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Originally Posted by Teretonga
Look at the years of Cooper, McLaren, BRM, and Lotus as a powerhouse organisations in the 58-80's and while there is nostalgia about the great years no one would get upset about renames.
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Do you suppose Formula One success is or is not important for establishing Ferrari, McLaren and Lotus as popular sports vehicle brands?
I don't recall if Geely owned Lotus the most recent time Lotus cars were in Formula One, but they do now and are trying to push the brand heavily into the luxury car space with a 2200kg EV performance SUV which simplifies and adds lightness.
As for not getting upset, McLaren deliberately did not sell to Audi so as to not lose the McLaren name, so I'm not so sure that the McLaren name isn't important to McLaren Racing... Interestingly, Audi didn't rebrand Ducati to Audi (neither the MotoGP team nor road vehicles), however exotic motorcycles is a bigger market than exotic sportscars due to the relatively lower prices I suppose.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teretonga
Anoraks and enthusiasts who were there in those years with the memories, yes, they have the nostalgia and respect of those eras but in this day and age, no.
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Renault are trying to use Formula One to promote Alpine, but it seems they are having have little success. Apart from anoraks who already knew about previous Alpine sportscars and their past racing & rallying exploits anyway, it seems name recognition of Alpine with the general public is still very poor compared to Ferrari name recognition.
Would Matra road vehicles have still sold well without the Formula One team?