In Bid to Boost Image, Mazda Recruits Chrysler Executive
As part of a campaign to improve its image in the United States, Mazda Motor of America in Irvine said Wednesday that it has hired Chrysler’s marketing manager to serve as senior vice president and general manager.
Clark J. Vitulli, 43, has spent the past 20 years with Chrysler Corp. in a variety of sales and marketing positions. He was California regional sales manager when he was chosen in September, 1987, to head national marketing and advertising for Chrysler vehicles.
Yoshi Taura, president of Mazda Motor of America, said Vitulli was hired to bring in “a fresh outside perspective.” He said Mazda was especially interested in Vitulli’s experience in marketing Chrysler Corp.’s luxury line.
In September, Mazda appointed a task force to study establishing a separate luxury brand in the United States, as Nissan, Toyota and Honda have done with their Infiniti, Lexus and Acura lines.
The Chrysler marque has not been the star of Chrysler Corp.’s stable--that honor goes to the Jeeps and minivans of the company’s Plymouth and Dodge divisions. But industry analysts say Vitulli did a good job with the product he was given.
“Chrysler has struggled in the upper end of the market against General Motors’ Cadillac and Ford’s Lincoln and Lincoln Town Car . . . without changing its product often enough,” said Arvid Jouppi, automotive analyst for Keane Securities.
Jouppi said Vitulli “has a good reputation but is just not part of the (Chrysler Chairman) Lee Iacocca inner circle.”
As senior vice president and general manager, Vitulli becomes the senior American official at Mazda. The position has existed in Mazda’s management charts since the Japanese auto maker formed its U.S. subsidiary 16 months ago, but this is the first time it has been filled.
Vitulli, who could not be reached for comment, starts work on Friday.
Mazda recently launched a five-year campaign to build name recognition and upgrade its image among American consumers by emphasizing the quality of its product rather than its price.
Mazda, which boosted its U.S. advertising budget to more than $200 million from last year’s $150 million, ranks fourth among the Japanese auto makers and is not nearly as well known as Nissan, Toyota and Honda, company spokesman Al Goldberg said.
Even the tremendous success of the new Miata sports car has not given the Mazda name a big push among consumers. “Everyone knows ‘Miata,’ but a lot of people don’t put Mazda together with it,” Goldberg said.
To bolster its image and its name identification, Mazda needs a major marketing push, and that is Vitulli’s forte.
“The company has done little to build any kind of an image until this year,” said Jim Hillson, senior analyst with Phase One, a Los Angeles-based automotive advertising research firm.
“All of the Japanese companies seem to be chasing the Germans, and it looks like they all will be clustering in that luxury car niche,” Hillson said. “Then there will be a lot of overlap at the high end of the market. And that means Vitulli has a tough job ahead of him, because there is a big question as to just how much that high-end niche can handle.”
