Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992 TAG: 9203060122
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TOKYO LENGTH: Medium
It was the first time an American automaker had used such a direct advertising approach in Japan, where U.S. cars are viewed by many Japanese as shoddily built gas-guzzlers.
"Please compare Cadillac Seville's fuel cost with that of Infiniti's Q-45," says a full-page display in four major Japanese newspapers.
Showing a Seville and a Nissan Infiniti parked at a gasoline pump, the ad says the GM car gets 16.2 miles per gallon in the city and 25.4 mpg on the highway, compared with 16.2 mpg city and 22.3 mpg highway for the Nissan.
"We want to put to rest the decade-old image of huge American gas-eaters that persists in Japan," said James E. Steinhagen, GM Japan's vice president for marketing, sales and service.
The ad marked the debut of a two-month campaign that departs from the traditional soft-sell approach used in Japan.
The full-page fuel economy comparison will appear in Asahi, Yomiuri, Mainichi, Sankei, Nikkei, Chunichi and Tokyo, newspapers with a combined nationwide circulation of more than 20 million copies a day, he said.
The U.S. share of Japan's car market was estimated at less than 0.4 percent of the more than 4 million cars sold in 1991.
Japanese vehicles hold about a 30 percent share of the U.S. market.
GM Japan imports about 10,000 General Motors cars a year, about a quarter-percent share of the Japanese market. No. 2 Japanese automaker Nissan exports more than 580,000 cars to the United States, enjoying a 4.7 percent share of the U.S. market.
Additional ads will compare GM and Japanese cars in size, price and quality, Steinhagen said.
GM's Cadillac Seville is offered at $57,600 in Tokyo, while Nissan's Infinity Q-45 is sold at a maximum of $48,800, depending on optional equipment.
GM Japan wouldn't reveal the cost of the advertising campaign. But a single full-page ad in Japanese national dailies costs between $154,000 and $177,000. The rate is discounted if several full-page ads are purchased within a period of months.
President Bush made selling more American cars in Japan a major focus of his visit in January, saying he wanted to create jobs for Americans. Bush brought along the chairmen of the Big Three automakers - GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp.
Autos and auto parts account for about three-fourths of the United States' annual $43 billion deficit in trade with Japan.
For years, American automakers have complained of the close relationships that bind Japanese automakers with dealers and auto-parts suppliers in Japan, saying they freeze out foreigners.
Japanese companies maintain that the Americans should make cars that the Japanese want to buy, and ensure better service.
Japanese complain that American cars are too big, expensive and trouble-prone, and have their steering wheels on the wrong side for Japanese traffic, which moves on the left-hand side of the road.
by CNB