Re: [Amc-list] a few more dealerships

[Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx>]

I understand. The point I was making is that the only way you get more 
market share is by selling more items, regardless of the name brand it's 
under. Pontiac never sold as many Firebirds as Chevy did Camaros. I'm 
sure some of those Firebird customers would have bought Camaros, but a 
few would have went with a competing product. Even if we assume 80% 
would have went with a Camaro, that's still a 20 increase in overall 
sales of that body. Then there's also other parts shared, such as the 
engine and trans, that can be spread over even more sales. With the 63 
Classic/Ambo and 64 American AMC maximized parts interchangeability -- 
the doors (minus window frame, which is a separate piece) fit all three 
models. The American has about an inch between the rear door rear edge 
and the front edge of the wheel well, the Classic/Ambo body has about 
three inches. There's about four inches between the front edge of the 
front door and the center of the front axle. It would have been hard to 
differentiate the cars using the same fenders, but the doors could be 
swapped without too much work -- the body line has to be maintained on 
both to use the same outer skin though. Parts interchange started 
eroding in 67, and continued until the late 70s. The pinnacle of this 
erosion was reached with the introduction of the Matador Coupe and 
Pacer. The bodies on both were totally unique, with only a few 
mechanical parts (other than drive train) shared with other models. 
------------- Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:10:57 -0700 From: Victor the 
Cleaner <jonathan@xxxxxxxxxx> On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 07:07:08PM -0500, 
Frank Swygert wrote:

> > Camaro and Firebird competed some against each other, but they also 
> > competed against the Mustang. Putting the cars under two nameplates and 
> > giving them slight variations in theme and tune does get a few more 
> > customers, and the expensive stuff is shared, relatively inexpensive 
> > items differentiate the two. So there is some good reasoning behind 
> > sharing a body with maybe one other division. Ford does the same with 
> > the Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable (don't think they call the Merc Sable 
> > anymore though). The Merc is just a little plusher than a Taurus. 
>   

Of course.  But in marketing (and competition law) that's called 
"warring brands".  That's when a single company puts essentially the 
same product out in the market under different brands to create the 
illusion that there's more competition than there actually is, all
in order to grab greater market share.

Jonathan

-- 
Frank Swygert
Publisher, "American Motors Cars" 
Magazine (AMC)
For all AMC enthusiasts
http://farna.home.att.net/AMC.html
(free download available!)

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