Spot, Premiums Stay Range-Bound
Rome 2000
Rome, the capital of Planet Earth? At least, the Romans think so and they are doing everything possible to spruce up the ancient city for the millennium celebrations. The Romans are expecting more tourists next year than they had in the last five. The problem is the more they dig and clean, the more ruins they unearth and the more they have to maintain them! Quite, a task indeed. It was raining when we reached Rome and it still looked resplendent- in its unique bleiad of old world charm.
Matiz stories
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The visiting journalists met the marketing brains of Daewoo Italy, who have driven the Matiz message home to a mature car market. A quality product, big and bold advertising, dynamic dealerships and premium pricing are all reasons for the small car to sell 30,000 units in less than one vear since its launch. Quite an achievement in a market that is saturated with small cars of all sizes and shapes. It is a great sight to spot cars that are built in India all over the place. Hyundai has also done some good work and the Atoz (the European and Korean twin of the Santro) is also an established automobile in towns. The Atoz retails cheaper than the Matiz.
Do you know the real reason behind the success of the Matiz in Italy? It is not the 52 bhp three cylinder engine nor the 8-bit computer inside, but the looks. And one more thing is that the Matiz, folks, was designed by Feruccio Giugiaro, son of Gerogetto Giugiaro, the new force at Italdesign. All the more reason for the Italians to fall in love with it. Make it good and make it look good, then you can trust Italians to buy it.
Goa in Rome
A major dealership, we visited in Rome, had a very special Daewoo Matiz - the Goa edition. None of the touring scribes understood the relation between the medieval city, an erstwhile Portuguese domain, and a Korean automobile till the dealer himself explained things. Goa is a very popula