Smart is as Smart Drives

The marketing of cars has always been a fascination for me and I as I write this I am on a train down the Hudson river to New York to learn about the way Ferrari and Maserati do things in the US.  Yet in recent years the excitement in car marketing have come in little known cars such as the Logan (the low cost car from Renault) and the Scion (the semi secret Toyota brand for US youngsters).   The change in the price of oil has changed the structure of the US automobile market, and it looks like a permanent one.  A couple of years back when Daimler said it would introduce the Smart car into the USA many people thought it was a joke. No American would buy this Micky Mouse car.  What a difference an extra $100 a barrel makes!  The car is now sold out in the US, and is perfectly fitted to the run-around-town life style that so many Americans live. So not surprising that in the home of baseball, Cooperstown, I caught site of my first US registered Smart car.  Cooperstown is in the Leatherstocking district of New York State; not a normal spot for anything cool except the hard winters. A Smart is a site more to be expected amidst the graffiti covered walls of Bologna, and yet when the crowds stepped aside it remarkably at home. At the moment the upholstery business is struggling as big cars lose popularity and the housing market continues to decline but this is a temporary thing and the real question is how buyers of small cars can be persuaded to load them in the way the do bigger cars with electronics and leather.   The BMW Mini is the example to be followed as it has consistently sold over half the cars with leather upholstery and in July according to the WSJ it was the third “hottest” model selling in the US.   John Cooper makes the difference The BMW Mini is offering even further customization through its John Cooper Works editions. Mini and VW Golf GTI ranges include seats in two-tone trims, showing scope for smaller hide sizes and a wider range of hides being used.   Hopefully ths brief downturn will remind the industry that for leather to work the consumer has to be able to recognise it, and some of the heavily coated corrected items that have called themselves leather need to be removed from the automobile trade to protect the image of the real thing. Pakistan could be cool For a while BMW tested buffalo hides on the top range and Pakistan buffalo is now beginning to be tested.  This highlights how important Pakistan raw material is both in quality and quantity at a time when we can foresee raw stock problems world wide. For all Pakistan is in the news for the wrong geopolitical issues right now we should look for it to become a major force in leather going forward.  The Limited Edition range of bags about to go on line after a very successful spell in the local market are typical. They are produced by Nova Leathers of Karachi who are better known for their leather and garments but managed by the bright spirit “Aisha” the bags have real character. And as for Cooperstown; it’s more cool than you expext and sporting the new habit in the US of the ladies in cowboy boots; even down to the younger teens.   Mike Redwood on the Hudson River August 2008     WSJ Wall Street Journal   If you wish to contribute to the APLF News, with your experiences in the industry, your observations, or general thoughts on the direction the industry is going, we would like to hear from you. Email: aplf-news@aplf.com How long has your company been attending APLF? If you wish to be involved in the celebration of the 25th anniversary of APLF, we would like to hear from you. Email: aplf-news@aplf.com. Subject Headline: APLF 25th Anniversary