Cars that defy belief??

Hello,

I am a professor at Penn State (Go Nittany Lions!) and am doing research on consumer uncertainty.

Do you know of failed car brands that "over-claimed"? For example, do you know of a car brand that claimed to be high-performance and great on fuel economy? Even if a car is able to do this, this claim might not be credible given what consumers know of typical cars.

Volvo's safe and stylish is now a classic example.

Any others? Any help would be really appreciated.

regards,
Ujwal

Can you explain the Volvo example?

The local Volvo dealer here is still in business, and still boasts about Volvo's safety. As a matter of fact, they boast that a lot of their safety designs are now being used by other companies.

I think you can find examples of car companies who tried to push styling too fast, (too futuristic) and ended up going out of business (Edsel?).

Your point of emphasis on "what the consumer knows" vs. what is actually possible is an interesting one. I think many consumers are just as likely to overrate car designs as underrate them.

Perhaps one of the major problems is in how the company markets the car, at the local level, and at a national/international level. Do they really get across to the consumer what it is they are selling? Do they target the wrong audiences?

A potential company "performance" issue is the new Bugatti W16 powered supercar from the Volkswagon Stables. An awesome car, but who is going to buy it at 1 million euros? The average consumer may react to a 1000 hp car rather skeptically, and hostilely, as they could never afford this. The actual buyers are a very small demographic, which might spell trouble for the car, however they are more apt to believe in the power claims.

Both Mazda (Rx-8 power claims) and Honda (hybrid fuel mpg claims) seem to have gotten into a bit of trouble for cars that do not deliver on their claims. This could hurt sales, for those models, but the companies are big enough to weather these issues.

I'm pretty sure that all of the Bugatti Veyrons (EB16.4) were purchased before they ever shipped one. But thats like an Enzo where they make a limited number like 400 i thought for the eb16.4.

sorry thats kinda off topic

you cant reall do a study on what people think of cars as to what the sellers speak of them. Cause every person is going to have a different opinion of the car. Doing you research this way is going to get you no definite answers. For example, Ford has always used the badge SVT on its extremly high performance vehicles that are usually blasted with speed and HP. Yet they put the badge on the Focus SVT when its barely a mid 15 second car at best. I think that car makes a joke of the SVT name, but others think otherwise. You know that saying beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Well it works same way in this situation.

I think it would be a good topic to pursue. Have you tried reading an issue of consumer reports? They have lots of good and credible information that would relate to your research. I think the Toyota Prius was also over-claimed by the manufacture in their milage as compared to actual results from their consumers. I will try to find others that would fit the criteria. Keep the community updated on your findings.

Good Luck :smile:

the 429 boss mustang was portrayed by ford to be a hemi killer but it could barely even compete with them

Dahatsiu Charade. "Drives as if it was designed by Mercedes". I guess NOT.

AMC, back then it claimed to be the safest car and it was "stylish" and other things and what not, but it totally flopped