Peugeot 208 GTi joining the Club

I was looking at some old photo files on my computer the other day and came across some photos that I took when I attended the Peugeot Sport Official Owners Club* Pugfest meeting in July '09. This was held at the Prescott Hill Climb venue. It ocurred to me that these photos would be of some interest to visitors to this blog, so, you can see some of them below. For the full set you can visit the Youtube link shown at the end of this piece.

The reason I visited the Pugfest event in 2009 came about firstly, because I was doing some idle research on the internet just to see if the Peugeot 205 GTi Owners Club, that I was instrumental in starting in 1984 when the 205GTi was launched, was still in existence. Secondly, when I found out that the successor to that club was not only still in existence but had continued to organise what we used to call the annual National Convention and what the current club calls 'Pugfest', I realised that the 2009 event was the 25th of its kind and therefore worth celebrating with a visit.

Just a little background to the club: I was working as the Peugeot marque product manager in the U.K. It seems strange to recall now but in the U.K. Peugeot was the junior partner to the Chrysler (soon to be re-branded Talbot under Peugeot's ownership) marque. Peugeot had purchased Chrysler Europe (with factories in France (Simca), U.K.( Rootes Group - Hillman, Humber, Singer & Sunbeam) and Spain (Barreiros Trucks, Dodge Dart & Simca sub-assembly). However, in the U.K. Peugeot struggled to take 2.0% of the market with its,104, 305, 505 & 604 model range while Chrysler accounted for around 7.0% with its Sunbeam, Horizon, Solara and Alpine models. My job was to produce a 'Marketing Platform' on which the Sales and Marketing teams could base their strategies. I had already produced a similar document for the 205 when it was launched in   the U.K. in 1983, to great acclaim and subsequent success. In 1984 I produce another 'platform for the 205GTI.

This was a completely new market for Peugeot, in fact it was a niche market which had been created by Volkswagen's launch of the Golf GTI and supported by Ford's Escort XR3 and Vauxhall's Astra GTE models.

The press referred to the cars which populated this niche as 'Hot hatches'. Peugeot had established an envialble reputation as a constructor of durable and successful rally cars via the success of the 404 and 504s models in the East African Safari Rally in the 60's and 70's. But in reality this did not hold much of a cache for potential buyers of 'hot hatches' in the 1980's. So from a marketing point of view we were virtually starting from scratch.

The only reason for telling you this is to explain how the 205GTi Owner's Club (the forerunner of the current Peugeot Sports Official Owners Club*) came to be formed. In putting together the 'marketing Platform' for the 205GTi  I found myself speaking to Golf GTI and Escort XR3 owners to see what they expected from owning a 'hot hatch'. I was amazed by the high level of involvement that these owners had with their cars. The general profile was men in their late twenties, early thirties. Most of them were married or had girlfriends but I got the impression that the car got more attention than the ladies in their lives. To be fair on the few occasions I spoke to the wives or girlfriends of these owners I found that they too had a great affection for the particular car that came with their man.

From this research I realised how important it was to make sure that the 205GTi was going to bathe in the same glory as the Golf GTI and the Escort XR3, in other words to ensure that it also was seen as a 'cult' car. In reality I need not have bothered too much because the character of the car spoke for itself. The press were overwhelmed by it, as was anyone who drove one. In a very short time the 205GTi was challenging the Golf GTI for the 'hot hatch' crown. It was recognised that the 205GTi was the ultimate driver's car but could catch out the inexperinced or less skilled driver with its rear end break away when cornering in extremis.

The Golf GTI was a little more forgiving, if a little less rewarding, as well as having the given attribute of Teutonic sturdiness. So it was a case of "you pays your money and you takes your choice" (for those readers for whom English is not their first language, this is a English colloquialism). One thing was for sure the 205GTi had made its mark and by doing so had a very beneficial effect on the Peugeot brand overall.

My perception of the profile of the likely purchaser of a 205GTi led me to write a note which I sent directly to the Peugeot UK sales and marketing director. This wasn't normally the done thing but I felt so strongly about what I had discovered regarding the owners of these types of car that I did not want the message to be diluted.

To cut a longer story short, my paper got passed to the sales promotion department who in turn consulted a specialist sales promotion agency, De Brus Marketing, based in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire. They came up with the idea of forming a club especially for 205GTi owners. A year later, after another one of the somewhat frequent departmental reshuffles, I was appointed consumer programmes manager and one of my responsibilities was to manage, together with De Brus marketing, the 205GTi Owners Club.

In 1985 we organised the first National Convention for the club at Bruntingthorpe Aerodrome, Leicestershire.

This tradion continues to-day. There have been several changes of name, both of the club* itself and of course, the stalwarts who have managed the club over the 25 years of its existence. Nevertheless, the main theme remains intact; that is the one of enabling owners of sporting derivatives of Peugeot models to join together in enjoying, to the maximum, the current love of their lives, wives and girlfriends (or boyfriends for that matter) not withstanding.

I was very pleasantly surprised with what I found at the 'Pugfest' meeting. Firstly, it was very well attended, secondly, as one might have expected, the members I spoke to were both friendly and very knowledgeable; thirdly, the event was very well organised. I came away with the distinct feeling that the original aim of the old Peugeot 205Gti Owners Club not only lived on but had been enhanced.

I am pleased to read, on the club's website, that Peugeot U.K.'s head office at Pimley House, Coventry, is in the process of strengthening its ties with the club. In fact, as part of that stronger association, the club's name has undergone another modification, it is now called 'Peugeot Sport Club UK'*. This has to be the right move bearing in mind the forthcoming launch of the 208GTi which, if pre-launch press comments are to be believed, will be the true successor to the beloved 205GTi.

Peugeot 208 GTi

Enough of the writing and reading, here are a few pics from Pugfest '09: -

Peugeot 205GTi with a Dimma body kit

Peugeot 206 WRC

Anothe Dimma conversion

Gwynnespeed Peugeot 106

A seriously modified 205GTi on the Hill Climb

A Peugeot 306 on the Hill Climb

Peugeot 207 GTi

A mega engine conversion

Don't Retire Your Favorite Footwear: Repair Them by On the web Shoe Repair

 

Unintentionally, most of the client wastes huge quantity of supplies and power for the sake of marketing-driven fashions. For this cause, it's important to know the essence of shoe repair and its added benefits in monetary, society, wellness and atmosphere. Fixing footwear indicates considerably reduce expenses to the setting, as nicely as to your budget. For example in U.S. there is a research shows that 96% of all bought are imported that's why if you obtain new footwear that could nevertheless be repaired or resoled it implies that it will possibly replaced with an imported product.

On the other hand, if you let your footwear be repaired you will assist developing jobs for jobless plus the income you invest will just circulate in the U.S. and isn't going overseas. In just supporting shoe repairers, you enable them to preserve the abilities expected in repairing shoes and in the current financial sense it is inevitable to know that shoe repair also helps make wonderful monetary sense.

It's about time to start out wearing your desired pair of footwear in no time by merely shipping it to on the net shoe repair. So, if you have favored shoes that was already damaged and decided to store it inside your closet, you have to think about now of getting them fixed instead of replacing them. In truth mainly because of public awareness, rising amount of consumers is selecting to fix and preserve the footwear they currently enjoy rather than adding new footwear on their collections.

Shoe upkeep is economical that's why it is additional practical than buying new pair of footwear. You don't need to have to spend for uncomfortable new shoes as properly as wasting your time waiting for your footwear to be fixed in shoe repair shop since on the web shoe repair is offered in just one click away. All you have to do is send your favorite shoes or boots to on-line shoe repair and they will do the rest for you. Don't forget that there are new and old footwear which call for precise skills for a suitable repair and due to this reason, it is much better to trust the skilled craftsmen.

Again, by only allowing your favored footwear on a service repair you definitely enable the economic technique and as effectively you will be glad and satisfy walking with your favored footwear with peace of mind. Shoes with excellent conditions will steer clear of pressure, anxiousness and protect against any irritations or pains.

So, following time you believe it is the appropriate moment to retire your favored pair of shoes, think twice. Give your footwear a new life by comprising them repaired instead of throwing them away and envision that you'll be assisting the economy if you do.

Budget Criticism

Budgets are often criticized for controlling the wrong things, or for creating pervasive incentives when they are used in performance reviews. The criticism often overlooks the various benefits of budgets and the budgeting process, but that doesn't mean that the criticisms are totally unfounded.
Budgets facilitate decision control and can be used as benchmarks to gauge performance. Specialized information is gathered from lower levels of management up to the top levels and can be used as a gauge against actual performance. Top-level management can use the assumptions made during the budgeting process as performance measures for the owners of the budget. The budgeting process in large companies is the orchestration of specialized knowledge of numerous departments.

 

The executive team sets goals for the upcoming year based on previous performance, and current or expected economic trends. The marketing team assembles their budget based on the marketing campaigns that will be used to meet the goals. The operations departments build their budgets based on the expected volumes resulting from the marketing campaigns. This transfers the specialized knowledge of the marketing department to the operation departments through the budget process and both departments use their specialized knowledge to build their own budgets. The executives then review the bottom up budget against the previous year's performance.

 

Sometimes, the executive may request a 5-10% reduction in the budget dollar amounts offset by a corresponding increase in productivity or other cost reduction in a reverse ratchet effect. In effect ratcheting down the budget instead of ratcheting up the budget based on consistent level of productivity. The executive leaves the decision of how to achieve the productivity increase to lower levels of management that are closer to the process. These decisions are made with the knowledge of the current business environment, and should be made after careful deliberation so they don't set unreasonable or unattainable goals that could discourage lower levels of management.
Budgets provide decision control in terms of expenses, but often companies take another step in using accounting for control by requiring actual expenditures to be sign off by higher levels of management than those that actual incur the budgeted expense. A more efficient process allows for the routine processing of budgeted expenses, while the total amount of the expense is controlled at the yearly or monthly level. If an operational manager is responsible for a process that incurs a regular expense, then they have the authority to spend the budgeted dollars used in that process. If a manager has the responsibility of processing credit card applications then their input is used to produce a budget for that expense. If the CEO has approved the budget that contains a regularly incurred expense of $120,000 per year or $10,000 per month, but if the company has a policy that requires all expenses over $7,500 to have prior CEO approval, does the CEO have to approve the monthly budgeted expense every month? It would be more efficient to approve the expense once in the budget and have the volume of the budget cost driver monitored.
Criticisms of budgets are usually are about how the budget process is used rather than a direct criticism of the budgeting process itself. The budget process does not require the budget to be used in performance evaluation. If the budget controls the wrong things, then this could indicate a problem in how the budget was created not necessarily in the budget process itself. It's usually a criticism of inadequate cost allocation.

Atari 7800: 3 x TOSEC Romset

"The Atari 7800 ProSystem, or simply the Atari 7800, is a video game console released by Atari Corporation in June 1986. A test market release had occurred two years earlier under Atari Inc. The 7800 was designed to replace Atari Inc.'s unsuccessful Atari 5200 and later to re-establish Atari Corp.'s market supremacy against Nintendo and Sega. With this system, Atari Inc. addressed all the shortcomings of the Atari 5200: it had simple digital joysticks; it was almost fully backward-compatible with the Atari 2600; and it was affordable (originally priced at US$140).

Choplifter!

The Atari 7800 ProSystem was the first game system from Atari Inc. designed by an outside company, General Computer Corporation (GCC). The system had been designed in 1983 and 1984 with an intended mass market rollout at the end of 1984. The project was originally called the 3600 and then later renamed the 7800.

Several key factors influenced the design of the 7800. First, Atari had been facing mounting pressure from the ColecoVision, which boasted graphics that more closely mirrored arcade games of the time than Atari’s reigning 2600 VCS system. Second, the Atari 5200 (the original intended successor to the Atari 2600 VCS) had been widely criticized for not being able to play Atari 2600 VCS games and for the poor quality of its analog joysticks. Finally, dropping prices of home computers like the Commodore 64 had caused many to believe that buying a home computer was a better investment because it provided more detailed game play and could be used for other purposes such as word processing.

F-18 Hornet

Previous game consoles sometimes had a difficult time replicating the arcade experience in home versions of popular arcade games. In particular, home versions of arcade games sometimes had problems with flickering and slow down when more than a few moving objects appeared on the screen at once. GCC, which had a background in creating arcade games, designed their new system with a graphical architecture similar to arcade machines of the time. The 7800 featured the ability to move around tremendous amount of objects (75-to-100) that far exceeded previous consoles. Powering the system was a 6502C processor running at 1.79 MHz, similar to the processor found in home computers (Atari 8-bit, Apple II, Commodore 64) and other consoles (Atari 5200 and Nintendo Entertainment System).

Pole Position II

In response to the criticisms of the Atari 5200, the Atari 7800 could play almost all Atari 2600 games out of the box, without the need for an adapter. In addition, it featured a return to a digital controller.

To address the concerns of parents that home computers were a better investment than consoles, the system was designed to be upgraded to a full-fledged home computer. A keyboard was developed, and the keyboard had an expansion port (which was the SIO port from Atari's 8-bit computer line, though the 7800 could not run Atari computer programs) allowed for the addition of peripherals such as disk drives and printers.

Super Huey UH-IX

To enhance the gaming experience further, GCC had also designed a 'high score cartridge,' a battery-backed RAM cart designed for storing game scores. On the side of the 7800 was an expansion port, reportedly for a planned connection with a laserdisc player." (Wikipedia)