After the Nardo failed to compete in the super and exotic car markets, Volkswagen bought out Lamborghini.  After the Phaeton bombed in the luxury car markets, Volkswagen bought out Audi.   So what’s the lesson here?  Never toy with a famous brand name that is already permanently etched in the minds of the consumer. Volkswagen is all about cars for the masses – cheap but dependable.  If you have $300 grand, you would get a Ferrari, not a ...

People always think “Beetle” when they hear, see or read about the word “Volkswagen.”  This association is so strong in the market that it makes me wonder that were the people at Volks thinking when they came out the supercar Nardo and the super luxury Phaeton just a few years back? It is clear they know nothing about product ...

Is it true that Ford got his revenge against Ferrari when it fielded the Shelby Cobra Dayton in the Le Mans of the mid-50s? Answer:  The revenge was really more the action of a rich kid who was refused entry into a prestigious club.  I’m talking about Edsel Ford who was jilted at the last minute over a transaction for Ford to buy ...

The new Mercedes Benz SLR supercar jointly developed with McLaren can very well trace its history to the 300SLR that had created a lot of regret and anxieties in the Benz boardroom. One of its variants entered the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour endurance race, bumped a slower moving Austin Healey from the rear and flew headlong at 125mph  into a cheering crowd that suddenly turned into horrid spectators when nearly a hundred of them died as the fiery Benz SLR ...