Remember when Chevy said they'd launch 10 new cars in 20 months and everyone was amazed when they did it? They reaped the rewards too with double the web traffic, 98% dealer participation and a huge jump in sales. Kenmore is hoping to achieve the same thing - only they're launching 450 new products in 2010.
Granted, most corporations of their size can and do launch hundreds of new products each year, but Kenmore isn't just branching into new markets. They seem to be launching a top-to-bottom rebrand, with every product tweaked at least a little. Some products even seem to be new thinking - I'm super excited to start seeing some reviews on the Dishwashers, Clothes Washers and Dryers. They seem to offer some new features that required some new tools and assembly lines - a huge commitment on Kenmore's production scale.
Marketwatch covers the story in lots of detail, and though it does mentions "clean modern style" about a hundred times, there seems to be some good thinking here. Hopefully there are a bunch of American designers who finally got their hands on these products that have such a huge impact on day to day life - maybe they'll snatch the ball out everyone else's hands, much like Chevy did with the American Revolution, the 7th most recalled car campaign ever.
