Abstract:

The frantic pace of change in today's automotive market requires manufacturers to react quickly to changes in consumer preferences. More than ever, automotive consumers face a dizzying array of choice from which to make their car purchase. With the evolution of new mediums such as the Internet and the use of increasingly fragmented and targeted marketing campaigns, consumers are bombarded with information about product redesigns, new features, test-drive incentives, '0% deposit' offers, and much more. In an environment of constant change, how can automotive manufacturers better recognise movement in consumer demand? How can marketers tell when a brand is falling out of favour or if a new launch is showing signs of weakness? The most common method is to examine post-purchase metrics such as sales in addition to surveying recent buyers about their purchase decision. The paper demonstrates how a 'forward-looking' research tool focusing on pre-purchase behaviour was successfully transferred from the USA to Europe and how this tool is used in both markets to understand marketplace dynamics by looking to the future as a supplement to traditional buyer studies and sales data.