[Leica] Are we no longer wanted?

[glehrer at san.rr.com (Jerry Lehrer)]

Douglas,

It was EXACTLY the same with Porsche cars.  When I started with my first 
in 1957 (a 4 cam 1500 Carrera GT) which
was affordable at the factory.  Now a decent Porsche is well over 100 
kilobucks.(which I cannot afford) Rolex and
Breitling watches too.

Jerry Lehrer


Douglas Sharp wrote:
> I was looking up things Leica on the Web recently and noticed the 
> number of hits that turn up for Leica on "lifestyle" pages.
>
> It didn't seem to work after their flutter with Hermes, but now they 
> seem to have got their products prominently "placed", or even 
> "positioned" (in the words of the world of marketing)
>
> No more mention of precision optics and superb engineering - it's all 
> turned into up-market hype about the special finish, how they look and 
> if they have a perfectly matching bag... everything in black, white, 
> olive green, titanium and silver seems to be the name of the game.
>
>
> The opening of the new Leica Shop in Moscow's uppest-market 
> residential and shopping quarter at the end of May seems to be 
> following the same trend. I wouldn't be surprised to find cameras in 
> gold and royal blue with a double eagle or in Faberge enamel soon, 
> packed in a matching Faberge easter egg.
>
> Then Ferrari red, Bugatti blue, Mercedes silver and, and, and.........
>
> The higher prices are obviously already a unique and exclusive selling 
> point for people who want to be seen with a Leica as a lifestyle 
> accessory.
>
> The M8 Safari is almost sold out, the White Edition has gone 
> completely, a D-Lux 4 Titan and a D-Lux 4 Safari are selling well.
>
> This is all very good for Leica, but I think it bodes ill for the 
> former target group to which we all most probably belong.
>
>
> Cheers
> Douglas
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>