Party Crashers - GM makes hay outside Toyota's gig

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09-13-05, 12:09 PM

#16

Leets

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Join Date: Apr 2003

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Quote:

Originally Posted by KVA

I actually think it was very clever of GM...put yourself in the shoes of a tourist in Chicago to go see the park only to show up and be told that Toyota has taken it over and you can't see it today...as a consumer you would be more than thrilled to receive a free slide-viewer of the site and a free ride to another desitination...doesn't mean I would go out and buy a GM product, but it would lessen my sour mood of Toyota and the city for renting out a public tourist destination and ruining my vacation plans for that day...

If Toyota was smart, they would of done this themselves...then we would all be praising Toyota for their community insight...reality is that both GM and Toyota are companies out to make a profit...not make your life better (unless it makes them a profit). Kudos to GM...

I have to agree. I'm sure everyone who had planned on going to that park but couldn't was quite impressed with GM's gesture. I think it was a great idea by GM's PR people.

09-13-05, 01:46 PM

#17

KVA

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Bean

I think they could better use their money by putting more of it into research and development so they stop churning out piles of garbage they call cars

Case in point: The new C6s right out of the factory came with a special crank pulley that pops off on its own!!! Did you know that? Thats so cool

This really has nothing to do with the actual product development or R&D...but rather marketing and PR. It appears that GM went the extra mile and did something Toyota should of done to begin with...and I highly doubt that the cost was anything enourmous...definitely not the $800,000 it took to rent the place out of the hands of the visiting public. Just a bad move by the city of Chicago and Toyota...they obviouly did not think it all the way through and thus left an opportunity for GM to step in. This has nothing to do with the C6 and crank pulley's...this has everything to do with public perception of a corporation...in this case, GM comes across as more caring to the regular guy (on vacation in Chicago looking to tour the park) versus Toyota and their VIP dealers...that's all.

So your telling me that If you were a business and saw that your major competitor was running an event in your backyard and realized that they were, by virtue of the event, alienating the public at a tourist destination you would not try to take advantage of the situation and score a few PR brownie points? Believe me, companies do this and will continue to do this until profit is not a driving factor on shareholder's minds...

I like Toyota products more than GM, but you need to give credit where credit is due...