All Articles Tagged "car sales"
A Fashion Designer, A Car Company And a Discount Site Partner and “Malibu Style” is Born
Image: GM.com
Isaac Mizrahi has teamed up with Chevrolet (the car brand) to create a line of clothing called “Malibu Style.” And the line will only be available on LivingSocial.
The goal is to raise awareness for the 2013 Chevy Malibu car. Mizrahi tells AdWeek that his fashion design for the line was inspired by the design of the car. The target market is 25 to 45 years old, and there will be 50 videos available across the Web to promote the line and, by extension, the car.
“One of the things I was inspired by was a blue light that emanates from the dashboard. It’s just Hot,” said Mizrahi.
For their part, LivingSocial believes the partnership is perfect for the company’s new e-commerce business.
So first, there’s some stereotyping going on here. The only way to get women to pay attention to your car is to tie it shopping? Maybe there’s something about the car or the dealerships that’s keeping the ladies away.
Beyond that, it’s too far-fetched. All of these things have very little to do with each other. Even if women buy the clothes, is that going to inspire them to buy a car?
Moreover, it was only this weekend that The New York Times was reporting on the declining interest from shoppers in these deal sites. The number of emails and the quality of the offers are a couple of reasons people have soured to the sites. This could be different for customers since it’s something exclusive to LivingSocial, rather than a coupon that’s being spent at a business that regrets offering a discount.
The partnership may sell clothing, but it doesn’t seem like it can sell cars. Maybe we’re wrong. Your thoughts?
The Rundown: Foreclosures, Working Hard In the U.S., How Not to Buy a Lemon
Image: Hemera
-The Huffington Post takes a closer look at the deflating situation homeowners in foreclosure find themselves in. Back in February, the Obama administration and the nation’s five largest banks reached a $25 billion settlement to resolve “complaints of unlawful foreclosure practices.” Many say things haven’t changed despite the coming October deadline.
-Mitt Romney and President Obama are appealing to women and the working class during their latest campaign stops. Romney attacked President Obama’s record on welfare.
-Feel like you’re working harder? The Labor Department says worker productivity was up 1.6 percent. That’s a modest figure, but if this keeps up, companies might have to hire. This is a bit of good news following the poor outlook of Monday’s jobs report.
-In Olympics news, Aly Raisman walked away with two more medals, a bronze on the balance beam and a gold medal on the floor exercise, making her the first American to win that individual competition. Gabby Douglas competed on the balance beam, but didn’t medal. Ever gracious, she said, “If it wasn’t my time to shine, it wasn’t my time to shine… I wanted to finish off on a good note. Event finals is something a little extra.” Love her.
Australia’s Sally Pearson beat out her American competitors to take the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles. Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells, both from the U.S., took silver and bronze respectively. Lolo Jones didn’t medal again, prompting these very sad comments. And now this. Ugh. Allyson Felix competes in the 200-meter race today.
-USA Today offers tips to avoid purchasing a used car that’s been in a wreck.
-Resources for small businesses, and particularly black-owned businesses, are hard to come by. But TIME‘s Gary Belsky makes the argument that it’s a worthy investment.
More on Madame Noire Business!
- The Number of Black-Owned Businesses, and the Need for Resources, Is Growing
- Are You Pinning? Pintrest for Individuals, Small Businesses, and Big Brands
- Sticker Shock! Five Tips to Help You Pay for College
- Are Black Businesses Suffering From an Undeserved Rep for Bad Customer Service?
- How to Tackle Office Enemies
- Small Business Spotlight: Sweet Treats You Don’t Have to Feel Guilty About
Before You Buy That Fuel Efficient Car
(Bankrate) — 1. Calculate how many miles you drive. The typical American drives an average of 15,000 miles per year, but your situation may be radically different. The more miles you drive, the larger the savings you’ll see from a fuel-efficient car over your current model. Measure your round-trip mileage for work, and multiply it by the number of days you work in a year. Next, add extra miles for your typical, nonwork driving activities. Don’t forget to add additional mileage for your annual summer vacation (if you drive) or any other road trips you may take.
9 Cars of 2011 That Sold Poorly and Had Folks Shaking Their Heads
There are winners and there are losers. And well, these are the losers of the auto industry – the models that failed to move units due to a number of things including poor design, craftsmanship, branding, marketing or just plain ol’ lack of appeal. Here are the models that you may not see next year but may want to buy as a collector’s item.
Source: Fortune/CNN Money
BMW X6
BMW has only sold 1,559 of these cars as compared to more than 10,000 of the x5.
Cashing In as Used Cars Trend Upward
(Smart Money) — Historically, the value of a car plunges the minute it leaves the lot and falls further with every additional mile. The current trend, then, has car owners and dealers scratching their heads: Many used cars have stopped losing value and in some cases, they’re actually worth more now than they were a year ago. Last month, used-car values spiked 16% compared to a year earlier, according to RVI Group’s Used Car Price Index, which compares existing used-car models to the same used models that were sold in previous years with similar mileage. And those higher prices are occurring across a wide range of cars. A 2008 Ford Focus S sedan with 35,000 miles, for example, would have sold for $7,525 in May 2010, according to Kelley Blue Book; this month, a seller could reasonably expect $9,600.
Car Dealers Now Stingy With Deals
(Time) — Sales incentives from car markers are at their lowest levels in years, and the average buyer can expect to pay more at the dealership for months to come. Edmunds.com reports that the average customer buying a new car in April received $2,118 off the sticker price from automaker incentives. That’s $515 less—a drop of nearly 20%—than the average incentive in April 2010. It’s also the lowest average incentive since the site began tracking the True Cost of Incentives—which “takes into account all automakers’ various U.S. incentives programs, including subvented interest rates and lease programs, as well as cash rebates to consumers and dealers”—in 2005.
Lending Increases Sending Car Sales Up
(New York Times) — Detroit is crowing that the auto industry is back, but so far, at least, it is a success story built as much on a revival in lending as on the development of desirable cars. Sales of new cars rose 11 percent, to around 11.4 million, in 2010 and are off to an even stronger start this year, according to Autodata, an industry research service. Sales of used cars have been similarly robust.
After radically scaling back auto lending during the financial crisis, banks and the lending arms of the automakers have started to issue loans more aggressively. Borrowers of all types are now finding it much easier to obtain a loan compared with a few months ago. Even car buyers with tarnished credit histories are getting financing, in some cases without making a down payment. More than 859,000 new cars were sold to consumers with a so-called subprime credit rating in 2010, a nearly 60 percent increase from the year before, according to CNW Marketing Research.
The revival of auto lending is emblematic of an increased appetite for risk in the American economy. Consumers, showing renewed confidence in the recovery, are opening their wallets again after putting off car purchases during the recession. Banks, flush with deposits to lend out, have eased their standards for extending credit. And investors, who fled from the bond market during the throes of the crisis, are starting to snap up higher-risk debt as they seek higher yields.
Save Money on New Car; Deal with the Internet Salesman
(New York Times) — If you’re in the market for a new car and don’t want to buy it online, here’s a helpful car shopping tip from Edmunds.com: When you walk into the dealer, ask to work with an Internet salesman rather than the traditional sales staff. According to Edmunds.com, this strategy can lead to savings of “hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your next new car.” The tip is based off the experience of Phil Reed, senior consumer advice editor at Edmunds.com, who asked to work with an Internet salesman at a Toyota dealership he walked into. This salesman quoted a price for the 2011 Sienna SE that was $500 over invoice, well below the average price other buyers pay for the vehicle.
Auto Sales on Upswing in Atlanta
(AJC) — Bill Stewart still had a few months left on his Mercedes CL lease, but recently he decided to give himself an early Christmas present: a new Mercedes SL. ”I made another three-year commitment because I felt things were going well. My business is very brisk right now and I felt comfortable with it,” said Stewart, a 56-year-old Atlantan who owns an interior design firm. Otherwise, he added, “I would have waited to next year.”
Tweeting to Sell Cars
(Wall Street Journal) — Car companies have long tapped high-profile celebrities to spread word of mouth about new cars by test driving them around town. Now they are turning to a similarly powerful but cheaper source: young social-media influencers who have strong online followings. For its new compact Lexus, Toyota Motor Corp. is enlisting people with a strong following on Twitter and other social media to create buzz around its products. Its new campaign includes online videos that show actress and comedian Whitney Cummings interviewing an array of social-media heavyweights as they take the Lexus CT 200h for a spin around their hometowns. The stars of the campaign include Baratunde Thurston, Web editor of satire website the Onion; Brian Solis, a marketing guru and social-media expert; and Richard Quitevis, or DJ Qbert, a well-known disc jockey.
