Marketing and Marketing Strategy, Essay Example

Apply the model of buying behavior taught in Module 01 to the U.S. market for electric cars to explain how this model might generate insights for marketers

An electric car can be termed as a vehicle that uses motor controllers and electric motors for its propulsion instead of the common internal combustion engine normally found in other automobiles (Woodall, 2009). The intention of their invention is to ensure that the there is a better fuel economy, an achievement that the conventional vehicles has failed. Hybrid cars can also be categorized as electric cars since they use both the electric and internal combustion engine propulsion systems. An electric car plugs into a power outlet, and once fully charged the lithium carbonate battery pack is able to generate the energy required to run the car. Major car makers like General Motors, Nissan, Skoda and Subaru have already come up with electric and hybrid cars.

When buying a car, most people consider different factors. They are concerned with the fuel consumption, price, the terrain they will be covering, size of the family (whether one have children or not), the cars reliability, auto insurance of the car, and so on. The car market, like any other market, is segmented. We focus on the behavioral, psycho-graphical, and social-demographic variables. The attitudes people have towards these cars will depend on how the automobiles’ attributes (safety, compatibility, and reliability) are evaluated, background variables (income, number of cars, and gender), and personal traits (environmental concern, knowledge, and innovativeness). A car’s features are placed on a sticker for the customers to have an overall view of the car even before they can buy the car. This is a marketing strategy enabling he consumers to get a virtual feel of the car even before he gets to drive it. It is important than the car makers give the correct car’s information on those stickers.

Many car buyers are abandoning the gas-guzzling conventional automobiles for better alternatives, that is, electric cars. But they also face confusing facts about the electric cars’ energy efficiency. Households are always conscious of a car’s consumption of fuel, that is, how many it can cover per a gallon of gas. This is to say that consumers always buy those cars that consume less fuel. Some hybrid cars, like the General Motors’ Chevy Volt, will cover a 230 miles per a gallon of gasoline. Thus consumers of the car industry are likely to switch to the hybrid car in order to save from the less fuel consumption. Once fully charged, an electric car can cover a distance of 40 miles, which is equivalent to the normal range most people cover daily. When the battery is depleted, the internal combustion engine generates power to allow more hundreds of miles.

The Leaf, Nissan Motor Co says, will outdo the Volt by over 130 miles per a gallon of gas. It is estimated that it will get 367 miles per gallon, covering city and highway driving. This alone shows that there is bound to be stiff competition in the future among the electric car making giants. But many consumers are accustomed to fuel economy rather than fuel consumption. They tend to judge a car by how many miles it can cover per a gallon of gas. This is misleading metric and fuel consumption should be used instead.

Research has it that most consumers are in need of a meaningful figure concerning the cost accrued to them in a mile’s drive. There is already a move towards a more accommodative measure of the overall costs of using a battery-powered electric cars as well as the cost to the environment of generating power for the same.

Though some hybrid cars are still costly in terms of price, electric cars’ prices have over the last decade decreased drastically. This makes it possible for the average income earner to own one. Thus many households and corporations that want to cut their daily costs have turned to electric cars as their desired car type. Increased gas prices have also led to a shift of car buying behavior to that of these electric cars. The economic turmoil experienced in many parts of the globe has increased the fuel costs tremendously. Many households and organizations owning conventional automobiles have found it necessary to switch to electric cars.

Electric cars in the future will have the nod from all households and organizations. They are environmentally friendly with minimal, and in some cases, no air pollution unlike the conventional automobiles. With advanced technology, prices are set to fall even lower that will see most people own an electric car. Other than plug-in electric cars, other models of the same are bound to come up. For example, solar energy may be incorporated to power the car, making it cheaper to households and organizations in terms of energy costs.

It is worth noting that the electric cars are considerately quiet as compared with the conventional models. Drivers see this as a setback since majority of them depend on noise for control of their driving. Another con is that they that they take a lot of time to fully charge the battery. In some models, this may be as long as 6-8 hours. This is a setback to some potential customers. Most households upstate wouldn’t consider electric cars in the United States, for example. This is because they most of them have low or average speed capacities. Thus they are limited to cities where the speed limits are low. Potential customers upstate would rather buy a conventional car rather than an electric one. Most city dwellers however would be more than willing to own one.

References

Anonymous (2009, August 10). Electric cars figure in city’s future. Chattanooga Times Free Press, B.6. Retrieved November 5, 2009, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 1825371141).

Gorrie, P.  (2009, August 8). Slow road to electric driving. Toronto Star, W.2.  Retrieved November 5, 2009, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 182234 9671).

Valdes-Dapena, P. (2009). Betting big – and small – on electric cars. Retrieved November 5, 2009 from       http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/01/autos/electric_cars_strategy/

Woodall, B. (2009). Electric car sticker shock awaits U.S. consumer. Retrieved November 5, 2009 from http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN16336272