly a sportscar, and bears no resemblance to the original. Nevertheless, the return is good news. Because through the years, one niche that Chrysler excelled in was the market [...]

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AUBURN HILLS – The most recent issue of Automobile magazine reports that Jeep will revive that icon of the Reagan era, the Grand Wagoneer model. BrandlandUSA advocated for the return of the Wagoneer in October of 2009. The Wagoneer, with its trademark fake woodgrain siding, was built from 1963 to 1991. It still has a [...]

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DETROIT – It’s a shame it takes an Italian company and an old rap star to see the value in Detroit. But that’s what is mightily apparent with new Chrysler 200 advertisements, which feature Eminem and the tagline “Imported From Detroit.” The commercial has had 4.8 million view on YouTube in only a short time, [...]

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Keeping an old brand viable is sometimes no more difficult than packaging. Here, a specialized Willys Jeep Wrangler, which according to a Chrysler LLC release dates from 2004. Basically, it’s a Wrangler, but it comes specially packaged, with a Willys decal, and Army paint colors and tires. The Willys package was about paint, styling and [...]

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It is assumed that China will take us to the cleaners because of their manufacturing prowess. And yes, that is true. I recall hearing the noted Chinese scholar Arthur Waldron speaking of export China in Britain in the 18th century. Even then, the ships came to England packed with these plates and dishware, and went [...]

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A BrandlandUSA reader laments the missed opportunity in Pontiac: It may be that Pontiac is gone and erased from the accounting books of GM, and it may be that the heritage of Pontiac lives in the memoirs of Americana – but the fact of the matter remains that Pontiac outsold Lincoln, Mercury, Dodge, Chrysler, and [...]

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LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. – I recently attended the NHRA Winter Nationals and noticed that the most popular body for those outrageous funny cars seemed to be Pontiac. So when I asked another spectator why, he simply said “they have the best aero-dynamics.” My horse sense told me this was likely to be true. Wow! I [...]

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There is one type of job you can’t export. The repair man. Companies in recent years have ignored the repair man; before the Great Recession it was almost cheaper to buy a new lawn mower than to fix the old one. So you just threw the old one out, with a perfectly fixable Briggs & [...]

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When a car company kills off a longstanding brand, it never ends up well. Marketing people and analysts always believe that killing off the brand will help the other brands in a company’s portfolio, but the reality is that companies that kill off longstanding brands (as opposed to models) are trying to show that they [...]

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