Sometimes, numbers speak for themselves. How about “seven.” Seven consecutive years of sales records for Subaru of America. And it didn’t have to wait until the end of the year to tally those numbers. It broke it in 11 months. How about “five.” Subaru’s U.S. sales rose 5% last year, putting it just about five years ahead of its sales volume schedule. January was its 50th straight month of growth. It has a good problem: production capacity can barely meet demand. Two-thirds of buyers are new to the brand. Tom Doll, CEO of Subaru of America, Inc., is the rare …

Visuals are great for a consumer-facing automotive site, and brands like Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and BMW already have that going on in spades. But none of that stacks up if you don’t provide a one-click, intuitive, function-driven shopping experience of the kind consumers demand. Their experiences are informed, after all, by the kinds of digital commerce they now are doing every day on channels like Amazon, and a hundred other places where they order products. Jeep understands that what consumers want most from the manufacturer’s website is the ability to price and build a vehicle to the specifications they demand. And …

We love villains. We love Danny Trejo. Yes, his head ended up on top of an exploding turtle in “Breaking Bad,” but don’t count that against Machete. He’s still someone you wouldn’t want to cross. In other words, a perfect car dealer.  FCA’s Dodge division, perhaps playing on the idea that the visit to the dealership is about as anxiety-producing as double-crossing a cartel, crafted a Spanish-language campaign that everyone will relate to, and will go out of their way to translate, even as they go out of their way to avoid the antagonist.  Dodge needs the mojo. The Hispanic …

Automakers do test-drive events for some very good reasons, principal among them being that people go in consumers and come out customers. But how does one get them to put you on their busy calendar? Some car companies entice them with food, some with performances and lifestyle events, and some with a promotional offer for getting their butts in seats. Jaguar dangled something different, combining the test-drive experience with an acting gig in an action movie.  The automaker has spent the last couple of years establishing itself, with the help of dedicated agency Spark44, as a dark challenger to the …

Until last year, Ford had never developed a unifying brand idea for its cars the way it had with “Built Ford Tough” for its trucks. Now, with “Ford by Design,” there’s a unifying idea for Ford’s car line. To be honest, there had been no need for such a thing back when a Taurus was its own brand and Mustang wouldn’t go near it. But now, after several years of serious product-development work, including a concerted effort to develop a design language across all products, it was clearly time to tie it all together. And the automaker did so with …