On the marketing of automotive products, the Peugeot 2008 Dakar Buggy and something Spotted on Sale with Ralliart on it.

You know automotive marketing has come a long way. These days manufacturers have motorsport divisions that promote their products through racing and this in turn sells their cars to the general public. It has now spilled over to a complete lifestyle thingy nowadays. You see a manufacturer promoting their latest SUVs with either a bicycle or a surfboard strapped on it. You also see rally cars parked beside their normal road versions.

Of course in those days (everything before 2005 or thereabouts) rally cars looked the same like their road going cars. These days, you look at the latest Peugeot Dakar Rally entrant and it looks nothing like the car it is supposed to be based upon. The French has always been like this as if you remember their WRC entrants never look like their road cars but again, this is quite preposterous. Look at the photo of the 2008 Dakar Buggy (at the start) and then look at the photo of the Peugeot 2008 (right above), which by the way has a bicycle in it. Marketing.

Then there are stuff like T-shirts, Umbrellas, key chains, caps, folding chairs, pens, note books with the name of the manufacturer put on them. These items make sense as manufacturers want to push a whole lifestyle to consumers out there. And these stuff also gets used at competition events too. Team T-shirts are used, umbrellas are used by the umbrella girls on track day as are caps and portable chairs. It all makes sense to produce these stuff for the fans and customers of the cars out there.

But then there are individuals out there who like to capitalize on the fad. And may I present to you the 'Perangkap Tikus Ralliart' or the 'Ralliart Mouse Trap'. Spotted on sale on mudah.my, this device uses the latest in mouse catching technology and is used by professional Ralliart teams around the world to capture rodents that plague workshops and mechanic's tents on rally stages throughout the world. Yeah riiiiiiiightttt.

Of all the things that enterprising people stick 'Ralliart', 'Mugen', 'VTEC' or any motorsport related logo on stuff this has to be the pinnacle of it all. Oh, it costs RM20 and according to the seller, 'barang agak rare dipasaran - rare item in the market. Honestly. Why? What? How?

Thank you Firdaus Asri, for the lead. Next round of teh tarik is on me.