I hope someone at a car manufacturer is more than just watching the Apple launch of the new “Ipad.”

It’s the execution of a pure old-fashioned product launch, which is exactly what we need a car manufacturer to step up and do. Create a product that is exciting and people can’t wait to see it, then keep it a secret but leak just enough to create hype so that millions of people are waiting for the unveiling.

I get the feeling that auto manufactures spend hundreds of millions on product design and development and no one is as excited about that as they are a $500 hand held computer.

Case in point, last year I leased a brand new 2009 BMW. I love the car, and it drives great, but it’s same old same as far as features go. It doesn’t have satellite radio (an option), my Iphone doesn’t integrate in any meaningful way, and the car just doesn’t tickle my curiosity like my I-Phone or Mac Book Pro.

It’s clear that the long-standing mistake made in our business is that we think its safety, reliability and mpg that sells cars.

Although it is now an expectation, that isn’t why consumers buy cars. If you have ever read the book “The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way to Understand Why People Around the World Live and Buy as They Do ” by Clotaire Rapaille, he explains that after Chrysler Executives hired him to help with product design, they went on to tell him that customers wanted reliability, safety, and mpg.
Where they wrong? You bet…  

After he performed his research, he found that the American car buyer at heart viewed the automobile as freedom.
At a very early age we view the car as our escape vehicle from our parents.
I can connect with that personally, I will never forget at sixteen, the feeling of being able to go pick up my girlfriend in my Chevy Citation. Paint peeling and all, it was the start of adulthood for me. It fed my imagination with all of the ideas and plans for the future.

I have come to expect that the automotive industry is slow to adapt to integrating new technologies into cars. But I have made a career out of changing expectations and results quickly. It takes a little imagination and pinpoint execution to get it done right.

Why can’t I order my dream get away car in one of hundred’s of colors, with all the cool options included, and have it be fun and intuitive?

People buy based on emotions, and Apple has done a fantastic job invoking emotions of awe, acceptance (being part of the club), and uniqueness from consumers.

The auto industry needs to take a page out of the book of the marketing gurus at Apple and give the consumers that same feeling with the new products they unveil.

American consumers absolutely love their cars. We created the car culture. Auto manufacturers have an easy audience to market to, consumers are hungry for fun and exciting new cars right now, and all the auto industry has to do is step up to bat.

This is a great opportunity for Toyota, with all it’s recent woes, to distract consumers away from the bad publicity by launching a fun and innovative new vehicle to its line of boring, economy minded, people movers. Combine that with clever marketing and a strategic buzz build-up to create just what they need to get them out of their current pickle and breath life into the stagnant automotive market.

They would undoubtedly sell out and be slow to meet demand, only amplifying the desirability and hype of their new product.

Consumer’s want new and awesome, they want their beloved vehicles, one of their biggest investments, to keep pace with the technological and styling advancements of their other gadgets. No one wants to see another unremarkable and vapid remake of a classic car like the gimmicky Mustangs, Camaros, and Challengers.

Our primal purchasing impulses are not stimulated by city fuel economy increasing by 3 mpg, or an additional airbag stuffed in some pillar somewhere.

The auto manufacturer that figures this out first and responds effectively will be able to leap above the competition and become the dominant leader in the market.