Sequoia Automotive: Difference between revisions
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Since its founding in 1966, Ron Wilkinson had expressed an intent to slowly decrease the number of individual cars produced in order to drive up the artificial scarcity and to appeal to customers as more exclusive. The Era, despite being the first model produced, remains the most produced model of the company, as a result. In lieu of this, Wilkinson use a technique which he named “tomahawking”, aggressive marketing toward a specific circle of influential individuals. In order to establish brand recognition, Wilkinson would personally advertise the Era to a small group of new money businessmen and women, as well as executives, famous artists, and wealthy bohemian individuals. By doing this, he was able to spread so much interest around the Era that the planned 84 units sold out within four months, despite a unit cost of nearly 75,000 dollars ($400,000 in 2021). | Since its founding in 1966, Ron Wilkinson had expressed an intent to slowly decrease the number of individual cars produced in order to drive up the artificial scarcity and to appeal to customers as more exclusive. The Era, despite being the first model produced, remains the most produced model of the company, as a result. In lieu of this, Wilkinson use a technique which he named “tomahawking”, aggressive marketing toward a specific circle of influential individuals. In order to establish brand recognition, Wilkinson would personally advertise the Era to a small group of new money businessmen and women, as well as executives, famous artists, and wealthy bohemian individuals. By doing this, he was able to spread so much interest around the Era that the planned 84 units sold out within four months, despite a unit cost of nearly 75,000 dollars ($400,000 in 2021). | ||
In the belief that he had saturated the market enough, Sequoia did not announce any new cars until 1982, eight years after the launch of the Era. The Hyannis launched with considerably more press coverage. Despite this, he continued to personally advertise and increase interest in the cars. In his 2004 biography, he later admitted that this was an effort to control which individuals were to able to know and garner interest about the brand, citing attempting to push for a more exclusive brand association. This tactic proved successful, leading to word-of-mouth brand awareness. Despite later individual requests offering up to five times the sales price, Wilkinson personally declined all requests to increase the production numbers on the cars. | In the belief that he had saturated the market enough, Sequoia did not announce any new cars until 1982, eight years after the launch of the ''Era''. The ''Hyannis'' launched with considerably more press coverage. Despite this, he continued to personally advertise and increase interest in the cars. In his 2004 biography, he later admitted that this was an effort to control which individuals were to able to know and garner interest about the brand, citing attempting to push for a more exclusive brand association. This tactic proved successful, leading to word-of-mouth brand awareness. Despite later individual requests offering up to five times the sales price, Wilkinson personally declined all requests to increase the production numbers on the cars. | ||
==Redwood Works== | ==Redwood Works== | ||
Redwood Works is the internal, high-performance wing of Sequoia. After Redwood Motors was acquired in 1976, it was integrated into the company to focus on and assist with the performance tuning of the cars. Since the introduction of the ''Truro'' in 2002, customers have had the option to purchase a ''Redwood Works'' variant of the current car. These variants feature stiffer suspension, track-optimized brakes, as well as performance-oriented engine tuning. Notably, this does not include any cosmetic changes to the car, besides a silver wasp logo fitted to a place inside the car at the customer's discretion, an homage to the 1962 ''Redwood Wasp'' race car. | Redwood Works is the internal, high-performance wing of Sequoia. After Redwood Motors was acquired in 1976, it was integrated into the company to focus on and assist with the performance tuning of the cars. Since the introduction of the ''Truro'' in 2002, customers have had the option to purchase a ''Redwood Works'' variant of the current car. These variants feature stiffer suspension, track-optimized brakes, as well as performance-oriented engine tuning. Notably, this does not include any cosmetic changes to the car, besides a silver wasp logo fitted to a place inside the car at the customer's discretion, an homage to the 1962 ''Redwood Wasp'' race car. | ||
== Controversy == | |||
Sequoia has faced criticism for their strict selection process for potential buyers. Individuals who are interested in purchasing a car from Sequoia need to apply for a waiting list. Upon evaluation, individuals are interviewed on several occasions, on a variety of subjects. Several people have claimed that many of these questions are very personal or invasive, sometimes about their personal life. Out of roughly 11,621 applicants, only 167 were granted a secondary interview, a chance of less than 1.44%. Some celebrities have also claimed that the system is discriminatory, an accusation which Sequoia have repeatedly denied. | |||