CN CONFIDENTIAL: Samsung's Sydney sortie

The harbour city plays host to an unusual visitor, Benz spokesperson has his say on prestige pricing and journo's poor judgement hits Mazda for 6

Whether it's from the www, the latest motor show or the back doors of a carmaker near you, Carsales Network Confidential features the good oil other sources either won't publish, don't care about or don't know. Heard an automotive rumour or new model tip? Then let us know - editor@carpoint.com.au

Sydney backdrop for Samsung photo shoot?
It happens every once in a while... a company will decide to film a TV commercial in Australia for an as yet unreleased car.

The current BMW 7 Series was spotted in South Yarra back in 2008 -- over 12 months before the car's local launch.

On one other occasion a film crew from overseas turned up in Melbourne's Docklands precinct to put together a TV commercial for a new Nissan -- and the local Nissan management team reportedly heard about it only after the film crew had been and gone.

Now, as observed by regular reader Derek Mascarenhas, a company that doesn't even sell cars in Australia has dispatched a car to Sydney. The vehicle in question is a Samsung SM5, a small ('C segment') sedan that has only been sold in South Korea, to date. Samsung, possibly better known here for consumer electronics, is owned by Renault and builds the Koleos for the French company.

Renault has consistently argued against importing the products of another budget-brand subsidiary, Dacia, to Australia, so we think it's unlikely that the Samsung marque will make it here as a stand-alone operation -- but who knows what the future holds?


Brickbats for 'briquettes'
David McCarthy is not known to back away from a fight. As Senior Manager Corporate Communications for Mercedes-Benz, he has been a vigorous defender of his employer's position in all things.

When Benz announced the release of the facelifted R 350 CDI last week, he was straight on the phone to point out that the new R-Class variant represented a $12,000 improvement in value for the buyer -- a point likely to be missed by vocal opponents of alleged 'rip-off prices' charged by prestige importers.

McCarthy had noted with interest the Carsales Network's interview with Audi MD Uwe Hagen the week before and was prepared to offer broad support for the points made by Hagen at the time.

"I would say to those ill-informed people who don't do their research -- who don't compare model for model -- and that make an assumption that our prices are unreasonable, they actually need to compare apples with apples, not pineapples with briquettes," he said.

McCarthy, speaking in the specific case of Benz, explained that the importer had been steadily reducing the purchase price or enhancing the standard equipment of its products for the past five years -- at least.

"These value equations that we do; there's not been one case, one model, that we've released in the last four years where there hasn't been at least a four-figure -- and in some cases five-figure -- customer value advantage over the previous model."

With Benz introducing cars at prices actually lower than anticipated, there has been a domino effect among the company's competitors. The price announced for the W204 C 63 AMG led Lexus to revisit the pricing of its IS F model, for instance.

McCarthy lent support to Hagen's views and suggested that buyers genuinely concerned about the cost of a new prestige vehicle could look closer at the part the federal government has to play in the on-road price.

"I think what the Audi chap [Uwe Hagen] said is absolutely right. There's significant cost -- and if people want to point the bone at additional cost, I suggest they point it at Canberra. There is not harmony in safety regulations and emission requirements and fuel requirements with Europe or America," he explained.

It was McCarthy's further contention that people complaining about the price of new cars were drawing an analogy with the cost of a holiday overseas -- often their only personal exposure to the impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations on a budget. And a two-week holiday is a very different proposition from buying an inventory of cars to last a dealer network a year or more.

"Our currency is bought a long time forward and that has a cost as well. We're buying motor vehicles, we're not getting on a Jetstar flight to Bali. We're not buying a small amount of currency for the next two weeks..."

Globally, Benz has turned a profit in the last year, after a posting a loss a year earlier. Even so, the profit for 2010 was a fraction of the sort of profit a milkbar owner can earn from a chocolate bar.

"We're a long way from being the most profitable industry in the world. It's high turnover..."

McCarthy leaves the statement hanging, but the clear conclusion is that the profit doesn't reflect anything like the revenue. Precise figures for Daimler AG last year were €97.8 billion group revenue, versus Net profit of €4.7 billion. At least that's better than savings account interest -- for those who still remember that concept.


I brake for no one - but myself
When a car company -- let's call it 'Mazda' -- lays on an opportunity to drive a high-tech pre-production car in the safe environment of a local racetrack, who wouldn't grab said opportunity with both hands?

But surely some degree of commonsense would prevail among those invited to drive the car, wouldn't you think?

The occasion was the first local drive of the TPV pre-production car with the new SKYACTIV-D engine; the venue was Sandown racetrack to the south-east of Melbourne.

Mazda brought along two current-model Mazda6 variants as benchmarks for the TPV. One of the cars was a diesel with a manual transmission and the other was powered by the 2.5-litre petrol engine driving through an automatic transmission.

Now Steve Maciver, Mazda's PR manager, let the journalists involved know well in advance of driving the TPV that speed should be limited to 150km/h and that it should be treated with kid gloves. The replacement cost for this hand-built vehicle, we were later told, would be $300,000.

In fairness to the journalists there on the day, the TPV survived unscathed. But bearing in mind that the TPV couldn't/shouldn't be driven at race speeds, where was the logic in driving the nuts off the two production cars?

One unnamed journalist was plainly driving the two production vehicles at what passed for '10/10ths' -- in his mind. By the time it was the turn of the Carsales Network's representative to drive the diesel, the brakes were literally smoking and the petrol car's brakes packed up with what was diagnosed by a Mazda technician as a warped disc.

Just because Mazda has chosen a racetrack for a venue doesn't mean that the cars have to be driven in an abusive manner. Sandown is a relatively open track and the Mazdas were unlikely to be reaching the sort of high speeds that required such heavy braking. And if the company wanted some speed freak to set a new land-speed record, the event management staff wouldn't have placed chicanes of witches' hats on both straights, would they?

If it all sounds like sour grapes on our part, it wasn't just the Carsales writer put out by the thoughtless driving of the person concerned. Half the media contingent was yet to drive the cars at that point and Mazda had to cast around for a spare petrol model to stand in for the car that retired, hors d' combat.

We're not actually opposed to giving a car a bit of stick in a closed environment like Sandown, but if a driver is sharing the car with others on the day, surely a duty of care is implicit in his or her use of the vehicle?


Toyota lines up for Amarok?
One of the interesting rumours -- but not altogether surprising if true -- at the Volkswagen Amarok launch in Tassie was the one concerning the first of VW's impressive new light commercial vehicles to touch down here.

Word has it that the first customer for the Amarok, well ahead of the vehicle's official launch, was Toyota...


Opel no threat in Oz, says local VW chief
Volkswagen's local MD, Anke Koeckler is nonchalant about fellow German brand -- and GM property -- Opel entering the local market.

While it's standard operating procedure for the any company boss to talk up her (or his) own brand, it's fairly clear that Koeckler's lack of concern comes from a place beyond the normal promotional and marketing hype from a car company on the ascendancy.

Her attitude towards Opel stems from her German market perception of the GM brand, which was on the cusp of being sold during the GFC -- before GM had a change of heart and decided to retain the iconic company.

"There was a big uncertainty for the [German] customer," said Koeckler, referring to the domestic market's response to the news that Opel was one of the companies GM was looking to offload during its fire sale period around the time it was facing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

As she explained, Opel was once -- about 15 years ago -- a serious competitor to Volkswagen, but in the post-GFC era the company's sales volumes have plummeted. When it was put to her that her 'native' point of view was colouring her assessment of how well the Opel brand will go in Australia, she had other points to make.

It takes a long time to establish a new brand in a country. Fiat and Renault aren't even 'new' brands, properly speaking, but those two companies have failed to gain traction since re-entering the local market after abandoning Australia years earlier. Opel has effectively no history in the country, other than among Holden enthusiasts who recognise the German company's input in the design of the Commodore and the production of some imported products. Even then, we surmise, Holden enthusiasts who recall the German origins of the VB Commodore might be thinking that it was the car that Holden "fixed" after Opel failed to build it strong enough for Australia.

"It won't hurt," said Koeckler about Opel entering the market -- on the basis that the brand has nothing like VW's brand profile here and it's unlikely that all but the very best-informed buyers will even consider one a competitor to the other.

Koeckler foresees problems ahead for GM, when it comes to distinguishing the Holden and Opel brands in Australia. With Holden providing some of the backroom support for Opel and its distribution network, there are bound to be some multi-franchise dealers selling both Holden and Opel products. Opel Astra too expensive? Sell the buyer a Cruze instead... Corsa in short supply? Sell the buyer a Barina instead.

And it may work the other way too, with Opel potentially cannibalizing Holden sales.

"Is it worth it?" Koeckler asked rhetorically, suggesting that a new brand in the country, supported by Holden, would have to work hard in the short term just to shift 5000 units per annum -- a figure that's roughly commensurate with what long-established brand Peugeot has managed to achieve over the past two years. It's Koeckler's contention that a mass-market brand like Holden possibly wouldn't want the added burden of a struggling, largely unknown brand on its plate.

And it's entirely possible that Koeckler speaks from experience, because most of the problems she presents for Holden and Opel sound like they've been written from the Volkswagen and Skoda script, we would suggest...

Holden pays homage to engineer of "Australia's Own Car"
Holden lost the last remaining engineer to have worked on the original 48-215 (later known as the FX) this week, Mr Jack Rawnsley.

Considered royalty among Holden employees past and present, Mr Rawnsley passed away on Monday aged 99. He will be remembered as one of a small team of Australia's best engineers sent to Detroit in 1945 to help develop the foundations for "Australia's Own Car".

After three years in the States, Mr Rawnsley returned to Australia to oversee the 48-215's design, and ensure the vehicle was capable of enduring our country's harsh conditions -- a quality Holden has been proud of ever since.

"Jack and his colleagues were true pioneers and paved the way not just for Holden's success, but the Australian automotive industry as a whole," said current Holden chairman and managing director, Mike Devereux.

"With Jack's sad passing we lose a cherished link with our past. But a daily reminder of his extraordinary work is his legacy of designing, engineering and manufacturing the best possible cars for Australian motorists."

The Carsales Network joins Holden in extending our deepest sympathies to Mr Rawnsley's daughter Brenda, son John, extended family members and friends.

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