????墜落天使

????最新一期的《汽車新聞》（Automotive News）上，記者向福特（Ford）常務副總裁馬克?菲爾茨提問道，林肯（Lincoln）是否需要一款“光環車”。菲爾茨巧妙地回避了這個問題：“我們希望確保林肯推出的每一款車型都是光環車。”

????許多汽車術語，比如折疊座椅、四檔手動變速以及汽化劑等，都已經隨著時代的發展被慢慢淘汰了。不過出于某些原因，“光環車”的概念卻流傳了下來。“光環車”指的是擁有時尚造型或某些不尋常的功能，旨在把消費者吸引進展廳的車型，不過它們自己并不靠“走量”取勝，也不能給品牌賺很多錢。

????盡管光環車在構思階段總是顯得不同凡響，但有時它們也會變成墜落的天使。有的時候，它們的設計無法抓住人們的好奇心，不僅不會提升品牌口碑，反而會產生截然相反的效果，對品牌形象造成損害。今天我們介紹的就是幾個經典的例子。

????Paradise Lost

????In the current issue of Automotive News, Ford executive Mark Fields is asked whether Lincoln needs a "halo car." He smartly ducks the question: "We want to make sure every vehicle we bring out with Lincoln is a halo car."

????Many automotive terms have become anachronistic or simply defunct over the years -- rumble seat, four-on-the floor, carburetor -- but for some reason, the notion of the "halo car" survives. It's a car with a stylish design or unusual features meant to draw customers into a showroom but not generate a lot of sales -- nor make a lot of money.

????While halo cars may look heavenly when they are conceived, as often as not they end up as fallen angels. They are dismissed as automotive curiosities that failed to capture public imagination, while creating an effect exactly opposite to the one they were designed for: damaging brands rather than lifting them. Here are some classic examples of tarnished halos.