LOST IN TRANSLATION.

By Peter M. DeLorenzo 

Detroit. In a couple of weeks (June 1^st), we will mark 21 years of creating and producing Autoextremist.com. Although I am going to reserve most of my comments about the occasion for that anniversary issue, some things have been on my mind of late that I feel are worth talking about now.

In the course of doing this website, I have learned a few things. Not surprising, as when we first started AE there was no plan. Some longtime readers may even recall back in the very early days that there was a link on our site to a “business plan” which, when clicked on, directed readers to a blank page. It was mildly humorous but very true; there was no plan other than to give my perspectives and insights on subjects that no one else would touch. 

Yes, of course I had some preconceived notions when starting AE, because I had been immersed in the business from a young age, and my subsequent professional experience contributed to a lot of my thinking and the approach I took in creating content for the site. But there were some revelations along the way, which I am going to talk about today.

First of all, I began AE with the rock-solid perspective that the Product is King, and as far as I am concerned it always has been and always will be. That is still very true. You only have to look as far as the new Chevrolet Corvette to understand what that means. It is quite simply the finest automobile that has come from General Motors, and it represents everything that company has learned so far about what it takes to build a legitimately superb machine.

You would think that it shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish this, but to get a giant organization to focus on a product and then execute it to the nth degree remains the toughest challenge in this business. It is fraught with peril and pitfalls; things go wrong all the time, there are setbacks and crossroads, and the budget considerations always loom large. A kaleidoscope of diverse elements has to come together just right to achieve success. But then again, it’s eminently doable with the right combination of True Believers involved. 

Ah yes, another of my favorite subjects: The True Believers. The hardcore enthusiasts throughout the industry who bring the best of their abilities to bear on their assignments day-in and day-out. Every company has them too. These are the men and women who are called upon to bring the critical, all-hands-on-deck projects to fruition. They represent the Best and the Brightest that these companies have to offer, and they make the difference as to whether a product is merely good, or a certified grand-slam home run. Go over the list of vehicles from each company that are worth praising, and you can bet that the True Believers in Design, Engineering, Product Development and all of the other key disciplines were involved from start to finish. That’s how The Good Stuff gets built in this business, and thus it was ever so.

But I’ve also painfully observed over the years that the finest work from the True Believers can get lost in a fog of mediocrity. No, it’s not that they get watered down, or that egregious cost cuts are glaringly left exposed to detract from the overall execution – yes, that does happen on occasion, depressingly enough – but it’s that great products can be let down by amateurish or flat-out piss-poor marketing.

The one irrefutable lesson I’ve learned from doing this website for more than two decades is that even the finest products can be destroyed by disastrously misguided product marketing campaigns. I naively believed at one point that if you had a kick-ass product, success in the market would be automatic, that it was almost a foregone conclusion. But that just isn’t the case.

Now, to be sure, if you don’t have an outstanding product, success in the marketplace is a non-issue, because you can’t get there without it. But the biggest disappoint for me – well, at least one of them anyway – is that even the most brilliantly-executed product will languish in the market if the marketing strategy is off, or the advertising sucks. Having a focused and fearless marketing-advertising campaign is just as essential as having a great product. In fact, without that crucial component I have seen many finely-executed cars languish in the market and eventually fall by the wayside. And, to paraphrase Chris Rock, that just ain’t right.

Does this ever smooth its way out, you might ask? After all these years is it really that hard for all of the elements to come together, including marketing and advertising? Yes, it really is that hard. 

The business of designing, engineering, manufacturing and selling automobiles is one of the most complicated endeavors on earth. It’s also one of the most capital-intensive pursuits there is, but then again you already knew that. There are no givens in this business and no “attaboys” for trying, and assumptions can only carry you so far, before they let you down. 

Yes, the Product is still King, but if any one component fails to live up to the far-reaching goals established for the product in question, the whole thing can get lost in translation and collapse with a thud of mediocrity.

And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.