Saturday, August 22, 2009

Chrysler Clunker


In the "Great Moments in Marketing" department, here's this gem from yesterday's news:

Chrysler says it is dropping its lifetime powertrain warranty in favor of a 5-year or 100,000-mile guarantee.

Chrysler spokesman Rick Deneau says the decision was driven by market research that showed consumers prefer warranties with a fixed time period.

Really. What question could the market researchers possibly have asked that would yield this answer? Try the most obvious version on yourself: "Would you rather have a lifetime powertrain warranty, or would you rather have one that expires after a few years?"

If there were any morons (um, I mean "consumers") that said they prefered the "fixed time period," then they deserve to be owners of Chrysler products.

On the other hand, the true moron could be the Chrysler spokesman, if he really expects us to believe his nonsensical assertion.

4 comments:

  1. Well, the guy's name is "Rick Deneau," which is probably pronounced "dunno," as in "I dunno why I said that, but it's what they wrote on the paper for me to say."

    But there I go making fun of some poor guy's name . . . what a moron I must be! Still, no Chrysler for me . . .

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  2. Thanks for making that connection for me! I had missed it.

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  3. Thanks for making that connection for me! I had missed it.

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  4. The only feasible reason I can think of is that an owner of a new Chrysler isn't planning on keeping it for longer than 5 years or 100,000 miles.

    And, I know many people who lease cars and trade them every five years for newer models.

    It's not wise stewardship, but there it is.

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