10 Brands That May Disappear in 2011

[LadyRider]

Just wanted to share:

24/7 Wall St. has created a new list of brands that may disappear, which includes

1. Readers Digest
2. Kia Motors
3. Dollar Thrifty
4. Zale
5. Blockbuster
6. T-Mobile
7. BP
8. RadioShack
9. Merrill Lynch
10. Moody's

To read more on these brands and others, see the full article at 24/7 Wall St.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...appear-in-2011

[CVT]

Favorite ko pa naman ang Reader's Digest....

10.3K:sumo:

[tachyon]

i doubt if Kia will disappear. Korea only produces 2 world class vehicle brands, Hyundai and Kia. Hyundai owns Kia which makes them a monopoly for Korean cars all over the world.

The presence/element of choice (even though there is none) is still a very powerful marketing strategy. and for Hyundai and Kia management, i can only see two departments competing for the best-produced cars. it's healthy competition imho.

[grail80]

i doubt if Kia will disappear. Korea only produces 2 world class vehicle brands, Hyundai and Kia. Hyundai owns Kia which makes them a monopoly for Korean cars all over the world.

The presence/element of choice (even though there is none) is still a very powerful marketing strategy. and for Hyundai and Kia management, i can only see two departments competing for the best-produced cars. it's healthy competition imho.

Kinda agree with Korea producing 2 world class vehicle brands. But to put things into some proper context, Daewoo is also one. Chevrolet Cruze, Spark and Aveo are rebadged Daewoo cars.

[uls]

Kia isnt gonna disappear

the manufacturing plants are not gonna be closed down

the article is saying the brand could disappear

the article meant kia cars could be sold under the Hyundai brand

could be

probably

maybe

[niky]

Kia isnt gonna disappear

the manufacturing plants are not gonna be closed down

the article is saying the brand could disappear

the article meant kia cars could be sold under the Hyundai brand

could be

probably

maybe

Still not bloody likely. Kia has a big dealership network that is actually turning a profit. And they're on good terms with Kia.

It's not like the GM situation where they're completely bankrupt and can drop dealers with impunity without fear of lawsuit.

It makes sense to drop a brand if the mother company is losing money and is in contraction... but to drop a brand that's expanding and is now earning strong money after coming back from the brink of bankruptcy? Not bloody likely. (I feel so British right now... )

[tachyon]

i frequent the intl. kia forums. the Kia soul is a hit among American teenagers. i've been to the US (east & west) also, i have seen more Kia Souls in the freeway than the Hyundai Tucson.

unless Hyundai makes it a Hyundai Soul

[niky]

Kia? Not bloody likely.

While GM had trouble keeping multiple brands like Chevrolet, Pontiac and Saturn running... that was with incredibly bad products in all line ups.

Hyundai-Kia has decent products in some spots and spectacular ones in others. I don't see Kia dying out soon. It's shaping up to be another Mazda. On the sidelines, but just good enough to keep on going globally.

[uls]

Merrill Lynch will become BofA Investment Management

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Re Kia

it is expensive for an auto company to maintain multiple brands

the article says Hyundai might dump the Kia brand and just maintain the Hyundai brand

[niky]

While it's true that multiple brands are more expensive to maintain, there is a logic to having them. Extended volume. Kia competes globally and has good market presence. It's actually outselling both Mitsubishi and Mazda globally.

With nearly 2m in sales per year, it's not exactly a gigantic drain on Hyundai's coffers to have a sub-brand which uses the same platforms, engines and parts (ala Ford-Mazda) and gives them extra market coverage.

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GM's problem (as cited in the article) was that it had multiple brands competing for the exact same customers in just one market (NorthAm). And the volumes were correspondingly lower, too.

What's worse... some of those products were just plain uncompetitive. Others sucked to high heaven

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Besides... Hyundai no longer owns a controlling majority of Kia... so heaven knows where the article writer got the stupid idea that Hyundai actually had the power to can the company...