LexFather

I didn't post last week b/c I thought it would be fixed by now and the pro-Honda guys would say "oh SICK is picking on us again". Funny but if they tied me to one of their 30 lbs of torque cars to drag me, I could probably PULL THEM

Anyway, Fox news again, Acura is advertising the MDX. And the screen goes black with a white Acura sign and for the past 2 weeks now

"THE NEW 265 HP 7 SEAT ACURA MDX"

Huh, 265 hp???

And then the NEW MDX (which really has 300hp) shows up of course ripping up a road resembling the Nurburgring like all those owners even know where or what that is

What a damn blunder. You launch your new SUV with the WRONG HP rating and we all know how HP peak ratings do spark sales.

javyLSU

iTrader: (21)

Wow - these guys need SERIOUS help...

Javier

rominl

iTrader: (4)

they really need to fire all QC people.....

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Probably a generation of drivers who's NOS bottles were leaking...they are moving through the corporate ranks. The funny gas has them impaired.

KrazyLexus

Most of the time its not the company giving the advertising company the info, its the advertising company who screws it up. I have seen way to many screw ups on commericials, newspapers, etc for companys I have worked for.

I doubt Honda / Acura was at fault. But the problem is once its out on the air, it can't be removed immediately.

SteVTEC

No that's actually correct, because that's about how much power the engine makes before VTEC kicks in, and hardly anybody is ever going to fling their big SUV north of 5000 rpm.

I worked this out, and calculated that the vast majority of the time we never use more than about 160hp out of our Highlander. So even the 220 overrated horsepower is plenty of excess. The only thing really holding it back is overly conservative shift mapping by Toyota for fuel economy, and maybe lack of an extra gear (4AT in our 2002). I have no idea WTH I'd do with 300hp in an SUV intended for only light duty work. Marketing is all it is.


That is one GIGANTOR screw up though. Heads will be rolling at whatever agency Honda was using. How could you possibly miss something like that??

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

I'm sure someone at Acura noticed and the ad agency is getting reamed.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yeah, poor guy at the advertising agency, but that's how it goes i guess

true that companies they outsource their advertising to other companies. same with lexus as well. but i guess bottom line is when there is an error, the car company is the one people laugh at, not the advertising company

SteVTEC

the advertising company will still get pwned though. Honda will drop them or penalize them severely, and it'll be known in trade circles as to which agency was responsible, their reputation will have a gigantic black eye, and they'll be hurtin for some time to come. i bet some people get fired at the ad agency also.

DrUnBiased

Sounds to me like this was a commercial from a specific dealer only on air in the dealers region. I HIGHLY doubt this was an Acura corp commercial. I've been looking out for this commercial and out of all the MDX commercials that I have seen so far (A LOT!!!), I have not seen this one. I can see the dealer actually fudging this one up more so than the ad agency. There are a select few Acura dealers that shouldn't even have the right to sell Kia's.

Just like the Acura commercial that sold BrembRo breaks. It was a private dealership commercial and not an actual Acura commercial.

encore888

Yeah but Lexus + Team One is one of the most famous automotive advertising partnerships in history. In fact, Team One Advertising was created specifically for the Lexus brand in 1989. The parent, Saatchi & Saatchi, has done Toyota accounts for years. Team One is extremely close with Lexus (reps that visit Tahara Japan etc), and very high-pressure (at least in the past, turnaround due to the high expectations of handling the Lexus ads). The other automotive companies have generally switched around...and at least in the recent Lexus ads, the HP numbers have been entirely accurate.

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

Yes, but isn't that just for corporate advertising? What about individual dealer advertising. As far as I know they go through there own source which is usually locally in their region. Since one of my jobs is to air commercials and dub them into our servers, I've seen so many commercial screw ups. Our company policy is not to air them if there is any questions until the AE signs off on it.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Even with 265hp it would be 1000000x better than the POS minivan that lexus calls RX350/400h, or any other SUV on the road for that matter.

MDX = The best damn SUV ever, period!

encore888

That's correct, it is indeed for corporate advertising. Individual dealer advertising must follow certain Lexus corporate regulations on presentation, etc, IIRC, but then is up to the dealer. One thing for sure--no 'sale' $$$ ads, except for the December to Remember.

Lexus corporate does region-specific ads, where the Lexus logo at the end includes a geographic blurb e.g. "See your NY, NJ, CN Lexus dealer"...

Here in SoCal I have seen only Lexus of Glendale TV ads, and they are very professionally done, beautiful even. Dedicated theme song, beauty shots of the cars and dealership...on radio there are Tustin Lexus, Newport Lexus ads...all very nice as well.

Lexmex

That's interesting on your Highlander hp calculations as since the V6 versions are the same as a stock RX300. I lose more hp up here due to altitude issues.