NSX a failure? WTF?
04-09-2003, 11:36 AM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
NSX a failure? WTF?
http://www.forbes.com/2003/04/08/cz_jf_0408flint.html
Where's The Beef?
Jerry Flint, 04.08.03, 11:00 AM ET
Sometimes the appetizer--the shrimp cocktail, the crabmeat or the egg roll--is the best part of the meal. I seem to recall when West Coast "trendies" would go from restaurant to restaurant, just having the hors d'oeuvres. They called it "grazing." I think that this craze faded away. Appetizers are good, but most of us want the main course.
The appetizer thing makes me think of halo cars and trucks.
In the auto world a halo is a special vehicle, something different, something sexy, to lure buyers into the showroom or get loads of publicity. The halo appears on the cover of Car & Driver and Motor Trend. It may be too expensive for most of us, but it gets us thinking cars.
A good halo earns its keep. Example: the Dodge Viper, which started as an auto show exhibit. But the brutish design got such raves that Chrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ) rushed it into production. The Viper is a high-priced, low-volume car, a gimmick, but The Wall Street Journal did a big front-page story on the Viper as it came on the market. That car was a symbol for the Journal, a sign that Chrysler was alive and well--and coming back fast. And that's what happened. Dodge has used Viper styling cues on its other cars and trucks, too.
One thing to remember about halos: They cannot stand alone. It's "out on the point," as they say in the army, and the rest of the troops must follow. The halo should be backed by new lines of cars and trucks.
General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) has the ultimate halo, the Chevrolet Corvette, which has been with us for half a century. While the Vette is a halo over the Chevrolet line, it's part of the stable, too.
Halos used to be rare, but this is changing. GM is readying an Australian-built Pontiac GTO for this fall, which it hopes will be a halo. The GTO is expected to sticker for $35,000 to $40,000, and GM hopes to sell 15,000 a year. Cadillac has the XLR roadster coming out this spring and is also teasing auto show visitors with a 16-cylinder Cadillac prototype. Then there's the Chevy SSR, a kind of pickup truck-roadster with a Corvette engine. A few SSRs have already been built, but it is to officially go on sale this fall. There's also talk of another Chevy halo sedan.
From Chrysler we also have the new Crossfire two-seat coupe, probably $40,000. And Nissan (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) has the 350Z sports car, which seems to be a halo success.
Most halos are two-seat sports cars, but they don't have to be. The Isuzu VehiCross is a sport utility vehicle. One of the most famous halos was Studebaker's Avanti, a stunning two-door four-seater that created lots of excitement. But the Avanti wasn't enough to save Studebaker.
The Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) Acura NSX sports car is pretty much a halo failure, only 233 sold last year; and the Isuzu VehiCross, with 681 sales last year, just doesn't cause excitement.
The Plymouth Prowler, an imitation hot rod introduced in 1992, came only with a V-6, not a V-8. Who ever heard of a hot rod without a V-8? It didn't help that the $40,000 Prowler was totally impractical as an everyday driver. Even worse, the Prowler had nothing to shine over, and the Plymouth division was eventually killed a few years ago.
My point here is that halos are not always successful. The Ford (nyse: F - news - people ) Thunderbird, for example, is gorgeous and causes heads to turn. That's what a halo should do. But Ford clearly had trouble building it and building it right. The car was a year late getting to market and the hard top that went over the roadster for winter use scratched the body when attached.
Ford had figured it could sell 25,000 Thunderbirds a year. Well, in the first full year sales were 19,085. So far this year, January and February sales are running a third lower than in 2002. There are 8,500 Birds in inventory as of March 1--a 183-day supply. Ford is now giving dealers $2,000 in cash (dealers gets this money for each one sold so they can play with the price). The car has also been put on various price-cut plans for employees, suppliers, family and friends.
I was very impressed by the new Thunderbird when I first drove it, but this halo has become tarnished. And as I said, for a halo to be really effective, it must lead customers to a row of new models. That's not the case with Ford's current lineup of passenger cars, which consists of the Taurus, Crown Victoria and Mustang--three old designs--and the little Focus. But Ford isn't giving up on halos. The Ford GT, a lookalike to the famous Ford Le Mans racer, is coming out next year, probably priced somewhat north of $100,000.
Personally, I think the carmakers have become too entranced by the romance of the halos. They are spending too much effort making exciting appetizers and not giving enough attention to the main courses. Halos are fun to create for auto people, but they divert resources from the core business.
And there are just too many of them now. A pretty Thunderbird isn't going to lead customers to a tired Taurus. That SSR won't help Chevrolet unless the upcoming new sedans are exciting.
Where's The Beef?
Jerry Flint, 04.08.03, 11:00 AM ET
Sometimes the appetizer--the shrimp cocktail, the crabmeat or the egg roll--is the best part of the meal. I seem to recall when West Coast "trendies" would go from restaurant to restaurant, just having the hors d'oeuvres. They called it "grazing." I think that this craze faded away. Appetizers are good, but most of us want the main course.
The appetizer thing makes me think of halo cars and trucks.
In the auto world a halo is a special vehicle, something different, something sexy, to lure buyers into the showroom or get loads of publicity. The halo appears on the cover of Car & Driver and Motor Trend. It may be too expensive for most of us, but it gets us thinking cars.
A good halo earns its keep. Example: the Dodge Viper, which started as an auto show exhibit. But the brutish design got such raves that Chrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ) rushed it into production. The Viper is a high-priced, low-volume car, a gimmick, but The Wall Street Journal did a big front-page story on the Viper as it came on the market. That car was a symbol for the Journal, a sign that Chrysler was alive and well--and coming back fast. And that's what happened. Dodge has used Viper styling cues on its other cars and trucks, too.
One thing to remember about halos: They cannot stand alone. It's "out on the point," as they say in the army, and the rest of the troops must follow. The halo should be backed by new lines of cars and trucks.
General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) has the ultimate halo, the Chevrolet Corvette, which has been with us for half a century. While the Vette is a halo over the Chevrolet line, it's part of the stable, too.
Halos used to be rare, but this is changing. GM is readying an Australian-built Pontiac GTO for this fall, which it hopes will be a halo. The GTO is expected to sticker for $35,000 to $40,000, and GM hopes to sell 15,000 a year. Cadillac has the XLR roadster coming out this spring and is also teasing auto show visitors with a 16-cylinder Cadillac prototype. Then there's the Chevy SSR, a kind of pickup truck-roadster with a Corvette engine. A few SSRs have already been built, but it is to officially go on sale this fall. There's also talk of another Chevy halo sedan.
From Chrysler we also have the new Crossfire two-seat coupe, probably $40,000. And Nissan (nasdaq: NSANY - news - people ) has the 350Z sports car, which seems to be a halo success.
Most halos are two-seat sports cars, but they don't have to be. The Isuzu VehiCross is a sport utility vehicle. One of the most famous halos was Studebaker's Avanti, a stunning two-door four-seater that created lots of excitement. But the Avanti wasn't enough to save Studebaker.
The Honda (nyse: HMC - news - people ) Acura NSX sports car is pretty much a halo failure, only 233 sold last year; and the Isuzu VehiCross, with 681 sales last year, just doesn't cause excitement.
The Plymouth Prowler, an imitation hot rod introduced in 1992, came only with a V-6, not a V-8. Who ever heard of a hot rod without a V-8? It didn't help that the $40,000 Prowler was totally impractical as an everyday driver. Even worse, the Prowler had nothing to shine over, and the Plymouth division was eventually killed a few years ago.
My point here is that halos are not always successful. The Ford (nyse: F - news - people ) Thunderbird, for example, is gorgeous and causes heads to turn. That's what a halo should do. But Ford clearly had trouble building it and building it right. The car was a year late getting to market and the hard top that went over the roadster for winter use scratched the body when attached.
Ford had figured it could sell 25,000 Thunderbirds a year. Well, in the first full year sales were 19,085. So far this year, January and February sales are running a third lower than in 2002. There are 8,500 Birds in inventory as of March 1--a 183-day supply. Ford is now giving dealers $2,000 in cash (dealers gets this money for each one sold so they can play with the price). The car has also been put on various price-cut plans for employees, suppliers, family and friends.
I was very impressed by the new Thunderbird when I first drove it, but this halo has become tarnished. And as I said, for a halo to be really effective, it must lead customers to a row of new models. That's not the case with Ford's current lineup of passenger cars, which consists of the Taurus, Crown Victoria and Mustang--three old designs--and the little Focus. But Ford isn't giving up on halos. The Ford GT, a lookalike to the famous Ford Le Mans racer, is coming out next year, probably priced somewhat north of $100,000.
Personally, I think the carmakers have become too entranced by the romance of the halos. They are spending too much effort making exciting appetizers and not giving enough attention to the main courses. Halos are fun to create for auto people, but they divert resources from the core business.
And there are just too many of them now. A pretty Thunderbird isn't going to lead customers to a tired Taurus. That SSR won't help Chevrolet unless the upcoming new sedans are exciting.
04-09-2003, 11:47 AM
#2
They don't mention that most other 10 year old designs don't sell well...
04-09-2003, 12:09 PM
#4
Registered User
Thread Starter
I know. Not to mention that it's an exotic and they didn't mean to sell to many of those.
When we were in Tochigi, we were told that the factory makes 50 S2000s a day, 10 Insights, and 1 NSX if there's an order (a special crew of about five specially trained workers are called in if they happened to be making an NSX that day). So it's not like there's a huge inventory of NSXes waiting to sell.
It's just sad that Forbes would hire such an ignorant person to write for them.
When we were in Tochigi, we were told that the factory makes 50 S2000s a day, 10 Insights, and 1 NSX if there's an order (a special crew of about five specially trained workers are called in if they happened to be making an NSX that day). So it's not like there's a huge inventory of NSXes waiting to sell.
It's just sad that Forbes would hire such an ignorant person to write for them.
04-09-2003, 12:39 PM
#5
Registered User
Originally posted by WestSideBilly
They don't mention that most other 10 year old designs don't sell well...
They don't mention that most other 10 year old designs don't sell well...
04-09-2003, 12:58 PM
#7
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Orange Park
Posts: 4,127
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Going by their logic for determing halo 'failures'... most exotics would be considered such. The NSX IMO is closer to an exotic than say a Corvette... at least from a marketing standpoint. Most exotics don't sell any volume to speak of but that shouldn't label them a 'failure'. Must be the same idiot that rated the RX-8 higher than the 03 Cobra in a performance car magazine.
Trending Topics
04-09-2003, 01:51 PM
#9
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: San Jose
Posts: 200
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The article is absolutely correct. The point is that the NSX gave honda a halo effect for a year or two, but then it faded because there were not enough on the streets and honda also failed to update it. Selling a few exotics does not create a halo effect. The S2000 is giving honda more of a halo effect than the NSX because there are enough on the road so that the average joe sees the honda badge on a cool car on a regular basis. The corvette is clearly a strong halo car, but american car companies can't follow up.
04-09-2003, 05:32 PM
#10
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: silver spring
Posts: 71
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Phunball,
In my opinion you totally missed the point of the article. There is a huge difference between an exotic and a halo car.
The exotics you list, minus the NSX and Viper, are just that, exotics, an expensive limited model and design, designed by a limited company or subsidiary of a larger corporation. Ford, Chevrolet, Honda and Dodge can not produce exotics, they produce halos. A halo is a car that appears to be an exotic but who's sole purpose is to attract customers to the showroom floor with no big expectation of selling a million of them.
You might say that they have sold a million vettes; however, the corvette started as a halo project that worked, it was a light production vehicle in the early 50s to mid 60s. They changed the design up and kept it fresh. Over the last 50 years it has turned into something different, not a halo, by no means an exotic, but, something attune to its own line of Chevrolet.
So I think the guy is right on. The NSX is a complete failure of a halo for the author's definition of a halo car.
P.S.
I still love the NSX and hope to own a '98 in the future, but by no means will I think I am buying an exotic.
In my opinion you totally missed the point of the article. There is a huge difference between an exotic and a halo car.
The exotics you list, minus the NSX and Viper, are just that, exotics, an expensive limited model and design, designed by a limited company or subsidiary of a larger corporation. Ford, Chevrolet, Honda and Dodge can not produce exotics, they produce halos. A halo is a car that appears to be an exotic but who's sole purpose is to attract customers to the showroom floor with no big expectation of selling a million of them.
You might say that they have sold a million vettes; however, the corvette started as a halo project that worked, it was a light production vehicle in the early 50s to mid 60s. They changed the design up and kept it fresh. Over the last 50 years it has turned into something different, not a halo, by no means an exotic, but, something attune to its own line of Chevrolet.
So I think the guy is right on. The NSX is a complete failure of a halo for the author's definition of a halo car.
P.S.
I still love the NSX and hope to own a '98 in the future, but by no means will I think I am buying an exotic.