Audi Launches Facebook Campaign
August 27, 2009
Another player in the struggling auto industry is expanding its Facebook presence. Luxury car maker Audi is teaming with TurnHere to launch a social video campaign on Facebook highlighting its participation in the “Youth Mobile 2030″ design challenge.
Audi currently has more than 324,000 Facebook fans, one of the highest among car makers. The new campaign will use videos to reach out to those fans and ask for their input on what features they would like to see on future cars.
“Video is a powerful way to experience the Audi brand and the passion of our design team. We wanted to show our Facebook fans that we’re committed to creating automobiles that fit our changing lifestyles; and having this conversation with them is a critical part of that process,” said Brad Stertz, Manager of Corporate Communications for Audi of America. “TurnHere did a great job of capturing that passion and desire in an authentic way that lets our designers start the conversation online among our fans.”
“Youth Mobile 2030″ is the theme of this year’s Los Angeles Design Challenge, with design studios in Southern California submitting their concepts of cars for consumers in the year 2030. According to the designers featured in the videos, Audi is attempting to take into consideration lifestyle as much as form and function in their design, and the car company is looking for insight from its Facebook fans for direction.
The campaign is an excellent use of an existing fan base to gather data about what customers will be looking for in future products.
To dig deeper on marketing your business or brand inside Facebook, check out our industry-leading Facebook Marketing Bible and Best & Worst of Facebook Marketing 2009 report.
GM to drop logo from its vehicles
August 26, 2009
Washington, Aug 26 (ANI): General Motors Co. plans to remove its GM “Mark of Excellence” from all models launched by the company in the future.
The removal of the company logo comes follows a management decision to promote individual brands instead of the parent company.
GM spokesman Terry Rhadigan said the company’s newly-formed executive committee took the decision to remove the logo earlier this month.
He informed that the cars with the GM logo will be “gradually” phased out from the next model year.
In 2008 GM had decided to sell or kill four of the eight brands, including the highly coveted Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn.
The company is also the owner of highly successful brands like Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC.
MotorWorld Receives Chrysler 75 Years Award and Dodge Franchise
August 14, 2009
After 75 years of business, the MotorWorld Chrysler Franchise will be honored for their long-time partnership with Chrysler and has been approved as a Dodge new car and truck sales and service center for Wilkes-Barre and all of NEPA.
Wilkes-Barre, PA (PRWEB) August 13, 2009 — MotorWorld, a MileOne Company, will receive the Chrysler “75 Years” award for their Chrysler franchise which began selling and servicing Chryslers in 1924 as Howard “Duke” Isaacs Chrysler and was acquired by MotorWorld in 1994. In addition, MotorWorld announced today they have added Dodge to their Chrysler Jeep lineup and current Dodge owners can begin bringing their Dodges into MotorWorld’s state-of-the-art service center housing over 90 service bays, a quick lube center, and a full compliment of Dodge parts and accessories.
“We have wanted Dodge for quite some time now and have already started taking orders for the full size Dodge Ram truck, the new Dodge Challenger and the fuel efficient Dodge Caliber, which will hit the lot near the end of September,” said MotorWorld’s Divisional Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Rick Osick.
Dodge will be the 15th automotive brand being sold in the over 65,000 square foot dealership located on 77 acres and will be added to the newly renovated Chrysler Jeep showroom near the end of September. Through the MotorWorld website, customers can begin to browse and order new and used Dodge cars, trucks, vans and SUVs, as well as order official Dodge parts and accessories and schedule service.
About MileOne Automotive
MileOne Automotive operates 64 retail automotive franchises representing 28 different brands and 9 collision centers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia with a focus on the Baltimore-Washington, Hampton Roads/Virginia Beach, Nags Head/Elizabeth City and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton major metro areas. MileOne.com allows customers to research new, used and fuel-efficient luxury, import and domestic cars and trucks, send information about vehicles to their mobile device, schedule service appointments, buy parts and accessories, play automotive games, and download automotive wallpaper and mobile ring tones. For more information or to find a quality MileOne dealership near you, please visit www.mileone.com.
2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
August 7, 2009
In the ongoing battle between hybrids and diesels for “payback time” supremacy, the latest round goes to the oil burning posse. That’s the report from Edmunds, which did a recent numbers crunch comparing the two fuel-saving drivetrains and found the scales have tipped in favor of diesel powerplants.
According to the study, the average new vehicle price premium for a hybrid-electric is a whopping $4,981 (the Lexus LS 600h L takes the outlier cherry with a $15,969 premium over its gasoline counterpart). On the other hand, the average diesel premium is only about $2,360 (both figures were calculated after incentives and credits). Last year’s high fuel prices have also come down considerably to the point where gasoline and diesel fuel are about the same price. This hurts the hybrid-electric powertrain, which takes advantage of high fuel costs by squeezing more miles out of each dollar’s worth of gas for quicker payback.
Edmunds also did a payback comparison between the 2010 Toyota Prius and the all-new 2010 Honda Insight. While the Prius is undeniably clobbering Insight in the sales battle, the website says it will take a sobering 26.2 years of driving to recover the Toyota’s $4,030 cost premium.
