Yes, Martin Muelheimer, that was a wrong move.
I do have faith in Kris Nissen though.
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Yes, Martin Muelheimer, that was a wrong move.
I do have faith in Kris Nissen though.
Well, there are many reasons:Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
1.They finally found that it is pointless to fight against themselves in Dakar.
2. The amount of money they pumped in Dakar (It is roughly estimated that with the same budget they can run in WRC for the whole year and develop the car as well- 4 official teams, 2 partly supported teams, fast assistance race trucks etc. dont forget, much of the EUROSPORT TV program is also funded by VW) and only approximately 20 days of good publicity. And all those 20 days are in a row and during the next 340 days the publicity is nearly zero (The interest in Dakar series and rally-raid series is nearly nothing). Also, the location where the event takes place is not the richest in the World.
3. Ok, there is 20 days of good TV publicity but dont forget. There are only couple of the countries where the people actually can see the rally live.
4. In WRC, the stages take place in 13-14 different countries in the world, and many of those countries are important markets for VW. How many cars VW sells in Argentina +Chile? How many cars do they sell in Germany+France+Spain+GB+Italy+Sweden+Norway+Finlan d+Australia+Greece+Portugal+Mexico+Jordan+Argentin a and in some years you can add New-Zealand or Japan or China or Turkey or Poland.
5. In VW They have very good team, they can use in WR program as well and VW is their main brand and needs publicity all around the World. Skodas main market looks to be in Europe and therefore IRC is perfect publicity program for them, as most of the events take place in Europe.
6. Their VW raid cars can be used very successfully for a long time after the end of their official program and still produce some good publicity.
So, the move was somehow logical. It will be good for Dakar as well. Equalizes the competition and brings back more of its original spirit.
As long as both VW and Skoda keeps within a given budget, I can not see any reason why they both can't have a go in WRC, As Pug and Citroen used to.
Double the commercial effect if they both succeed, and both of them has the know how to do so !
No, that will never happen.
Should keep the forum busy for the next year and a bit with bitching about who the drivers should be anyway even if it doesnt come to fruition.
VW may be the prestige brand in the group but Skoda as most people know has a pretty impressive motorsport pedigree so guess it will come down to the marketing department(s) want I suspect.
Probably not, but could have worked.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
So what will happen if VW comes in: VW=WRC, Skoda=All below ?
No, that couldn't have worked well. Too much money spent on useless fight of two sister brands with no more marketing value.
If VW goes to WRC, Škoda will probably concentrate on customer programs in IRC/ERC/regional and national championships with Super production car. But that's still "if"...
I thought Kris Nissen said in an interview that 2013 would be realistic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kris Nissen
I'm sorry, but isn't this whole "news" just speculating? Nothing is confirmed yet, right? I don't believe this before they "come out from the closet" with a letter from the company themselves.
That is what many do here on the forum, just speculating and act that they are a company LEADER or a rally team manager. :s mokin:Quote:
Originally Posted by Woodeye