Our segment this time? The four-door sedan.
The subject is the Mercedes-Benz CLS (2004-Present).
No, it's not a bad looking car. Not at all. In fact, it's quite nice looking. The slightly awkward headlights are the only thing that keep it from being beautiful.
The back is quite nice as well.
The line running down the side, just over the door handles, really helps emphasize this car's length. It's quite sleek and stylish.So why does it deserve to burn for over a thousand years? Well, let's look at it from profile.
There are four doors on this car. That, naturally, makes it a four-door sedan. Simple, yes?No. Mercedes-Benz single-handedly managed to make a new market segment with this car. They call it a four door coupe.
Now, a coupe is a two-door car. If it has four doors, it's a sedan. This is how the world has worked since the automobile was first invented.
Calling this a four-door coupe is like calling a house cat a lion. Yes, the cat may hunt. But it can't run down a zebra.
This car may have a plunging roof-line, but it's not a coupe.
That is why this car must roast, it made a market segment our of thin air. People want different vehicles, that's a fact. That's why the car market has turned into a mishmash of SUVs, CUVs, station wagons, hatchbacks, sedans, coupes, and various styles of trucks.
It's how the free market works. But when a company markets a product as something it's not, it cannot be ignored. Retribution must occur.
So, naturally, others retaliated.
By doing the same thing.
Like Porsche with its Panamera.
And Aston Martin, with its Rapide.
Even Volkswagen got in on the game.
It's called the Passat CC. The "CC" stands for Comfort CoupeAudi and BMW are supposedly going to come out with one each.
See, it's a virus. Create a ridiculous, pointless market niche and people will just flood into it.
I'm not saying these are bad cars. Actually, all are quite good. However, the segment that they're in, that's ridiculous. When someone creates a niche that's totally unnecessary, it's the sign of a marketing man not trying hard enough.
So, no, overdrive isn't necessary.
However, a large mallet to pound some sense into the marketing men around the world? That is necessary.
You're saying Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Aston Martin,Volkswagen, and the people who can afford them are wrong because they are doing something new. The 4-door coupe is successful, unlike pick-up mash ups like the Lincoln and Cadillac pick-ups.
ReplyDeleteYou recommend SUVs and CUVs. These are new inventions. They are not a pick-up truck, panel van, or station wagon. Studebaker never built one; nor Packard, Hudson, or Nash. And yet they have a market niche and they are successful. If SUVs and CUVs can exist without being despised, why shouldn't 4-door coupes?
You are right in saying that CUVs are new to the market. However, the SUV has been around since the ‘40s when Jeep started building the Jeep Wagon.
ReplyDeleteAll that aside, my main complaint is with the name “four-door coupe.” As I outlined, a coupe is, technically, a two-door car. Even the so-called “quad coupes” like the Mazda RX-8 fall into that category, but just barely.
To me, calling a four-door car a coupe is marketing fluff. It’s like when Mazda calls their hatchback version of the 3 a “five door sedan.” It’s not a five-door sedan, it’s a hatchback. On one hand it is a model name, but it’s also a marketing term that tries to shunt away the fact that the car is, indeed, a hatchback.
Now, that’s trying to get rid of a name’s stigma. At the other end of the spectrum is the name four-door coupe. That’s a name that brings up speed, power, and style, quite successfully, actually. But it’s still not the right name.
I prefer Audi’s terminology: the “sportback.” That’s a good name. It’s even got “sport” right in there. Even better, bring back the old “fastback” name. Then it will conjure up images of powerful Mustangs and stylish Jaguars.
I also want to thank you for your interest, and I’m glad that someone else out there knows the names of Studebaker, Hudson, Nash, and Packard.