 | Barbara, "The Practical Statistician," enjoys applying practical statistics along with a wealth of knowledge about Polk data to design workable solutions. Polk is a great place for her since there’s always plenty of data for her to work with in her role as Analtyic Consultant. In addition to her love of data, she loves animals and has way too many cats, a huge golden retriever and a horse. When she's not riding her horse, she likes to make baby quilts. She's also known for making the best chocolate chip cookies in the world, or at least at Polk. If she weren’t dealing with data at Polk, she'd be running a free spay/neuter clinic for cats. |
Are the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF successful in the
marketplace? This year (January-August, 2011), about 3,400 Volts
have been registered while the LEAF has sold about 5,300 in the
same period. Interestingly, about 94% of LEAF registrations are
retail sales compared to 79% for the Volt. Each of these vehicles
represent a small fraction of the total brand sales, but it was
expected they would at least start out as low-volume vehicles. The
true value of these launches is the buzz, the...Read More »
I hate to admit this, but I'm old enough to have been driving
during the oil embargo in the mid-seventies. Among other effects
(the price of gas went up to more than 50 cents a gallon!), this
shock caused car buyers to seriously consider choosing to buy a
small Japanese import instead of one of the comfy domestic cars
that we were all used to. The oil embargo ended, but it was a long
time before we were all comfortable that gas would be available
when we needed it (at any price). Into this...Read More »
The news that Mazda is recalling certain Mazda6 vehicles because a type of spider likes to take up residence in the fuel system first had me checking to make sure that today is not April 1, 'cause it sure sounded like an April Fool's prank.
Then I had a good laugh remembering my own experiences with "guests" taking up residence in my engine. Too many years ago, I was a graduate student living in a tiny apartment and driving a Plymouth Reliant. I had an assigned parking spot at the edge of...Read More »As a confirmed geek, the three-part Jeopardy challenge with champion human players competing against IBM's computer Watson was "must-see TV." In grossly simplified terms, Watson uses algorithms that compare the words and phrases in the Jeopardy clue to a mass of stored documents and looks for strength of association between the clue and external words and phrases. The stronger the association, the more likely that external word or phrase is the right answer. Watson was programmed only to answer...
Read More »If you could increase the fuel efficiency of just one vehicle
segment by 10%, which segment would you choose?
The table below shows the number of vehicles bought new in each
macro segment in the last 12 months (personal registrations only),
along with a SWAG at the average mpg for that segment:
Personal Registrations, Last 12 Months
| Vehicle Segment | Count | Est. MPG |
| Entry/Economy Car | 1,396,394 | 30 |
| Midsize Car | 1,805,962 | 28 |
| Sporty Car | 255,991 | 20 |
| Luxury/Large Car | 768,797 | 22 |
| Minivan | 296,526 | 20 |
| Mini Sport Utility | 969,620 | 22 |
| Spo... |
Hello, my name is Barbara and I drive a station wagon.
Yes, it's true, I’m so completely uncool that I drive a station wagon. My current wagon is a 2004 Focus, before that I drove a 1998 Escort wagon. I even have a Plymouth (un)Reliant wagon in my past.
I choose compact wagons because they satisfy my twin needs for good gas mileage and for more cargo capacity than a sedan or hatchback would provide. The price difference between a compact wagon and the smallest utility vehicle is a concern, too....
Read More »Picture yourself driving a vehicle. The details of your vehicle will differ from person to person depending on the types of vehicles you own (or desire). But certain things are common. If you're driving in the U.S., you're sitting in the front left corner of the passenger cabin (aka, the driver's seat). You have one or both hands on a steering wheel. There is a gear shift, either on the steering wheel or the floor. The brake pedal is on the left and the accelerator is on the right.
Does it have...
Read More »Anytime you do a direct marketing campaign, whether it's a mail or
email campaign or some other kind of direct contact, quality of the
targeting is a concern. This is especially true for automotive
marketing campaigns that target people that own competitive
vehicles – targeting Toyota owners for a Honda sales campaign for
example. In this case you are likely relying on an external list
provider instead of your own owner database. Inevitably you will
find some people on your list who don't own a...Read More »
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