Car buyers generally think domestic brands to be inferior
CNW Market Research often meets with new car buyers to get a read on their opinions, and what they're thinking. One of the "tricks" they employ is to take a Toyota Camry, and remove any identifying logos, and then tell them this is a new model from one of the U.S.-based auto makers. Or it takes a domestic car and tells them it's a Toyota or another import make. Hard to believe, but I guess there is a large percentage of the population who can't tell a Camry from a 300C...
In any event, the results are often the same: If the customer thinks the car is a domestic brand, the perception drops considerably, confirming what many feel: That is that the domestic brands—no matter what they build, or how well it's built—will always get the short end of the stick. You can thank decades of (marketing and reality) conditioning for this.
Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, it will likely take decades to reverse this trend. Customers can be pretty unforgiving once they're been burned—and as they say, payback is a bitch...
Full story here.
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mage: J.D. Powers & Associates
- Permalink | Comments (10)
- Posted by: Bob Holland September 17, 2007, 4:00 AM
- Categories: Auto Industry
I look at charts like this and I wonder why people think Ford of Europe can save Ford here in the States. Just 40% European cars get traded in for the like and only 2-4% of domestic and Asian vehicles are traded in for a European.
The problem will only get worse. As all cars get better and more reliable, loyalty will increase, and makers like Toyota will only maintain their lead.
Until they stumble...
Umm comp386, think about the European brands sold in the US. BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover. Most people don't have the resources to trade in their Camry or Malibu for a 3-Series or C Class. Now, if Peugeot or Fiat sold cars in the US, you might have a valid argument.
I was gonna say, the charts show more bad news for Europe than US manufacturers. Though by sheer scale, the domestics are the big losers. No pun intended.
Scottb285 - My point is 2 fold. First even the people that do buy European (meaning they could afford it) are leaving in droves. And don't forget that VW is still an entry level car maker. Also Ford won't be bringing Focii here to compete with a 3 series (as much as Top Gear likes to make the comparison). So if VW is pricing vehicles beyond want consumers want to pay, how would Ford importing said vehicles do any better. The fact remains that Ford needs to adapt those vehicles to American markets rather than importing vehicles as is (as many bloggers have suggested).
VW is busily raising an entire generation of "never-again" car drivers with its "suckers wanted" philosophy of building mechanically unreliable clars
God Awful Picture!
What in The Name of All That is Aesthetically Correct is That... so called "vehicle", blue thing in the graphics?
Just awful!
In that article, it says Saturn ended their "Side-by-Side-by-Side" promotion. What's up with that?
Maybe they ended the promotion because too many people were trying to buy the dealership's Camry and Accord and not the Aura. If there's people that can't tell the diff b/w a 300c and a Camry, they could have walked on to the Saturn dealership saw the Camry and Accord thinking they were Saturns and wanted one. Kind of embarrassing for the salesman who had to explain. It's too bad domestic car makers get such a bad rap but they can only blame themselves; years of underestimating their customers have taken their toll. I've owned a couple of domestics; an Aerostar and an S10. The S10 was horrendous and outright dangerous - even though their quality has improved; never again.
It says it in the next paragraph:
"The move had little impact on Aura sales, and GM has now ended the effort. It has also scrapped a plan to have Chevy dealers keep Camrys and Accords on hand to compare against the new Malibu sedan that arrives later this year."
Plus the new 2008 Accord is now on dealer lots. The comparison is already invalid.
Continuation would suggest the Aura's inferiority, having to compete with a last gen product.