What liberals can learn from the new Dodge Charger [View All]

[billbuckhead]

Legendarily reliable, economical and well designed, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord seem invincible in the American midsize market and GM and Ford show the wounds of trying to compete with them by building a "me too" kind of car. Now totally out of left field, Dodge is fixing to make a huge impact by going a different way. No matter how well Toyota and Honda make their cars, they're still overly complex sideways engined front wheel drive cars in a world where rear wheel drive cars bring the greatest profits and have mechanical superiority due the laws of physics and simple design. Almost everyone thinks rear wheel drive cars drive better and age better. Cops, taxi drivers, car magazines and mechanics all hate front wheel drive cars with a passion. Most trucks and SUV's are built around rear wheel drive and many critics think that much their real appeal is due to rear wheel drive. Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Porsche, V8 Lexuses are arguably the greatest cars sold today by the profit they generate and they are all rear wheel drive.

DCX is going back to the basics of product legend building. Take the products that people aspire to and make them attainable. Mercedes has been building state of the art rear wheel drive cars for lifetimes, so it just made sense for a hotshot Mercedes car guy brought over from Germany to help Chrysler, to take hand me down and thoroughly vetted Mercedes parts, reformat them in a way that appeals to middle America and then take them down market against those mass market generic lozenge shaped frontwheel drive boredom mobiles, the Camcords. A lot of people aren't gonna like these cars, but 20% are gonna be over the top fanatical about these cars because of smart use of rear wheel drive both in marketing and engineering.

Here's the media spin.<http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=102209>

The Anti-Camry: Dodge to market Charger sedan to buyers who want performance, edgy design
MARY CONNELLY | Automotive News
Posted Date: 4/18/05
DETROIT -- Forget chasing Honda Accord and Toyota Camry buyers, Dodge says. They won't "get" the 2006 Dodge Charger.

Instead, Dodge will market its new sedan to Dodge owners, domestic buyers and import buyers looking for performance and edgy design, says Judy Wheeler, director of Dodge marketing.

Advertising primarily will stress performance. Styling and value are the other key messages, she says. Advertising begins in May.

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Dodge has found a "clear space" in the market, Hall says. Charger's performance/design/pricing formula is similar to that of the successful Chrysler 300 sedan, he says.
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""CLEAR SPACE" IN THE MARKET"!!!!!!!
Why must we always be engaging the enemy on their terms? On their turf?
When was the last time that the Dems had a new improved product for the middle class mass market? A "clear space" in the market? Why aren't we making social security even better instead of denying that there's a problem. It's just a different problem. We should say there sure is a problem, the benefits are too weak and the stock market is too crooked to be trusted for a pension.

Why aren't liberals offering to make some good things affordable? The freedom of national universal healthcare. Free solar power anyone?