Rally Discussion and Bar Talk Thread

[dimviii]

Well, it's something you can't really measure, maybe it's better that way...

just for reference,but its psa group through the years,couldnt find citroen only.
http://www.autozine.org/Manufacturer/France/PSA.html

[AL14]

just for reference,but its psa group through the years,couldnt find citroen only.
http://www.autozine.org/Manufacturer/France/PSA.html

Very nice numbers. No 2008 crisis for them! I bet that's a better curve than other manufacturers

[Rally Power]

Very nice numbers. No 2008 crisis for them! I bet that's a better curve than other manufacturers

’08 recession effects appeared a bit later in Europe. If you see those numbers, sales decline started in 2011 and there’s a huge drop in 2012 (the years Pug leaved LeMans and Ford quit WRC) and only last year they’ve managed to get over 3M units again.

About motorsport effect on sales: they surely happen in a positive way, even if it’s hard to quantify, but the first purpose for manus to get involved is the brand image they want to reflect on costumers.

The Quattro wasn’t a best seller but it did wonders for Audi image all over the world. The opposite can be said about Lancia; from the day Fiat decided to leave WRC, Lancia brand went into severe crisis.

Biggest surprise to me was Toyota return to WRC; despite their focus on Hybrid cars (and LM/WEC involvement), they were brave enough to enter a series that still doesn’t embrace cleaner tech but is, by far, the most exciting and demanding motorsport form any car maker can compete. Well done Toyota!

[stefanvv]

That is a very nice discussion to take.
I work in the marketing industry so I have also interest in these kind of dynamics.

But I would not take it like the author of the article did. I'm very much convinced that there is not such contrast between "promotion" and "sport".
I don't think that for the sake of promotion you have to sacrifice the sport. This is a leitmotiv when it comes to rally and I think it is one of the big mistake of the sport.
From one side (the promoters), there is the need to sacrifice the sport for the promotion because rally is a bad format for nowadays media.
From the other side, people thinks that driving 500km away and risking to lose 2 stages is a good achievement in a promotion point of view, but it's bad for the sport because at the end 2 stages have been sacrified.

In my opinion they are both wrong.

The need N1 for a good promotion is a good product! And a rally 70km shorter is not as good as the original plan! They have not sacrified a rally for the promotion, both the product and the promotion have been damaged from that hitch.
Rally is spectacular as it is and it is IDEAL to promote with new media!
Wake up promoters! People are all the time with a smartphone in their hands, something going on all day fits perfectly with our culture!

Also, the fact that it is different from other sports that have a single event of max 2 hours, apparently better to broadcast and promote, is fucking good. Rule N1 of marketing is to find differentiators of products, what makes them unique and use them to show people their value.

This is why I always feel the rage growing inside me when I see the kind of promotion WRC has. Although they have reached some very good achievement (I'm not that negative, they've done some good job), I think that still, a lot of potential is still unused and the reason is basically what I've written up here. (imho)

Would like to hear your opinions about this, not just how it should be promoted (we have talked a lot of time about it), but about the relationship between promotion and sport. Do they have to be in contrast all the time?

Promoting WRC is very, very difficult. Common people want to see stunts, crashes, action, etc. Trying to convince them what they see on TV doesn't affects the final result at the and of the season is impossible task. First they must understand the sport itself, but that is also difficult in our dynamic lives, it is not the same with rally, rally is about endurance, not stunts. Ogier is very unatractive driver for the common people as he almost never crashes, so they wonder why should bother to watch this "boring" sport.

However, I think RBMH are making big step forward with their (free) coverage on RedBull TV with lot of media/social options, check it out.

[Mk2 RS2000]

http://alittlebitsideways.co.nz/kenn...after-finland/

[skarderud]

I remember back in 2003-04, when Petter Solberg won, subaru raised theire sales with 40prc in Norway.
I don't know the numbers for europe, but they probably got more sales there to?

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[skarderud]

Remember people like to watch nascar and soccer, boring like hell both of them, i fint know what they are waiting for in soccer, but in nascar they ONLY wait to see someone hit the wall.
Probably same people woting for trump and his european fellows......

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[N.O.T]

I always wonder how much the manufacturers get from WRC rallying... I mean how many extra sales from the money the spend and the exposure they get ?

Citroen for example, after all those years of Loeb-led success, did they increase sales much through that time ?

are you like that in real life as well ?? you want numbers to show the correlation between the WRC and sales ??

[AL14]

’08 recession effects appeared a bit later in Europe. If you see those numbers, sales decline started in 2011 and there’s a huge drop in 2012 (the years Pug leaved LeMans and Ford quit WRC) and only last year they’ve managed to get over 3M units again.

That's interesting.
I knew about 1 year gap to see effects in an economic environment after a certain change.
Maybe in the automotive industry it's different. Yes there is a drop in 2012. (or was it Loeb announcing the retirement? I'm kidding )

[pantealex]

The Quattro wasn’t a best seller but it did wonders for Audi image all over the world.

Audi quattro was 2nd most expensive car in Finland at early 80´s, you can´t compare it to "normal" cars. (most expensive was Mercedes 560 SEC)