General Motors launched a special edition Corvette during a race weekend in the shadows of its Detroit headquarters. Lexus, Ferrari and Acura did the same for their new performance vehicles at IMSA sports car events. At a NASCAR race in Nashville, Ford used its fully electric Mach-E to pace the field and used its high-performance GT model to thrill VIPs for a few laps around the track.
"The customer cares about that and motorsports is extremely exciting to watch and to participate in, so it is a natural marketing space," he said. "It gives owners a reason to cheer on their brand. It helps build an emotional connection," Brinley said. "That's really elusive, but it's also pretty key toward keeping and maintaining brand loyalty."
Ford Motor Co. points to the 1901 car "Sweepstakes" built by Henry Ford and Oliver Barthel as a race car to help restore Ford's reputation after his first failed attempt at owning an auto company. Sweepstakes won its first outing against an established driver and car, and the publicity helped Ford launch what is now the fourth-largest automobile company in the world.
There's still an important competitive element, as noted by David Salters, who last October was named president of Honda Performance Development. "We begin to sweat when that happens. We go back and look at the data and try to analyze where the differences are, and then we bring that into our business."