Real Branding vs Really? Branding?

I've got to confess: the first ever real ad I remember... and one of the seminal ads in getting me into advertising, was from the 70's and showed a beautiful apple with an Alfa Romeo key inserted in it and the keychain with the Alfa logo dangling. Needlessly, it said: Temptation.

That ad got me hooked into advertising and communications. It was incredible how a brand could both, tell you what it was all about AND entice you with such an economy of words and a powerful image.

A second classic ad that impacted me was this one:

That's right. The mythical "commendatore" Enzo Ferrari drives a Fiat. Of course, he doesn't drive the Fiat shown... or any other "Fiat-branded" car. But, in 1970, when Fiat bought Ferrari, it was huge news and this single ad changed the entire perception of Fiat among thousands of car enthusiasts likey myself. After all, how can Fiat not learn and improve from Ferrari?

That was real branding.

Fast forward to today and we now see that the makers of this beauty:

A Pininfarina-designed Maserati GT --which by the way, has a 400+ HP Ferrari engine-- had the bright idea of coming up with this:

Which brings three questions to mind:

1. If I just spend $130,000 in a GT... do I really want my neighbor to have a $35,000 version made by Chrysler?
2. Is the U.S. ready to spend $35,000+ in a car with a 1.4 liter, 4 Cylinder engine that puts out 160 HP? I mean, even a Mini Cooper S has 180 HP.
3. Why would Maserati even do this? Why put yourself in a position where a Mini or a Honda Civic can beat a Maserati from 0-60 or, more probably, from one stop light to the next? What were they thinking?

Now... Maserati has a long history of doing weird alliances. These alliances have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous.

In the 70's, this car was a sublime example of a great alliance:

The car was a Citroen SM and had a Maserati engine and enough advanced engineering to shame a modern car designer: speed sensitive power steering, headlights that turned with the steering, 6 speakers... it was expensive, fast, luxurious and did wonders to bolster both, Citroen's and Maserati's reputations.

Then came this doozy:

A Chrysler TC... a thinly-disguised K-Car, the laughing stock that saved Chrysler the first time and the platform that helped cement the brand the ultimate purveyors of Mini Vans and other castrating vehicles.

After that car, no one, but no one, bought a Maserati in the U.S. The brand just basically vanished.

The car was under-powered, ugly, full of design miscues.

And, now, in a stroke of genius, Maserati is going to destroy its image again.

Certainly brings new meaning to the old phrase regarding those who ignore history...