Which Automakers Own Which Brands?
The Ford Motor Company also had some serious expansion plans back in the day, at one point bundling five brands in its Premier Automotive Group. Included were Lincoln, along with Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo, and with the Mercury division still in business at the time, the automaker was responsible for seven brands. Ford is still the best-selling auto brand in the country, though only Lincoln remains from the others. The Honda Motor Company was the very first Japanese automaker to launch a premium brand specifically for U.S. Acura division in 1986. An immediate success, Acura sold more vehicles in 1990 than BMW and Lexus combined, and in 1991, the brand offered its first supercar, the Acura NSX. Today, with an all-new NSX at dealerships, perhaps sales success will return for Acura. The just-mentioned Lexus brand opened for business in 1989 and was the Toyota Motor Company鈥檚 answer to Honda鈥檚 Acura and Nissan鈥檚 Infiniti brands. As for the relative success of that trio in 2017, it was Lexus that outsold the combined efforts of its two archrivals in the most recent month of sales results.
It provides more back-seat space than the Japanese crossovers, and its cargo space is above the mean for the class, but there's no third-row seat--that's the province of the bigger LR4. Recent updates also helped improve the LR2's fuel economy, though it's still not quite class-leading, and lags behind that of its Evoque counterpart. Despite its more traditional role in the Land Rover family, the LR2 embodies the same upscale heritage. It's not nearly as quick as the latest BMW X3 nor as efficient, and it's probably just as off-road-capable as the Benz GLK, not more so. But like those two utes and above all the other contenders, there's some real upper crust in the LR2's folded fenders and in its green-and-silver badge. The LR2 is sold in just one drivetrain configuration in the U.S. The former in-line six-cylinder was sent packing in favor of the same 240-horsepower, 2.0-liter turbo four found in the Evoque.
Itcan acquit itself in off-road travel. But who, in his or her rightmind, would attempt such a thing? It would be akin to planning anevening at a landfill in black tie or gown. I was tempted. Remodeling of the minor sort continues apace onour Northern Virginia house. Such endeavors yield lots of trash -- and much aging junk that never should have been bought in the firstplace. I was planning to load the Range Rover for several runs tothe Fairfax County Landfill in Lorton. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. The vehicle was too pretty, too precious. 30,000 less than the Range Rover Sport Supercharged.The Yukon has a maximum 109 cubic feet of cargo space. But that is exactly the point, which raises the question: How doyou make a ceremonial elephant dance? In the case of the Range RoverSport Supercharged, carrying a factory weight of 5,816 pounds, yougive it a big V-8 engine and a sophisticated suspension (four-wheelindependent, double wishbone front-rear, ride control and heightadjustable) designed to make it appear nimble. This almost works. The supercharged 5-liter, 32-valve V-8 (510horsepower, 461 foot-pounds of torque) installed in the Range RoverSport (thus the 'Supercharged' moniker for this one) is anundoubtedly robust engine. It produces such thrust you almost haveto warn passengers before tapping the accelerator. It's not nimble. It remains a truck, and trucks, by genetics anddesign, remain the elephants of the vehicle world. Real-world experience says you don't want to drive the RangeRover Sport Supercharged in congested, contentious urban traffic.It's still too big, too heavy and too clumsy to find true happinessin that sort of outing. Nor would you, or should you, attempt totake tight curves at high speeds in this one. The Sport Supercharged comes admirably equipped with compensatoryelectronics -- patented 'All-terrain Dynamic Stability Control,'cornering brake control, and emergency braking assistance. But notone of them is engineered to overcome the laws of physics.
Sociocultural factors that may influence the automotive industry may include the decreasing size of families and increasing numbers of singles, especially with the ageing and increasing population. In a time where the cost of oil is high, the demand for fuel-efficient smaller cars will increase. This is currently being seen, not only in developing countries like India and China, but also in Western countries, for example where Focus has outsold Falcon in Australia8. Other social factors may include cars that are 鈥榯rendy鈥?and the social networking technology in them that may become popular, for example, Ford鈥檚 SYNC9 technology which is a voice controlled, device integration and connectivity interface. Technological factors have become extremely important in the automotive industry as companies try to compete in alternative fuel markets such as plug-in hybrids and battery electric vehicles. Technology can also reduce costs of production, improve quality and lead to innovation. These developments can benefit consumers as well as the organisations providing the products. It would be extremely important for automotive companies to have a research and development technological strategy to compete in the current environment.
