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Moonsail Limited
Making Words Work For You |
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A Lesson in Market Research
A friend of mine tells an interesting story about a microwave testing device he once planned to distribute. It looked like a surefire winner – a device you could buy for around £10 that would tell you if your microwave oven was leaking harmful radiation. But after a quick market research programme, he realised it was a non-starter. Having a good idea is one thing, but if you don’t research the market first, you can soon come unstuck – as this story proves...
In the mid 1970s, Panther Cars were busy hand-building bespoke motor cars from their base in Weybridge, Surrey. Their first car, the J72, was loosely based on the 1930s Jaguar SS. It was an incredible piece of machinery built almost entirely by hand. It was equipped with the top-of-the-range Jaguar V12 engine. Despite costing more than twice the price of a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow, it proved a success. For people that had some real money to spend and wanted something truly different and crowd-drawing, this was the car to have.
Then they launched the Deville. This one was loosely based on the 1930s Bugatti Royale, but again featured tried and tested Jaguar mechanicals. Another success – celebrity customers (including Elton John) snapped them up.
Then in 1975, Panther director Bob Jankel had a brainwave. How about building a car which would appeal to potential Rolls Royce owners who wanted something smaller and more economical, but with the same level of build quality? Surely there was a market for something like this...
Taking the most popular small saloon car of the day - the Triumph Dolomite Sprint - Jankel and his team set about re-clothing it with a hand-beaten aluminium bodyshell and re-trimming the interior in the finest Connolly leather, Wilton carpets, and solid walnut for the dashboard and door trim. The result? The Panther Rio – a stunning looking high quality driving machine. An absolute triumph. But that was the problem... under the skin, it was just a Triumph. A Triumph Dolomite to be precise. And traditional luxury car buyers just wouldn’t buy it.
At £8996 for the basic version, it was 3 times the price of the top-of-the-range Triumph on which it was based. £8996 might not sound like much money for a new car nowadays, but to put things in perspective, you could buy the ultimate Jaguar XJS coupe for about £5,500 at the time. You could buy 2 Jaguar XJ6 saloon cars for less money than ONE Panther Rio.
Initial road tests were quite positive but all criticised the high price. And the car itself, although beautifully built and fantastic quality, was a pretty unassuming beast – albeit unusual. In short, it just didn’t seem to offer quite enough of anything in particular to make it worth the expense. A promising bulk order from luxury car dealer HR Owen fell through, and from that point the cars were built to special order only.
In the end, only 38 Panther Rios were made between 1975 and 1977 - most of which have survived. Interestingly, on the odd occasion when one comes up for sale, they fetch similar money to a Rolls Royce of similar age. Question is, which would you rather have?...
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