Car Companies outraged at Top Gear AU

[TomCat]

I kinda agree with the Astra thing. That whole segment was boring, unfunny, and made me cringe watching those cars get smashed up.

The car soccer (football) on UK TopGear never made me cringe at all. That was hilarious good fun.

[Richmondgal]

I hope TGA is prepared for quite a few cold shoulders from car dealers. But Holden's taken it the wrong way and shouldn't be angry but be pleased that they used Astras. Even if they are damaged, it's (not so) cheap advertising.

[SL65]

Originally Posted by NEWS.com.au

http://www.news.com.au/entertainment...-10229,00.html

"When they revisit series two, they will encounter a lot of shut doors," said another.

^Thats just tough talk. They can shut their doors if they want, but it'll be their lose really.

[awdrifter]

The damages done to the Astras in the lawn bowl was unneccessary, or at least it's too soon to do such a segment. When TGUK did the car soccer with the Toyota Aygo, they had the history and relationship with Toyota so they would overlook the damage. I don't believe TGAU have that yet. But other than that, I don't see other minor damage and used up tires as that big of a problem. At most in S2 TGAU will have to foot the tire bill. That's not too bad.

[stiggie]

I doubt there will be a problem. Imagine if they wanted to do the car lawn bowls thing again in series 2 (they wouldn't obviously, but this is just an example). They could go to Holden and say "We'd like some Astra's for our lawn bowls segment, will you give them to us or would you prefer us to give 10 minutes of free prime time advertising to the Ford Focus instead?"

[melbournian]

Pfft, Holden got a beautifully shot, conceived and presented ten minute ad for the Astra and it cost them 30 grand. If they sold even one Astra off that segment they're already laughing. Man up, Holden.

That story did make me chuckle though, as do most stories of slightly unnecessary mechanical carnage.

[tone76]

Aussie car industry PR hacks are a bunch of fucking princesses. As such, TGA can't really get stuck into cars properly lest they run out cars to test because they hurt some prewcious widdle car maker's feelings.

FFS, it might have cost $30k to fix those Astras ... but compared to how much VW allegedly SBS to advertise on TGA for 3 x 30 second slots over 8 weeks, that's pretty cheap advertising for Holden.

If nothing else, this has bought some more publicity for TGA. Any publicity is good publicity ...

[TomCat]

Originally Posted by stiggie

I doubt there will be a problem. Imagine if they wanted to do the car lawn bowls thing again in series 2 (they wouldn't obviously, but this is just an example). They could go to Holden and say "We'd like some Astra's for our lawn bowls segment, will you give them to us or would you prefer us to give 10 minutes of free prime time advertising to the Ford Focus instead?"

Sort of depends on how dumb Holden thinks it's car buyers are.

If TGA wanted the Astras for an epic all-Astra challenge, with drag races, agility tests, stunt tests, and a road race... then I'm sure Holden would jump at it. But the whole lawn bowls thing was beyond stupid. If there was a single person who saw that segment and went immediately to Holden to buy an Astra because of lawn bowls, I would be sincerely surprised.

"I want an Astra!"
"Why?"
"Because they rolled a few off a ramp on TopGear."
"...Oh. Does it handle ramps good?"
"Not very well, no."
"Does it handle well?"
"Not really sure."
"Is it fast?"
"I think one got up to 10 mph."
"Are they cheap?"
"I sure hope so."

Now the car soccer on UK TopGear, that actually tested the cars quite well. It showed how peppy they were, how well they could handle and spin around, how maneuverable they were, etc. Those segments were good advertising for VW and Toyota.

[stiggie]

Its screen time TomCat, thats all that matter. It means that people who haven't really looked at the car much before got a good chance to check it out. It means that the car will come to mind quicker than a rival that the purchaser hasn't seen playing lawn bowls on TGA. This is an important concept in advertising. Some advertisers even use deliberatley annoying, absurd or offensive commercials just to make sure that their brand is in the back of everyone's minds, even though the ad doesn't make any argument for purchasing the product.

[NooDle]

the car bowls segment was the only one where I went 'why the hell are they doing this with brand new cars'?
But it was funny nonetheless...

I can sort of see where Holden is coming from, it's not like they were showing that they are good cars or anything, they could have done it with junkers with no engine and gotten the same result

[GT - R]

I dont get the Lamborghini , does that car need a respray after every 1000 km trip because of stone chips ?

( BTW didnt the Lambrghini Dealer said:"Buddy if tou scratch the Lambo you'll be sleeping with the fishes"? )

Seriuslly i dont get the 200 000 ins damages

Can someone give me examples ( i only remember Astras , and that Rav4 jump)

[D-Fence]

I guess the Lambo problem might come from TG UK getting cars from Lamborghini directly (as other big european magazines and TV shows do too), but TG AU might have rented one from a dealer (who has paid for the car and can't resale it with a chipped up paint).

As well, the Astra segment was stupid and I didn't like it neither, it was pointless. However, Holden got its prime time publicity, so...?
TG UK sure got the Aygos and Fox(es?) from the car companies for exactly that reason, to show them for a long time and make everyone remember "ah that aygo is a nimble, sporty, young and tough little sucker"

[DXPetti]

Silly stunts on Top Gear? What next? by Warren Brown
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574...007146,00.html

Checkmate?

[GT - R]

I think they should reply to these kind of things like clarkson reply'ed to people who did say that Top Gear couldn't do a sensible car review ( the fiesta review is in my opinion in the TOP 5 of all top gear clips)

[DXPetti]

Originally Posted by GT - R

I think they should reply to these kind of things like clarkson reply'ed to people who did say that Top Gear couldn't do a sensible car review ( the fiesta review is in my opinion in the TOP 5 of all top gear clips)

I imagine they will give a on screen rebuttal when they are back on the air (OT: THe fiesta review was awesome, driving cars through a shopping centre, how cool!)

Makes me crave TGA Season 2 even more

[stiggie]

I reckon it'll be gone and forgotten by the time they are back on the air.

[Bomber]

This is my comment at news.com that was buried amongst the rest:

The Astra Lawn bowls did seem like mindless destruction but the revelation that they weren't given the cars for this purpose does change things a bit. As for the test drive damage, I am stabbing in the dark and saying that it would be the equivalent of paying for advertisements on the show. Surely Lamborghini would only have to sell one extra car to cover the cost of the repairs. But all in all perhaps TGA is being a bit too reckless considering that they have an audience 1000 times smaller than Top Gear's (500 million versus 500,000).

[JPDyno]

Originally Posted by TomCat

Sort of depends on how dumb Holden thinks it's car buyers are.

If TGA wanted the Astras for an epic all-Astra challenge, with drag races, agility tests, stunt tests, and a road race... then I'm sure Holden would jump at it. But the whole lawn bowls thing was beyond stupid. If there was a single person who saw that segment and went immediately to Holden to buy an Astra because of lawn bowls, I would be sincerely surprised.

snip

Now the car soccer on UK TopGear, that actually tested the cars quite well. It showed how peppy they were, how well they could handle and spin around, how maneuverable they were, etc. Those segments were good advertising for VW and Toyota.

Exactly. The soccer segment started out as a review showing how smart the cost-reduction on the car was, and how a cheap runabout can be a good, and fun to drive car. You got alot out of it.

However the Astra segment i think has more in common with caravan conkers... in which they destroyed cars for the fun of it. I feel they should've used cars from the wreckers for the segment, with a bigger ramp.

Jeremys latest Fiesta segment is a perfect examply of how TG should work. Relevent information about the car, how it drives, practicality, all rolled into a stupid fun segment that makes everyone laugh. Next time i see a fiesta Im gonig to think "ahaha thats that wicked little car that outrun the corvette in the shopping mall".... The Astra lawn bowls was hardly memorable.

[efoolution]

Now that´s what I call good publicity ...

(no irony here, promise!)

[stevanford1]

I wonder why they don't mention all the manufacturers they talked to.

We have no appetite for automotive jackass, the spokesman for one of the damaged brands said

When they revisit series two, they will encounter a lot of shut doors said another