Volvo S40 Adverts....

Hey...

Has anyone else seen Volvo's adverts for the S40? Not sure if it's been
posted and I've just missed it, so sorry if it's been posted before...

The advert's about a town called Dalaro, where they claim 32 people bought
the S40 from the same garage on the same day - a garage that doesn't ever
sell that many cars in a year. Esp if you're on broadband, it's worth a
look, cos there's a twist in the tale. I'd watch this first:

http://www.news40.volvocars.co.uk/flash/default.asp

Then go to the site of the "filmmaker" and view his personal edit of the
documentary...

http://www.carlossoto.com/

If you haven't got it by then, I'd take a look at this site, which will
explain it!

http://www.revolutionmagazine.com/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=ViewNewsArticle&ID=202355

My dad told me about the ad, but after watching it I thought something was
odd, so went looking! Interesting style of advertising - certainly is
getting people thinking!

Mark

 

All that much work to sell a Ford Focus?

 

Ford Focus yeah right.... Just because the frame will be used in the next
gen European focus, and is used in the Mazda 3 (no one mentions this little
gem of a car with the Volvo, it truely is a good small car).

Went to the autoshow today, i'd buy the S40 without even driving it... Just
sitting inside and looking at it made me want to buy it. It's as Volvo as
any of the other cars, and looks better then the rest of them.

 

I have seen the S40 september last year in Gotenborg (Seweeden) and once
again two weeks ago in the Netherlands. I had the chance to examine the
interiour of the car and I found it very disappointing. There is very little
room inside. The gloves box is designed in a strange way such that you have
to lower your head to the level of your knees in order to see whats inside.
I'm 1.78 meter tall and I had to push the driver seat to the back in order
to make some room for my legs. My friend which is 10 cm shorter than I was
sitting behind me and started to complain a bout the limited room left for
his legs. We were even joking that the car may be designed by chinese
people;-). In my openion, the car will not attract volvo-fanatics and it's
not worth the name volvo.

Husam,
Awner of volvo 850 (1995)

 

This is precisely the type of comment that I have read about the new S40
at multiple places. The other comment that I have read is that the new
center console seems really cheap -- make of that what you will.

I am looking forward to seeing the new S40 and V50 for myself soon.

Beverly
(S70 & 850)

 

I've watched the documentary on broadband - quite without point and so
boring. What is the twist?

 

The second video on the "director's" site "exposes" the documentary
as a fake. And he is supposedly upset that Volvo corporation set him
up to make a film about something that they knew was a fake.

The director is a "Carlos Soto". The twist is that there is no director
called "Carlos Soto". He is an invention of Volvo's ad agency.

Volvo hoped to generate a lot of buzz about the S40 by a fake director
being pissed off about a fake being pulled on him, and then viewers
of the ad getting all psyched when they realize that the director is a
fake.

It's a bloody waste of time on a Ford Focus.

 

Thank you. But I'm lost - what makes that interesting or funny or
whatever - and what does it have to do with persuading me to buy what
seems to be quite a nice car? I have a 2001 V40.

 

Thank you. But I'm lost - what makes that interesting or funny or

I guess that if it was another typical ad saying how amazing the car is and
how everyone should have bought it, it would have already been forgotten.
It's not that it's a fantastic advert, but it's a slightly different way of
advertising. It is intended to get people thinking about the advert rather
than forgetting it straight after watching it.

When I watched it, I was thinking that it was strange that a small dealer
like that would have 32 of these cars in the first place... it didn't state
they were all in stock, but it still seemed a little odd... also they would
have had to sell a car every 15 mins. I've never bought a new car, but can
imagine if they walked into a showroom having just decided to buy a new car
it would have taken maybe a couple of hours to get everything sorted out,
which would have meant it'd be like a supermarket in there. That's mainly
what made me think it was a lieelt strange.

Guess it also goes to show that you can't believe everything you see in an
advert.

Mark

 

It's a bloody waste of time on a Ford Focus.

Why is it you hate the S40's so much? Yes, it is based on the same platform
as a Ford Focus - why is that a bad thing? If it's a decent platform,
surely it's a better idea than designing another from the ground up. Which
platform would have been a better choice? The Ford Focus has pretty decent
NCAP crash test results.

The S40 has a lot of Volvo trademarks - it has a number of features taken
directly from the S60 and S80, appears solidly built, has loads of safety
features built in... I'd be happy to drive one. I'm not yet convinced about
the styling of the interior, and it's a bit early to tell about reliability,
but time will tell.

Mark

 

That advert goes way over my head - I have no idea what it is trying to say.
It's pretty crap in my view. Too clever for it's own good.