Ventura Motorsmakes midsized and luxury automobiles in the United States. Best-selling models include its "moderatefour-door sedans" (priced from $20,000 to $25,000) and two-door and four-door "luxuryautomobiles" (priced from $40,000 to $55,000). The success of other companies' two-seat sports cars in the market like the Mazda RX-8 made Ventura interested and they started evaluating the market for a two-seat sports car which ispriced midwaybetween the moderate and luxury market.Research found that there was indeed significant demandand that Ventura needed to act quickly to take advantage of this market opportunity.

Ventura took the platform of this new car from a popular model in its own moderate line, borrowing the internal design from its luxury line. The car was designed, engineered, and produced in just over two years, but the coordination needed to bring the design together resulted in higher than anticipated costs.

The price for this two-seat sports car, which they namedOlympus, was set at $32,000. Car dealers in the market were anxious and waiting to receive the new Olympus cars, and salespeople were well trained on techniques to sell this new model.

However, initial sales have been slow, and company executives are surprised and concerned. The Olympus was introduced relatively quickly, made available at all Ventura car dealers across the country, priced midway between luxury and moderate models, and advertised heavily since its introduction.

Questions

1. What do you think were the main concerns with the Olympus two-door sports car? Is there a market for a two-seat, $32,000 sports car when the Mazda RX-8 sells for a significantly less price?
2. Evaluate the role of the marketing mix in the Olympus introduction.
3. What are some of the marketing strategies automobile manufacturers use to stimulate sales of certain models of automobiles?

(Please provide analysis and elaboration as much as possible using the principles and concept of marketing.)