On Wednesday we advised Tesla founder/eccentric weirdo Elon Musk to stop insisting that The New York Times auto critic John Broder intentionally sabotaged his Model S test drive because he hates electric cars.

We are shocked to learn that Musk did not take our advice, instead releasing another lengthy statement in which he critiqued nearly every element of Broder’s highly detailed follow-up to his initial post.

We won’t get into the technical specifics as others have covered them extensively, but here’s a good example of the nature of this tit-for-tat showdown: Musk accuses Broder of driving in circles in order to intentionally run down the car’s battery; Broder says that he was simply trying to locate one of the company’s poorly-lit Supercharger stations. He said, she said.

Again, we understand Musk’s desire to protect his baby.

Read more

Paypal co-founder/insanely rich guy Elon Musk isn’t afraid to defend his far-out ideas, be they successfully marketing an electric automobile or convincing rich people to move to his future colony on Mars.

But can he fight back against what CNBC calls “Tesla’s PR #EpicFail“? His auto company’s latest electric car, the Model S, won Motor Trend‘s car of the year award among a wave of very positive reviews, but The New York Times auto critic John M. Broder‘s test drive didn’t go so well.

Despite being a “technical wonder”, the car ran out of juice in cold weather when its battery died and the writer, having no access to one of the company’s remote “Supercharger” stations, had to call a towing company. The Tesla brand’s stock took a hit, inspiring Musk to lash out on Twitter. The funniest part of this four-wheel drama? Not only did Musk pitch the story to the Times in the first place, he apparently called the critic to apologize for the experience and offer him a second test drive before calling him a liar in public.

NYTimes article about Tesla range in cold is fake. Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn’t actually charge to max & took a long detour.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2013

This is a strange damage control strategy, no?

Read more

One look at the photo of the over-the-top vehicle at left, and you might think, “Whoa. Was that designed by a car-crazed kid, or something?” Why yes, yes it was – a four-year-old named Eli, to be precise.

The one-of-a-kind design features 19 engines, 42 wheels, three steering wheels (to be controlled by three different drivers simultaneously) and, of course, a large trunk dedicated solely to transporting toys.

So how did this epically equipped piece of machinery make it from the brain of a toddler to a detailed BMW design? Like so many other magical things in childhood, all it took was a kid’s limitless imagination–and a particularly cool, dedicated adult invested in encouraging that creativity–to get things moving. It all started when Eli’s uncle posted on car enthusiast website Jalopnik:

Read more

Question: when does a “controversial” ad clip double as a shameless PR stunt? When the team’s strategy anticipates the public outrage and uses it to attract even more attention. Get ready to be shocked: this is a common thing.

When Mercedes-Benz hired experimental bra tester Kate Upton for its Super Bowl spot and leaked a trailer that promised to show her washing the new CLA four-door coup “in slow motion”, we feel like they somehow knew that the Parents Television Council would see it, issue a statement and encourage members of the public to voice their outrage.

Could the Mercedes team be so deliciously crafty? Well, the clip already has more than three million views on YouTube. (You don’t really even need to watch it, by the way. You get the point.)

And now for the incredibly predictable backlash:
Read more

Chevrolet unveiled its new 2014 Corvette at the Detroit Auto Show on Sunday–and while the new model boasts gas-and-speed-friendly features and an updated look, it remains, without a doubt, a Corvette.

The 2014 model pays homage to its ancestors by reviving the retro Stingray name, but chief engineer Tadge Juechter made clear that this is a car for the 21st century: “We don’t want to do retro…we don’t want to go back and do like some manufacturers [and] go relive the glory days.”

While the Corvette, which celebrates its 60th birthday this year, is not nearly Chevy’s best-selling car (the company barely sold 12,000 last year), the iconic (if impractical) muscle car is an integral part of the company’s branding.

Brian Moody of AutoTrader says, “It’s almost like a rolling billboard for the company, for the attitude of the company [and] the spirit of the company”. He went on to say that the purpose of building a high-performance sports car like the Corvette isn’t actually to sell a lot of Corvettes, but to sell more Impalas and Malibus.

That’s not to say, however, that Chevy isn’t invested in expanding the Corvette-buying market.

Read more

We’d be hard-pressed to think of a bigger PR disaster for an automotive brand than the largest car recall in history followed by a massive tsunami wreaking untold damage on international supply chains. Heck, we didn’t even mention this valuable lesson about the dangers of automated spam messaging or this misguided effort to raise brand awareness among toddlers.

And yet, 2012 sales numbers tell us that Toyota has already recovered from a wide-reaching scandal that started in 2009 with reports of “technical difficulties” in its vehicles and ended with the recall of more than seven million individual automobiles. In fact, the Japanese company ended the year by reclaiming its place as the world’s most successful car maker.

Toyota obviously wanted to get people talking in 2013, so it came out swinging with a re-branding initiative fronted by a hot pink “executive” sedan. Japanese CEOs and their teenage daughters now have one more thing in common…a favorite color! Did someone invite Hello Kitty reps to participate in creative strategy meetings?

Read more

Today Avis announced that it was acquiring Zipcar for nearly $500 million.

Considering that Zipcar has about 767,000 drivers, the brand couldn’t remain idle and simply allow the imaginations of its members to run rampant. The public craves information—particularly in the wake of a major development like this—and if companies fail to implement an effective follow-up PR campaign, then they risk having public opinion create the narrative, which isn’t always desirable.

Take, for example, these comments on a New York Times article announcing the merger:

Patricia from New York:
Ugh. Another soul-sucking merger. Watch the quality of service disappear after this corporate meal is finished. Burp

Lynn in DC:
I like Zipcar and am apprehensive that the changes to be brought about by Avis will not be good for consumers. Oh well, guess I may have to actually buy a car at some point now.

A Reader, from Detroit, MI:
What a shame. One of the things I really liked about Zipcar was that it was not Avis or Hertz.

This is exactly why brands and companies must develop a well-articulated PR strategy and put it in place before the public has a chance to react. Brands can’t expect consumers to express informed opinions without first providing them with the information they need.

In general the public hates mergers. As capitalists, we all like to think that our purchases are positive reflections of us and our values, particularly when it comes to supporting innovative, creative and lesser-known brands.

Read more

This is a strange time for the car industry.

As the public emerges from a crippling recession and attempts to shake off what has been a tough decade for most Americans, even those with jobs have tired of commuting to and from work in the same cars they drove 10 years ago. Just take a look at our highways–they’re filled with vehicles just as weary and worn out as the American public.

Thankfully, that may be changing–Mercedes-Benz is banking on the fact that the public believes the worst to be behind us. The upscale auto brand plans to connect with a new generation of customers by advertising its more affordable CLA to 30 -and 40-somethings during Super Bowl XLVII.

Only brands with something to prove even entertain the thought of advertising during the Super Bowl–and most of the 100-million plus Americans watching the game will even be in the market for a new high-end car–but Mercedes-Benz clearly believes its gamble will pay off.

Read more

Apologies for bringing your attention back to the 2012 election, but you may recall this Mitt Romney quote from the first presidential debate in which he criticized President Obama’s focus on “clean” energy:

Turns out that Tesla, at least, has the last laugh: the company’s Model S all-electric sedan just won Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year award by unanimous 12-0 vote. The Model S is the first electric car to win in the 64-year history of the award, and its victory signals an industry-wide shift toward hybrid and electric models–if not on the road, then definitely in the design studio.

Lest we think Motor Trend simply followed the flock in making this decision, editor in chief Ed Loh stated that the magazine’s editorial board didn’t choose the Model S simply because it lacks a combustion engine; it also happens to the be the fastest and one of the quietest, best-handling American sedans on the market.

And about that Mitt Romney “loser” quote: No one at Tesla commented on the matter before the election, but designer Elon Musk, the mind behind the Model S, managed to get a final dig in after his Motor Trend victory, stating:

“In retrospect he was right about the object of that statement, but not the subject.”

Mee-oww.

Buying a car is a major purchase. When selecting the best make and model, consumers factor in various elements, from style and color to gas mileage. In fact, with gas prices rising and environmental concerns growing, fuel economy can be the determining factor.

You can imagine the PR dilemma Hyundai and Kia face after admitting they overestimated the fuel efficiency of 900,000 cars. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discovered the discrepancy, reporting that gas mileages were inflated by 1 or 2 mpg in most cases but up to 6 mpg in some.

This is not the sort of news that Hyundai and Kia can simply spin away–every time customers fill up their tanks and scoff at the numbers racing skyward at the pumps, they’ll remember being misled. Hyundai and Kia, Korean automakers and siblings, claimed that the mistake was due to “procedural errors,” which is both dismissive and ambiguous enough to infuriate any consumer who paid tens of thousands for one of their products.

So what are Hyundai and Kia doing to assuage the situation? They’re reimbursing consumers by giving them debit cards filled with a monetary amount they’ve based on a confusing formula that accounts for the customer’s location, driving habits and fuel prices in their region. The companies claim that they will refresh the cards as long as affected customers own the cars. Oh, and they’ve added a 15% “bonus” to compensate for any inconvenience.

You know what else is inconvenient? Having to plan your unnecessarily complicated budget around yet another card in your wallet.

Will the 15% “bonus” be enough to buy the public’s goodwill? We’ll be watching as Hyundai and Kia explore just how much money it costs to keep consumers from rebelling.