Reply #160: The halo effect is pretty much irrelevant.

[ContinentalOp]

Car buyers are looking for an INDIVIDUAL CAR, not buying into an entire lineup. Because you're in love with GM you assume that people who buy Japanese cars are similarly fanatical. I think that's probably rare. Japanese cars simply aren't that exciting as I'm sure you would agree. People buy them for boring, rational reasons like price, efficiency, etc. If something better comes along they'll switch. It's not the old school Chevy vs. Ford religious war mentality.

But to the extent that a halo effect does apply, I will agree with you that the American automakers did a terrible job marketing themselves over the past few decades. If all it takes is making one efficient car to give your company a "green" image, then why the hell didn't GM do that? Make some token high-efficiency car that competes with the Prius on MPG stats as a loss leader to improve the overall brand image. I mean, this is all sort of crazy talk. You're essentially criticizing Toyota for having a better business strategy than GM!?