Hello everyone, just pre-ordered and played through the first tutorial scenarios. I’m excited! 
I wanted to share this idea (Don’t know if it has been discussed before):
So, in the game we are running a car company, but will our car company have a brand? Will the public perceive it as a luxury car brand, or a sports cars brand or a family cars brand etc.? We don’t think of Renault in the same way we think of Audi. This is brand perception and notoriety. (I’m thinking these values would affect sales, of course).
Which brings me to a second idea: Can our car company own more than one brand? Like the Volkswagen group, can we have a brand for the mainstream consumer (VW), a brand for executives (Audi) and a brand of sports cars (Porsche)?
These are all very different market segments. The best way to target them is by creating different brands, not different models under the same logo.
Maybe this adds unnecessary development complications, I have no idea. But it is a realistic way of simulating the car business. Also, I think it adds interesting gameplay challenges, like Creating consistent brands that cater to their target (inconsistent brands would loose notoriety and therefore sales). Mostly, I think it presents more strategies to increase market share (your mini hatch is a huge success, but no one is buying your luxury sedan? Create a new brand, advertise it directly to executives and see what happens) etc.
I am, of course, imagining there is some sort of advertising game mechanic. I also assume there will be different market segments. But please correct me if I’m wrong.
If you are willing to add even more complexity to this concept, something like this could happen: Your last three models were more unreliable than your competition. Result - the idea of unreliability sticks to your brand. Consumers now view your cars as unreliable, negatively affecting your sales, even if your new models have no such issues any more. The effect would eventually wear off.
P.S.: Is it too obvious that I work in advertising?
