Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C7 Forum - View Single Post - A Proposal for GM's Marketing and Product Development Teams

LOWDOWN · 09-22-2013, 08:42 PM

Only slightly off-topic, but with a point:

In the early '90s, Dodge decided that, to be a serious player in the pick-up market, they needed to come up with a GREAT design (amongst other criteria). They finally built TWO prototypes, and then clinic'd them. One design was favored over the other by almost 2:1. That's the design they produced, right?

WRONG!

The folks who favored the "similar to Ford and GM" design were ambiguous about BUYING it. The minority, who favored the "BIG rig" look, wanted to buy one NOW!!!!! "When can we have it?!"

Dodge sales went from under 10% of the full-size truck market to almost 30% in short order after the RAM came to market...because the diehards DID buy it, just like they said they would, and in roughly the same percentage that started off as a "minority"!

Gathering the data, and PROPERLY INTERPRETING the data, are the keys. Sadly, it's in the interpretation step where things may get off-track...and there is a litany of examples where great data was misinterpreted or, by the time the vehicle got to market, became invalid or obsolete...

EDIT:

...and just because people SAY they "WANT" such-'n-such built DOESN'T mean they'll BUY it...manual transmissions in certain applications are a prime example of that.

09-22-2013, 08:42 PM	#11
LOWDOWN Downright Upright Drives: Daily Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Cruisin'... Posts: 4,145	Only slightly off-topic, but with a point: In the early '90s, Dodge decided that, to be a serious player in the pick-up market, they needed to come up with a GREAT design (amongst other criteria). They finally built TWO prototypes, and then clinic'd them. One design was favored over the other by almost 2:1. That's the design they produced, right? WRONG! The folks who favored the "similar to Ford and GM" design were ambiguous about BUYING it. The minority, who favored the "BIG rig" look, wanted to buy one NOW!!!!! "When can we have it?!" Dodge sales went from under 10% of the full-size truck market to almost 30% in short order after the RAM came to market...because the diehards DID buy it, just like they said they would, and in roughly the same percentage that started off as a "minority"! Gathering the data, and PROPERLY INTERPRETING the data, are the keys. Sadly, it's in the interpretation step where things may get off-track...and there is a litany of examples where great data was misinterpreted or, by the time the vehicle got to market, became invalid or obsolete... EDIT: ...and just because people SAY they "WANT" such-'n-such built DOESN'T mean they'll BUY it...manual transmissions in certain applications are a prime example of that. Last edited by LOWDOWN; 09-22-2013 at 08:54 PM.