Quote:
Originally Posted by Red__Zed
It has nothing to do with media and everything to do with sales. There's plenty of cars that do not get great reviews and still sell well. You may remember the 350Z did not get fantastic reviews either-- but...it sold
The Z didn't sell early on because it was poorly released. There was no pre-release hype, no build-up to an event. The BRZ was back-ordered how many months early on? You couldn't get your hands on a 5.0 for the first several months of release. This is what the marketing group gets paid for, and they dropped the ball.
Nissan basically started shipping 370z's to dealer lots where they sat and collected dust. A lot of people didn't even realize Nissan had released something because the car barely showed up in any media sources prior to release. The cars sat on lots, dealers started selling them under invoice, and all of a sudden it is nothing special--and you should never underestimate how stupid people are when it comes to exclusivity. The Boss mustang fixes nothing about the 5.0 that a set of Koni Yellow's couldn't do better, and yet it's in a different league.
Failing to build hype and anticipation early on will cause the car to fail long-term, even if it wasn't released 5 months in to an economic down turn.
|
The 350z's competition was only really the mustang. And though it wasn't the greatest Nissan had put out. The Z was a better overall car than its only realy power competitor. build quality, performance, handling and interior was far superior than the mustang. That said, the Z was pretty crappy inside, which didn't say much for the mustang at that time.
Then there was the mazda rx-8 but it dropped off power after 80mph and consumers dont like hearing about cars dropping power and lack of torque. The Z filled a gap for people who couldn't afford corvettes or wanted a better quality car than a mustang, and needed more power than Rx8.
There were no camaro's, gen coupe flavors, BRZ's FRS's Challengers, and the solstice in the first 3 years of production got no respect. Afterward it got a small cult following.
German cars were undepowered in the affordable ranges and FWD sports cars were worn out by the public. The Z sold because there was NO true competitor and it was the best of the worst.
Alot of weak sports cars sold at one time because there wasn't a competitive market. The market is competitive now.
While you are bringing up vlid points from a business aspect. You are negating consumer response to negative hype. this whole country runs on hype. You hype it, people buy it. Lets keep it real. The Z never got hype, love or respect except for the first 6 months, before the american entries. Once the american market pulled their cars out the bias began.
example
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...mparison-tests
Just to show a non Z example... A lot of this was going on in 09. The camaro v6 couldn't beat a civic on a track. Let alone a gencoupe 3.8. The gencoupe v6 compared to any v6 muscle made them all look like garbage. Camaro, mustang and challenger.
But this happened.
And camaro v6 sell more than gencoupes. Genesis coupes are superior to v6 muscle in every way. But watch a review and you swear its a tight race between the two. I've driven v6 muscle cars in 2010. They were jokes on wheels. I see the gencoupe as a respectable option below Z's and real v8 muscle.