Abstract:

This paper presents image research studies in the premium automotive market. It will be shown that the relevance of image dimensions of premium cars varies depending on what customers focus. If they look at premium car brands, there are other image dimensions of high relevance for brand strength than if their focus lies on certain premium car segments, and, the relevance of images is again different, when car body types are considered. The question that arises is whether it is feasible to manage a premium car brand only through its premium character, in which case it would be sufficient to follow a pure brand communication strategy. The alternative may be to follow a carline strategy or even more interestingly a car boy type strategy, expected to make the difference in the successful management of premium cars.