June 15th, 2009 
Journo For quite some time I have been an advocate of NASCAR speaking with other “foreign” manufacturers about the possibility of them entering the sport. I was delighted this weekend to hear from Brian France that in fact the sport has been engaged, if even just preliminarily, in those discussions.
Obviously with the pullback of funding by General Motors, Chrysler and Ford in the last year this issue has become particularly pertinent. While they are indeed pulling back, the executives at all of these companies have maintained the marketing efforts are still worthwhile for them.
I read a comment on a story questioning why any manufacturer would want to enter the sport. The fact of the matter is, if this weren’t making these companies money and showcasing their product to their key demographic, they wouldn’t continue their participation.
While I can’t say I am the biggest advocate of the “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” mantra, I do think there is a lot of value in this sport for these and other manufacturers. As much fun as all this may be, none of these companies are in the charity business (you might argue they are in the business of accepting charity; that’s another issue though). If they were losing money on their marketing efforts in the sport believe they wouldn’t be spending as much as they do.
Take Toyota as an example. When they entered the sport several years ago, I recall hearing an executive say they were not in the sport to sell the Camry; it was already the best selling car in America. Instead they were here to market their line of pickups. They were interested in competing with Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge. I don’t have sales figures in front of me, so I can’t tell you how successful that has been, but Toyota must find some value in the sport because they have continued to ramp up their support through the years.
This value they have found within the sport has to look appealing to other’s considering making the jump. While I won’t speculate which companies are considering this, let’s look at some companies who are eligible to compete.
Honda is the most obvious and most commonly brought up contender to join NASCAR. They have been active in F1 (though they have sold their interests there), IRL, ALMS and many other racing series. Honda Racing executives in the past have openly discussed their lack of interest in the sport despite the obvious marketing advantages. In 2005 Honda’s then racing chief Robert Clarke thinly mocked NASCAR’s requirement of a push-rod engine.
With Clarke now retired since early last year though, it would be interesting to see where they stand on the issue today.
Another obvious and often named contender is Hyundai. They build their mid-size Sonata sedan in a plant in Montgomery, Ala. The sport has to look attractive to Hyundai. NASCAR’s demo fits right in line with their own and as they look to take up more of the US market share, they have to be considering new ways to market their product.
The big problem with Hyundai is their lack of any real assemblage of motorsports involvement. It is unclear whether Hyundai would be willing to put out the money for development of an archaic engine for the sport.
Nissan could also consider entry into the sport, but their limited involvement in motorsports around the world makes me wonder how much value they put in this type of marketing effort. While Nissan and Hyundai are both older companies, they seem to have very different goals. You would think if they were interested in motorsports they would have gotten involved (more heavily than they have) somewhere by now.
A couple of other names tossed out are BMW and Mercedes-Benz. I saw today on ESPN that their insider section had a rumor about BMW talking to NASCAR. While these are two companies with roots firmly in racing, it doesn’t really make sense to me why either of them would want to be involved in NASCAR. Let’s be honest, the NASCAR crowd is not a BMW or MB crowd. Consider that the average BMW buyer pulls in $149,000 per year and the average Mercedes Benz buyer makes $163,00 per year. Only 16% of NASCAR’s fans make over $100,000. Unless these automakers are hoping to attract their core demographic to the sport (which seems useless), it really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for them to spend the money on entry. But I guess you never know.
I think as Mr. France made clear, these efforts are a long way off. Though I think the possibility of a new manufacturer entering the sport is an exciting one. I know there are many out there that disagree with me, but in an increasingly globalized world, and increasingly diverse sport why not welcome a new company with open arms, even if they do have a funny name.
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I think that if Honda enters the sport, it’ll be through a joint push from Hendrick and Ganassi. Hendrick has longstanding ties to Honda (both legal and illegal) while Ganassi has the historical racing ties via IndyCar. I’d mention Penske here as well, but I see him as being more likely to go to Toyota via his dealer ties, and eventually on to Saturn.
I agree that BMW and Mercedes-Benz make very little sense; they’re focused on an entirely different demographic than the typical NASCAR fan, not to mention the fact that neither company’s US operations are doing too well.
What I fear from the entry of more foreign competitors are reactions similar to what we heard when Toyota entered the sport, especially from people like Jack Roush. But I would hope that the Big Three’s recent struggles will keep those comments to a minimum, especially as the “foreign” companies are employing more and more Americans than the Big Three.
I just don’t know if I could handle another import in the the top three series. This is something to really think about. I know it is becoming neccessary, but being old school NASCAR, I’m just too use to the american iron running around the track. But then again we have accepted toyota. I guess it is coming so I’ll just have to deal with it.
Honda seems clearly the most logical to get into NASCAR and I would love to see it. What’s wrong with more competition?
Does today’s NASCAR fan even have brand loyalty to a manufacturer anymore? I wonder.
NASCAR “was” about brand loyalty w/ the balance of driver and team loyalty left over. It’s now all about driver loyalty w/ just a hint of team loyalty mixed in. The evolution of stock (showroom) to COT spec makes the brand seem vanilla and irrelevant. Heck, Gibbs jumped to Toyota and fans still bought Smoke & Hamlin swag. If JR jumps to Hyundai or Kia I’m sure JR Nation will follow.
The carburated push rods will eventually (not too far off) disappear.
IMO foreign mfgs will get involved for the same reason Winston did decades ago. Free (indirect) advertising some 100+ events annually based on top 3 series. In sight…in mind!
How about VW, love to see them in NA$CAR, and change the COT into a car that looks like the real cars, 4 door cars on the street, should be 4 door cars on the tract, like the touring cars over in Europe. I want to relate to the cars and drivers, not the engines and drivers.
Long term effect, continued slump in TV ratings and attendence. Will drive another generation of fans away, the ADD newer fans aren’t hardcore enough.
VW…they’re building a new plant in Chatannooga,TN and will also supply engines to the IRL.
I recently wrote my own blog posting and essentially had the same conclusion as you. I agree that foreign automakers would be good for the sport. And, I think that the luxury brands would be out of place.
The one thing that might hinder entry is that none of the foreign makers build v8s. But, Toyota didn’t when it started out, so it obviously can be done.
How much do you think Hyundai will suffer because it is preceived as a weak (horsepower-wise) brand? Do you think they can overcome that and lure teams to them?
Also, what do you think about Saturn joining NASCAR? Now that they have a connection in Roger Penske, I think it could be coming in the future.
Thanks. Good blog posting.
You know, it’s funny. F1 has the elite luxury cars and when I went to an F1 race (Imola) I thought it was going to be all fancy and Robin Leech and champaign. It was just a Euro NASCAR crowd (albeit mostly men who like to play grab ass on the way to your seat.)
Are marketing objectives different in F1?
What you are talking about is really a fundemental change in the racing series that we have called Nascar. It is a total 180% change from the past. Some of us will just not want to see that, and will look for some other way to spend our time and money. There are already places to watch these other makes race. I guess some of us we will just have more time for other things, and that will probably be a good thing in the long run. But we will still miss the racing.
I would suggest that if more foreign automakers enter NA$CAR. They should bring a bunch of foreign fans with them.
First, I’d whole-heartedly agree BMW and Mercedes is far from possible, the demos just doesn’t match-up.
Nissan in fact pulled all North American racing support in Dec. 2007. Scott Vazin, Director of Product Communications for Nissan Motor Company saying, “we’ll keep a presence around the world.”
I will say they have started support of Japanese Super GT under the NISMO banner racing the new GT-R this season. What that means in the long run is anyone’s guess.
One brand not noted is Mazda. They build the Mazda 6, named Atenza in some markets, at their plant in Flat Rock, Michigan. The company hasn’t been known for the racing endeavors, but in today’s market who knows what happens next.
I my view the most likely new entrant would be Honda. They were looking at NASCAR very early on and previous to the entry of Toyota. A dispute over NASCAR’s “Engine of the Future” in 2004-05 sent them running for the hills. (Or Mt Fuji take your pick)
With Honda pulling out of F1 they save an estimated one half billion dollars per season. That’s a lot of cash that could be spent in NASCAR, but it’s a big if.
The largest drawback for any car maker is the antiquated V8 engine NASCAR uses. It’s hardly the time to change given the economy but sooner or later they must change to something that more closely resembles what the Dale Jr. wannabes drive to the Dairy Queen after the races.
And finally the “backlash” that may come of another foreign entry to NASCAR.
To hell with them, when Toyota announced and then entered Cup a couple websites popped-up that were very anti-Toyota, and a few (very few) protesters were at some events.
They were quickly shown to be far out xenophobes with the intellectual curiosity of a one celled animals. Their websites were suspended by their hosts for posting hate speech and the onsite protesters melted into the background.
dawg – “I would suggest that if more foreign automakers enter NA$CAR. They should bring a bunch of foreign fans with them.”
Dawg a simple question, How do you watch any NASCAR races?
Why might I ask that?
Simple, with your attitude on foreign car makers in NASCAR it’s easy to conclude you don’t own any televisions as there haven’t been any made in the good old US of A in three or four decades.
P.S. dawg, how do you feel about all them damn “feriners” in major league baseball?
Ross – Yes, in Europe, many of those manufacturers are trying to reach a different demo. BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Renault in particular offer both “standard” cars and luxury cars, as do Honda and Toyota. The marketing gets changed somewhat here; BMW and Mercedes-Benz are obviously high-end, and the other two offer their high end cars through Acura and Lexus.
On the other hand, there are a few purely high-end teams in F1, including Ferrari and McLaren. (Those teams also seem to be the ones up in arms about the possible rule changes.)