The Onion TOYotaS Around With Ford
Someone forwarded me this story from theonion.com:
DETROIT—-Ford officials issued a massive recall of the entire 2010 Mustang line Tuesday, apologizing for a quality-control oversight that led to the company manufacturing a badass muscle car that was way too awesome for the American public.
“We deeply regret this lapse in judgment and accept full responsibility for the mistake,” Ford CEO Alan R. Mulally said standing beside a gorgeous, cherry-red vehicle recalled for being “way too smoking.” “After numerous road tests, we’ve found the car to be a mean, mean ride that Americans are simply not cool enough to handle, and it would be irresponsible of us to allow anyone to get behind the wheel of this killer car. It’s truly frightening how sweet the Mustang is.”
According to Mulally, Ford has canceled production on the 2011 Mustang, and will instead release a line of fuel-efficient vehicles in an effort to appeal to boring old Americans.
While not true, it did get me thinking…how great would it have been if Ford would have released this (minus the “boring old Americans” line, of course)? It’s no secret that Toyota has taken a major hit with their recall and their subsequent negligence on informing the public about the real problems with the vehicles. Silence, followed by a recall, followed by more silence is a recipe for PR disaster.
Also, other companies have jumped on the opportunity to tout how safe their cars are. Some even offer more money to car buyers if they bring their Toyotas to their dealerships.
If Ford would have released the above press release, would it have been in bad taste? Yeah, maybe. But, on the other hand, it isn’t a direct attack against Toyota, and the comedic style of it is far from venomous. Ford even has an icon on their fordvehicles.com site that mentions: Learn more about why Ford quality can’t be beat by Honda or Toyota. Sure, throw Honda under the bus, too!
Stephen Young
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