This had me thinking recently about while we all make fun of Toyota for being boring and bland and having as much excitement as watching the annual corn eating contest, they have excellent forecasting skills.

The Prius seems to be a love or hate automobile. It also went from losing money to being a profit machine and the new face of the company. When people think hybrid, they think Prius. Its been magical for Toyota.

The Veyron is mostly a love automobile but some do hate it. It will never make money for VW, it won't break even. WHen people think power, they think Veryron. It hasn't been Magical for Bugatti or VW, who owns them.

Billions were spent on both. The Veyron was an ego driven car where VW/Bugatti HAD TO HAVE the most powerful car in the world and most expensive, even if it didn't make a dime.

The Prius was ego driven by the team who felt gas prices would rise and people would need cleaner and more economical transport.

These two cars could not be any further in execution, but brillance drove both to production.

Now I say, should VW have ignored Pierch's demands for this car and invested that money in hybrids or even better diesels? Should Toyota have stopped investing in the Prius and brought multiple sports cars to market?

Your thoughts on brand focus?

 

When it comes to profitability, functionality trumps luxury.

Although the Veyron is a technological marvel, it does not help VW be any more profitable. And being so exclusive, it does not translate to near-acquireability (even with other sporty VW offerings) but rather impracticality.

However, as far as Toyota is concerned, they provided the masses with a product that is high demand, yet retains its value due to low supply (for now). They then applied that mantra ("We sell low gas-mileage cars") to the whole make line-up, and you have a bunch of people thinking that the Camry and Sequoia have better gas mileage than its competitors.

No matter what, both did a fine job with marketing genius for brand focus.

 

I don't claim any particular insight into either VW or Toyota's marketing plan, but it appears that VW has developed the Veyron as a "marquee" product to show off its technology. I don't think anyone ever expected the Veyron to turn a profit, maybe at best cover some of its development costs that can then be spun off to other products through shared technology.

Ferrari has done much the same thing, although on considerably larger sales volume, of developing a flagship product and an enviable racing heritage for a company (Fiat) better known for its cheap, oil-smoking, little buzz-bombs that seem to infest much of Europe. Sometimes you just have to have something your buyers can believe in.

If VW can successfully spread all of that high-line attention down through its product line, the Veyron will have done its job.

Toyota is a slightly different matter; they needed a volume test-bed for their technology, and how much better it is that they make it available at your neighborhood Toyota dealer? The object here is to gather not only experience but exposure for their technology. Who knew with the gas price spike it would become a significant product?

I agree, they are both brilliant pieces of engineering, but while both may be somewhat different in concept as technology flagships, Toyota can sell theirs at a reasonable price and still make a profit. I can't see VW turning out cookie-cutter Veyrons for the masses. It will last as long as it can transfer a little cache to lower residents of the line. This "Bug" won't sell like their last one.

 

Its funny that GM thought that there was no way that Toyota would never make a penny on the hybrid cars. WRONG!!!!!!!!!! (AGAIN). Sometimes I think GM tries to shoot itself in the foot.

 

Do we know that Toyota's hybrids are proftable?

 

I'm guessing that the earlier hybrids, particularly the first generation Prius, were not profitable. However, following the rollout of the second generation Prius, the addition of the Camry hybrid, and the Lexus hybrids, plus further adoption of hybrid tech. planned, I'm guessing that they have found ways to make hybrids profitable now.

 

If you really think about it both of them started a new trend just in two different paths.

Toyota started with the hybrid path, well they made it mainstream and market the crap out of it until the Prius became a household name, just like when a person needs tissue they automatically say Kleenex. Now with the petrol prices skyrocketing, there are lines at the dealership waiting for this vehicle, even though there are tons of alternatives, in reality, everyone thinks Prius before any other hybrid. Is it really eco friendly? That's hard to say as in reality it actually does more damage to the earth to produce a Prius in comparison to the life span of a regular petrol car. But the marketing idea that it uses less fuel, and eventually will save the owner money on petrol is enough to make a sell.

Volkswagen group pretty much in a sense revitalized the passion of the automobile. Unlike Toyota, which appeals to the average Joe that sees a car as a transportation not a hobby, Volkswagen revitalized an old industry name and built a machine of today's technology and maximized it's potential. If you look at a lot of magazines and shows, the Veryon is somewhat of a benchmark now when it comes to supercars that are built to make land speed records, last time we had a car like that was the McLaren F1 back in 1994 when it set the record. Since then the Veyron has inspired cars such as SSC Aero and Caprio T1, and now there is an influx of brilliantly engineered vehicles coming out. Before the Veyron we haven't really seen too many exciting vehicles come out. True there are a few, but there weren't many that was a common known vehicle that even the average Joe would see it and go, "Yea I know that thing is amazing." And of course these things will sell their limited numbers as this currently is the King of Cars and the more limited it is, the higher the demand.

It's smart what they did. Toyota now is the brand of hybrids. Ask someone that doesn't know a thing about cars what hybrid is good, more they likely they will say Toyota. Ask a person about which brand has the fastest, and coolest car, they most likely say Bugatti (Volkswagen group), unless you ask a Gran Turismo generation, then they will say Skyline. But it's smart that they pretty much infused a reputation for their brand and no matter how terrible it might get in the future, people will still buy it, just like Sony for example.

 

I had a dream last night in which my dad got an R8. I guess thats what I think of when I think power.

 

Good points. Agreed.

Not sure about that reason, they're HUGE in the rest of the world already.

Again, agreed about Toyota but I bet 99.999% of people don't know what a Veyron is. The best publicity it has it that Simon Cowell (American Idol, etc.) has one and he doesn't talk about it, it's just referred to as "the million dollar car".

 

Bugatti wasn't huge anymore until recently, that brand was slowly dying off from its legendary racing past. Most people don't even know that Lamborghini and Porsche are part of the Volkswagen group. But Simon Cowell and Tom Cruise owning a Veyron does mainstream the brand since celebrities do have huge power to control the masses. Now if Paris Hilton bought one...we'll be seeing Bugatti logos on chains.