Oh, sure it's been cute. Plucky little Mini has been publicly poking and prodding Porsche, by challenging the sports-car maker to a race at Road Atlanta.
Predictably, Porsche has turned them down (just as Mini surely suspected they would) presumably on the grounds that the company has nothing whatsoever to gain from playing Mini's game. What's the upside? Porsche beats Mini? Nah. Instead Porsche invited Mini to come to a real sanctioned road race where the company might find many a Porsche competing for more than just publicity.
You might remember that Cadillac and Bob Lutz took a similar approach during its CTS-V Challenge last year (although even Cadillac had the grace to not call out any manufacturer specifically). Porsche declined for essentially the same reason then. All of which explains why we've largely ignored Mini's fruitless publicity stunt.
Now Hyundai, seeing an almost irresistible opportunity to piggy-back on some other company's marketing dollars, produced the little video above, calling out Mini. We're starting to like this whole thing a little better now. And the footage of the Hyundai Coupe from Road Atlanta is pretty excellent. The company even managed to get in a plug for Rhys Millen's Hyundai-powered effort to take the record at Pike's Peak.
felonious says:
01:46 PM, 06/18/10
Wow, that is one serious man-sized gauntlet!
brn says:
01:58 PM, 06/18/10
Porsche didn't turn them down. They counter offered.
Porsche suggested Mini compete in any sanctioned racing event in which Porsche raced.
Mini ignored Porsche's challenge (cause they'd get their butt kicked). Who's backing down now?
csubowtie says:
02:43 PM, 06/18/10
I LOVE IT!!!! Who's down for a little Manufacturer Cage match? Ford did something like this too to promote the Ecoboost instead of a V8. I understand fancy brands have nothing to gain from this, but it does make them look pompous. I think they should feel free to demonstrate their ass whooping power, or be brought to their knees.
half_ton says:
03:03 PM, 06/18/10
+1000 felonious!!
Nothing more needs to be said.
blueguydotcom says:
09:41 PM, 06/18/10
Found the Mini thing amusing and Porsche's answer smart and fun too. Hyundai's "me-too" jump into the fray... whatever. Just stay out of it, Hyundai.
tmanz says:
10:42 PM, 06/18/10
Looks like a 5 year old kid of a Hyundai employee put that clip together.
subytrojan says:
10:54 PM, 06/18/10
I disagree with many of you.
Well done, Hyundai! :o)
brn says:
11:00 PM, 06/18/10
I was finally able to watch the video. At least Mini set their own challenge. OK, they wussed out when it came to Porsche challenge.
Hyundai comes across as the runt, jumping up and down, screaming "me too". Lame.
The only one looking good in all this is Porsche. Everyone says they want to play with Porsche, but none are actually willing to.
stovt001 says:
02:04 AM, 06/19/10
I'm firmly on Porsche's side. They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. If the Mini wins...well it is obvious how bad that would look. If they win, it would be like me challenging a professional boxer to a match and the boxer punching my lights out - he'd just look like a bully beating up a scrawny little kid.
I thought Hyundai's video seemed a bit childish and "Hey! Look at Me! Me too!"-ish. They just don't seem comfortable and assured with their success. And who picked that font and that song?
If you want a really good marketing showdown, Audi and BMW's billboard wars are far more entertaining.
cah11705 says:
09:20 PM, 06/19/10
A little off topic, but why is Isuzu a category for this?
Now more on topic, this is excellent marketing, but I don't think anybody outside of gearheads who follow this kind of thing regularly would really hear about it.
captainvw says:
07:49 PM, 07/ 7/10
HELL YEAH HYUNDAI...very badass