With the much anticipated launch next year of quite possibly the two most important cars of our time, is it a wonder that people are confused with all the marketing hype and noise out there. We’ve got color naming contests, 22 city road shows, gauntlet face slapping T.V. commercials, blog sites with daily content and even show and tell with middle school kids. Is it really that hard to believe that people might be getting confused about which car does what, who has the best MPG, EV vs. Hybrid and why choose one over the other?
Talk about building up the hype, GM has announced the three finalist for their color naming contest. “EV-ergreen”, “Veridian joule” and “EnviroMint”. All fun and quirky names that conjure up thoughts of eco-warrior meets metrosexual chic. Couple this with the constant “May the Best Car Win” TV ads and one might think that the Volt would be the hands down favorite in terms of mindshare. But don’t count out that little company from Japan. They have a few tricks up their sleeve too!!!
Nissan is on a “pilgrimage to mecha-annical” glory. They have reached out to all the stakeholders and media alike and asked them to attend 1 of 22 different roadshows. At the event, we get a chance to feast our excited eyes on the Leaf, network with other EV enthusiasts and take turns driving a prototype around a little track at low speed. A few of the people who have taken this opportunity to test drive the Leaf-like car use words like “seamless power delivery”, “smooth” and my favorite ” noticeably quite”. All very positive endorsements.
The next and probably most aggressive attempt at winning the hearts of families is now being launched by GM. Get ready for the biggest “show and tell” school event ever. GM is inviting 800 middle school kids in LA. plus any other kid who wants to attend online to participate in a huge school yard education session. Though the kids are probably not the ones who will buy the car next year, they will be the future purchasers of both Hybrids and EV’s and it makes sense to reach out to them now.
So who is the ultimate winner of the hype? Hopefully it will be all of us in the end.
