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So for my last blog post, I’m going to talk about what I talked about in my first blog post, my favourite car. If you’ve read my first blog it was the lamborghini gallardo, and recently Lamborghini came out with a modified version of the car, the LP570-4 Superleggera. It’s about 10 more horsepower then the regular gallardo and much much lighter.

Does Lamborghini genuinely believe that the regular gallardo wasn’t good enough, or is this just another way to extend their brand and get owners of the older model to come in and buy the new version and pull in new customers? I’ll leave you with some pictures.

Source: Car and Driver

So you may remember my blog post from way back in october (click here if you dont). I blogged about how a ferrari and BMW were impounded going excessive speeds in North Vancouver. Well here’s some updates for you if you’re curious. Turns out the B.C government didn’t think fining the drivers $1000, and impounding the cars and taking the drivers’ licenses away for 15 days was enough. So to show everyone how gutsy the BC government is, they decided to seize both cars and sell the Ferrari to a local dealership and auction off the BMW. Where does the money go you ask? It goes exactly where you think it goes, BC government. Well not all of it, a portion will go to the owners and banks and the government is estimated to receive about $100,000 of the proceeds.

Would the government have made it public that they were selling these cars if it were a Toyota instead of a Ferrari? Does the brand of Ferrari and BMW make this news, or is it really because the government genuinely wants to punish these drivers?

To read the full details, click here for the article

I was reading Azamat’s blog and I came across a post named `isn’t Audi going overboard?`, and I have to disagree with the part where he says that other luxury vehicles other then Audi don`t take an aggressive approach to marketing. The attached picture shows that BMW also participates in aggressive marketing. Like in the picture attached, BMW is taking a direct hit to Jaguar. Even though it is not done often, aggressive marketing is done quite often. Even more common is subtle direct marketing.

Do you think such direct marketing is appropriate for luxury brands that want exclusivity to participate in ruthless ads like these? Do you think this boosts sales for the advertiser? I think thats the main questions BMWs executives ask when they release these kinds of ads.

(If you don`t understand the ad, the jaguar logo is running away from the BMW.

So recently I was reading Alexey’s blog on Louis Vuitton and how some companies pretend to be different but really have the same parent company. It made me thinking, some car manufacturers are basically competing with themselves. For example, if you take a look at the diagram, Lamborghini and Audi are both owned by Volkswagen. It turns out that lamborghini and audi both sell cars that are really almost the same thing, other then the badge. The Lamborghini Gallardo and Audi R8 have almost the same performance numbers, same size, almost same price range but different brands.

Why do companies do this? Cut cost? Different target segments? Create a new market?

So some of you may have heard about the new Ferrari theme park that has opened in Abu Dhabi. It is the world’s largest indoor theme park with 20 rides, fine dining much more.

This is probably one of the most important marketing strategies used by Ferrari in a while. Expanding it’s brand to theme parks and keeping the standards high even in theme parks shows Ferrari’s desire for perfection. But will making a theme park in Abu Dhabi really change the way people look at Ferrari? Will this new theme park increase sales for their vehicles and make the younger generation Ferrari advocates early on in their for life? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Click here for the official website of the Ferrari world Abu Dhabi

So i’m going to let the pictures do the talking this week. There was a car meet in kelowna, B.C. and, well some pretty nice cars showed up! A lot of the cars are owned by a dealership called ZR auto based in Calgary and they usually have a couple of car meets during the year.

Whats the point of these meets? Well, there’s no doubt in my mind that marketing is one of the largest “drivers” behind these meets. The pictures speak for themselves. For more pictures, click here.

My last post was about a lamborghini bicycle, and today’s post is about an Aston Martin based on a Toyota. Seems like the new trend in the high end vehicle market is to drift away from the original business model. We’ve all heard of James Bond’s car as the super sleek Aston Martin for years. But this time around seems like he just may be sporting a toyota based version Aston Martin. Aston Martin has confirmed the production of the Aston Martin Cygnet which is based on the Toyota iQ.

A well equipped version will run you £ 50,000 which is about $70,000.  All this for basically a Toyota rebadged as an Aston Martin. The Toyota version is about $20,000. Is the value added really around $50,000 just for the Aston Martin badge? What’s the reason Aston Martin decided this was a good idea? Do you think Aston Martin conducted a good market analysis?

Source: http://www.gtspirit.com/2010/10/11/aston-martin-confirms-production-of-cygnet/

Yes you read it right. A bright yellow lamborghini could be yours for only $7500! What’s the catch? Well, it’s not exactly the Lamborghini you’re probably thinking of. It’s a bicycle, apparently for “cruising on the beach”. What’s the point of this bike? Well, not much really. Just another item to draw attention to the lamborghini brand.

You may be wondering “Gee, $7500 is quite a bit for bicycle”. And it is! Apparently the stiching on this bike is “flawless”, but does that really make it worth $7500? Simply because a bike has a lamborghini logo on it, the value added to the item is crazy. Is lamborghini really trying to make a name for themselves in the bicycle market? Is the company not making enough on their cars to have drop to the level of making bicycles? What’s next, a lamborghini stroller? These are just a few questions that pop into a consumers mind when something like this comes out.

Source: http://symboliclajolla.blogspot.com/2010/10/lamborghini-bicycle.html

So alot of you may have heard of the new law in B.C. Basically, if you are clocked going 40 km/h over the speed limit, the police are allowed to impound your car and give you a big fine.

Well, a couple weeks ago, a Ferrari and BMW were reported going 200 km/h up Seymour parkway in North Vancouver. A police officer got the call and without surprise, they flew past him at outrageous speeds. The police offcer later caught up with them in a parking lot and both cars were immediately towed to the impound lot and charged $1000.

Would the incident have received so much attention if a regular car was involved? Does the Ferrari brand really influence people enough to care when one goes over the speed limit?

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/09/28/bc-cars-impounded-ferrari.html

Most people have been on the beautiful Burrard Street in Vancouver, either on the downtown side or across the bridge. If you have been on Burrard lately, you may have noticed a new building. It’s all glass and catches your eye instantly. You may have even seen some flashy cars parked inside. That new extravagant building is the new home of Ferrari Vancouver. For years, Ferrari of Vancouver used to sell their cars from a dealership in a run down area close to the Downtown East side. Also, the dealership was connected in same building as the General Paint store. After years and years of being there, Ferrari of Vancouver management decided to move to the new flashy location on Burrard street. What made them move? How did they market the new location? Are they selling more cars?

These are probably the questions, along with many more, management asked before and after the move. From a consumer point of view, moving to the area where other luxury car dealerships are was a good move. It satisfied 1 of concepts of marketing, location. With there old location, they were more then likely not selling as much as they could. Now with the new location on Burrard Street, more people are seeing the building and would want to go in to check it out.

Additionally, Ferrari of Vancouver has placed a type of “hook” for consumers. They placed the 4 greatest (and most expensive!) ferraris every built on top of each other inside the building. Do you think this is a good decision on Ferrari’s part? I’ll let you can be the judge.