There is an increasing amount of advertising related to cars these days. This year, we have seen TVCs for the Toyota Hilux, hoardings for the BMW 3 series and print ads for both C and E class Mercedes. Not least among these are the recent full page advertisements placed in the print media for the Altis Cruisetronic.

The Altis is the top model in the Corolla line-up, aimed at car owners who are looking to set themselves apart from the rest in terms of luxury and comfort. Initially, the ads give the impression that the car advertised is the long awaited 2013 version of the Altis. But as Munawwar Ahmed, Group Account Director, Manhattan International Limited (MIL) explains, this is not the case.

“The car is the exact same car that has been available in the market since last year.”

According to Ahmed, the car was first introduced in 2005 (part of the same generation of Corollas that were unveiled in 2002). In 2008, the Corolla was redesigned and the Altis received its unique ‘cruisetronic’ feature (enabling the driver to lock in the automatic transmission and cruise at a particular speed). Then in 2011 the company made a number of minor modifications to the car and it is this car that has been available in the market since.

According to Ali Akbar Jamali, Marketing Manager, Indus Motor Company (IMC), the campaign was launched for two reasons; to counter the newly released Honda Civic and to address the import of second-hand cars.

####Most auto enthusiasts will tell you that the current generation of chassis in the Altis resemble a bull; as Honda was unveiling a car with a new chassis, it made sense to reinforce how the Altis’ shape was known to reflect a behemoth in the industry.

Jamali explains that given that the lifecycle of the average Toyota is seven years, compared to Honda’s five years, the shape of the car becomes both an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage of having a car with a longer product lifecycle is that Toyota is able to control its production costs while the cars maintain a significant proportion of their resale value over the years; the disadvantage is that competitors often come out with a new model car before Toyota does.

Ahmed explained how the communication strategy behind the full page ad works when it comes to tackling the ‘newer is better’ issue. Altis’ USP, the Cruisetronic technology, is highlighted along with the power and luxury features of the car; dual VVT-i engine, eco mode, rear parking assist camera, etc. The emphasis was also put on the shape of the Altis by photographing it from an angle which makes it seem, in a word, ‘huge’. According to Ahmed, most auto enthusiasts will tell you that the current generation of chassis in the Altis resemble a bull; as Honda was unveiling a car with a new chassis, it made sense to reinforce how the Altis’ shape was known to reflect a behemoth in the industry.

The second reason behind the timing of the ad is the second-hand car import phenomenon.

Much has been said about how the second-hand car import policy has adversely affected the auto industry (See page 58 for more) in Pakistan. Toyota Corollas have seen 35% dip in sales from July through to September this year, compared to last year. For a car that has been Pakistan’s best selling for three years running (Corolla sales last year touched 46,207), the loss is significant.

The ads, says Jamali, were designed to counter the impact of imported second-hand cars and influence customer perception by putting the emphasis on benefits such as ‘brand new’, ‘readily available’ (compared to second-hand cars which have to be imported) and ‘warranty and after sales service’.

These, according to Jamali are benefits that only a new car can provide. Customers who compromise over cost end up paying more in the long run because second-hand cars require more maintenance. He stresses that Toyota cars are engineered according to Pakistan’s weather and terrain conditions. An imported car will not have been optimised for these specific conditions and will not be as efficient on Pakistani roads.

One issue that arises with the Corolla Altis is how its base version (a 1.6 litre manual transmission) is similar to the top version of the Corolla GLI (a 1.6 litre automatic transmission). There is also only a Rs 50,000 differential between the two cars; the Altis going for the higher price of Rs 1.85 million. This might induce problems in the form of cannibalisation between the Altis and the GLI but Jamali says this is not a significant problem. On the contrary, he maintains that the similarity works to Toyata’s advantage as it presents more choice for customers,

“What the second-hand car market offers buyers is variety.

So the more cars we have in our portfolio, the more choice we have to attract customers.”

With competition from both the new Honda Civic and the second-hand car imports, IMC’s target of selling 4,000 units of the Altis may seem optimistic. Jamali acknowledges that the company is behind target so far, but in his view the car market tends to go up and down over the course of a year. As we are only into the first quarter of the fiscal year, time will tell how the year shapes up for IMC.