Spook37211@aol.com wrote:
> When the Miata was being considered, the Mazda folks took a Lotus APART in
> Japan in order to study the car. And bragged about it in the press.
This is how the car industry works, and most any
industry for that matter.
The first people to buy any new car all work for the
other car companies. The fundamental rule of any marketing
plan is "KNOW THE COMPETITION".
Developing in isolation is what killed a lot of
LBC companies. While other companies were feeding off
each other's ideas and growing together, MG was still
producing 30 year old designs and working themselves
out of the business.
No man is an island.
The only real difference here is that the Miata designers
COULD brag about it. Normally, engineers are trying to
steal ideas from currently produced cars so to admit it
might bring lawsuits. Since nobody was making the LBCs
anymore, Mazda could freely admit this and even tap into
the market.
> I DON'T think that EVERY Jap car is a knockoff, but if it walks like a duck
> and quacks like a duck..........
I think the problem is that you start the thought
process with "Japanese cars are bad" and come out with
reasons like knocking off.
If you had instead started with the thought that
"knocking off other cars are bad", then you'd see that
it really applied to everyone.
Would american manufacturers ever make a compact car if
the japanese hadn't done it first?
Would the Ford Probe or Eagle Talon ever exist if the
Japanese hadn't made the sport compact market what it
is today?
Would ford have made the xxxx if chevy hadn't been
first with the yyyy?
It goes on.
--
Trevor Boicey
Ottawa, Canada
tboicey@brit.ca
http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/
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