We wonder if this is too cute.
Volkswagen has enlisted the help of an old celebrity to boost its line in a new brand: none other than a VW Beetle that talks and goes by the name “Max.” To tell the story of VW, old Max is playing the role of a talk show host. Shades of Herbie the love bug?
It is all part of VW’s effort to change its advertising moniker from “Drivers Wanted” to “Das Auto.”
VW has found the need to boost sales because the German auto maker is losing about $1 billion a year in the U.S. They hope that it will result in 800,000 sales a year by 2018.
There is some good arguments to using the Beetle. It is considered an icon in automotive history. It was a top import in the U.S. market right on through to the early ‘70s. Then VW stopped its production in 1979 for sale in the U.S. market although it was still being sold in developing markets like Mexico. The “new” Beetle came along in the early 1990s and just about saved VW in the U.S. market.
More can be found at Business Week. Our take? Still, a talking car? A talking car named Max? A talk show host talking car name Max? Will he mimic Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, or David Letterman?