Results: If left to self regulate products will succeed or fail but the actions of management often tip the balance towards failure and we wonder why we pay them the big bucks.
Executives in car companies are paid huge salaries to do the same job their cohorts in other car companies are doing. Rarely do they have original ideas. No wonder that the product from one company is similar to the one from its competitor. Sometimes the same basic car is sold with cosmetic changes under two different brand labels. So why pay these executives the big bucks? Sometimes the brand disappears, never to return. I miss some of these brands. How about you?
1.
1.
I know it wasn't always this way but, towards the end of the brand existence in 2000, Mercury cars were obviously mere derivatives of the Ford product. Even so however, I preferred the look of the Mercury product over the Ford. They looked more classy even if they weren't. Do you miss the Mercury brand and wish it returned?
The differences between the Mercury and the Ford were not sufficient to make the Mercury worth buying - I don't miss this brand.
13%
•
270 votes
The differences between the Mercury and the Ford were subtle but enough to make the Mercury worth buying - I miss this brand.
18%
•
378 votes
Whether it was badged as a Ford or a Mercury, the car in the year 2000 was not something I would buy. I preferred something else (such as?)
13%
•
278 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
•
21 votes
Not Applicable
58%
•
1211 votes
- Beats me.
- None
- Don't you have more important things to grouse about?
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
| 0.74% | 7 | |
| unsure | 0.11% | 1 |
| I never knew anyone who owned a Mercury. | 0.11% | 1 |
| Never owned a Mercury to say | 0.11% | 1 |
| No | 0.11% | 1 |
| Not a Ford or a Mercury fan. | 0.11% | 1 |
| I don't know | 0.11% | 1 |
| Never had a Mercury. | 0.11% | 1 |
| I owned a Mercury and loved its look. | 0.11% | 1 |
| Don’t miss the cars of the past. | 0.11% | 1 |
| I DO NOT drive anymore, so no opinion from me. | 0.11% | 1 |
| Makes no difference to me. | 0.11% | 1 |
| 1957 Chevy | 0.11% | 1 |
| I like it | 0.11% | 1 |
| I have only had GM products | 0.11% | 1 |
2.
2.
While Ford management were eliminating the Mercury brand, at GM, executives were working on the demise of once popular names like Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Saturn. Did you ever own one of these cars?
I owned an Oldsmobile and liked it.
11%
•
241 votes
I owned a Pontiac and liked it.
12%
•
261 votes
I owned a Saturn and liked it.
5%
•
113 votes
I owned an Oldsmobile and didn't like it.
3%
•
66 votes
I owned a Pontiac and liked it.
5%
•
95 votes
I owned a Saturn and didn't like it.
1%
•
19 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
•
17 votes
Not Applicable
61%
•
1288 votes
- Pontiac
- None
- pontiac
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
| 0.49% | 4 | |
| I own a Pontiac and we owned an Oldsmobile | 0.12% | 1 |
| My first car was a Chevy. I now own a Honda. | 0.12% | 1 |
| liked both my Olds & Pontiac | 0.12% | 1 |
| Owned both an Oldsmobile '88 and Pontiac Tempest; they both served their purposes well. | 0.12% | 1 |
| I owned a Pontiac and didn't particularly like it. | 0.12% | 1 |
| Toyota | 0.12% | 1 |
| I own a Pontiac and I liked it I owned an Oldsmobile and I liked it | 0.12% | 1 |
| I owned one of each and liked them all | 0.12% | 1 |
| I owned a Pontiac and didn't like it. | 0.12% | 1 |
| multiple of above | 0.12% | 1 |
| I owned an Oldsmobile and a Pontiac and loved them both | 0.12% | 1 |
| I owned both a pontiac and an oldsmobile and liked them both. | 0.12% | 1 |
| I have owned a Pontiac, still do, love it. My sc1 Saturn had over 300, 000 miles got 42 mile to the gallon. Loved it | 0.12% | 1 |
3.
3.
The good old boys at Chrysler and American Motors had also been busy chopping up brand names. Which of the following brands do you have feelings about - good or bad?
The American Motors Gremlin (my wife liked its looks).
8%
•
168 votes
The AMC Pacer (Wayne's World)
8%
•
167 votes
American Motors Eagle (made in Canada)
6%
•
124 votes
Plymouth Duster (slant 6 motor)
15%
•
323 votes
Chrysler Cordoba (a rare hit thanks to Ricardo Montalban's ad)
9%
•
191 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
•
21 votes
Not Applicable
66%
•
1381 votes
- Station Wagons
- None I was not born yet
- Datsun
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
| 1.01% | 10 | |
| Tracker | 0.10% | 1 |
| Maverick | 0.10% | 1 |
| Dodge Demon--LOVED it | 0.10% | 1 |
| None | 0.10% | 1 |
| Javlin | 0.10% | 1 |
| I had a Newport | 0.10% | 1 |
| Cavalier | 0.10% | 1 |
| none of the above | 0.10% | 1 |
| A Pontiac LeMans 2DR 8cy. It was as big as a boat. | 0.10% | 1 |
| Dodge Dart | 0.10% | 1 |
| Another model | 0.10% | 1 |
4.
4.
Do you know anyone who owned one of these short lived brands (In North America).
Renault Le Car
6%
•
117 votes
Pontiac Aztek
5%
•
111 votes
Pontiac Fiero
12%
•
254 votes
Yugo
6%
•
128 votes
Delorean DMC 12
6%
•
122 votes
Other (please specify)
1%
•
13 votes
Not Applicable
73%
•
1525 votes
- No
- No
- no
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
| 0.94% | 7 | |
| Dodge Dart | 0.13% | 1 |
| No | 0.13% | 1 |
| Lada, a work supervisor, nothing to be proud of there. | 0.13% | 1 |
| . | 0.13% | 1 |
| Edsel | 0.13% | 1 |
| Pinto Station wagon | 0.13% | 1 |
5.
5.
Auto executives in North America are not always risk averse. The auto industry has provided some important innovations. Which of these did you know were invented or introduced in north America?
Cruise control - Frustrated by the inability to drive at a constant speed on a straight empty road, inventor Ralph Teetor conceived cruise control in the 1940s. It would be a full decade before it made it to production on the 1958 Chrysler Imperial.
21%
•
442 votes
Air conditioning. Until the 1990s, only the most expensive British and European cars came with air conditioning, but luxury US marque Packard offered a fairly basic system as early as 1939
22%
•
469 votes
Power-assisted steering. Chrysler was the first of the Big Three companies to artificially lighten steering loads when it offered power-assisted steering on its Imperial-branded cars in 1951.
18%
•
369 votes
Anti-lock brakes. It was Chrysler that got there first, offering a Bendix system in 1971
16%
•
341 votes
Clean(er) exhaust emissions The need to improve Los Angeles' terrible air quality prompted the introduction of the world's first car emissions regulations in the early 1960s. By 1968 all cars sold in the US were required to meet new tailpipe emissions standards and catalytic converters, – almost 20 years before Europe followed suit.
14%
•
297 votes
Automatic transmission. The big car companies battled to make life easier for drivers with partially automated transmissions, but GM gave us the world's first mass-produced automatic transmission, the HydraMatic.
20%
•
420 votes
Other (please specify)
0%
•
6 votes
Not Applicable
60%
•
1265 votes
- Air conditioning
- None
- Power steering! I still remember how amazing it was not to have to apply so much strength to turning the wheel!
| Other Answers | Percentage | Votes |
| 0.17% | 4 | |
| heated seats | 0.04% | 1 |
| seat belts | 0.04% | 1 |
Comments