We have often heard of Harley Davidson and their loyal customers club.
Here's a great example of Vespa leading the way with Vespaway. This is a customer blog and is the customer's voice of the company. Customers start writing about the brand and sharing their brand experience with the world. It puts customer at the core of marketing initiatives and there is no better way to "sell" a brand if customers themselves talk about it.
Marketing can take a new shape when customers share, own and talk about the brand - what they love about the brand, what they hate, what they expect from the brand etc.
I believe it is a kind of PR, viral marketing that can spread like wild fire among consumers. If one can link it back to registrations, test drives, experience of test drives, dealer interaction experience and finally ownership experience, it can become a great of "customer-owned marketing" program.