As someone who works in the auto industry, knowing how long
Amercians hold onto their car or truck gives me a sense of what
future sales demand may look like--"demand" in terms of selling
replacement parts and service as well as understanding factors that
impact new vehicle sales. We're all looking for "demand signals,"
right?
Polk's research shows that as of the second quarter of 2012, the
average number of months that both new and used vehicle owners hold
onto their vehicles is climbing. Among...
Read More »
At this point in automotive history, nobody denies the
importance of Hyundai. According to Polk data, the Korean OEM
produced almost 3 million light vehicles worldwide in 2003 and we
forecast that its output will reach 8.3 million in 2016. That's a
growth of 183%, while on the other hand, GM's production is rather
stable during the same period.
Part of this growth will come from a brand new factory in
Brazil. With an investment of $600 million, Hyundai will start
producing a hatchback on...
Read More »
It is a presidential election year, which is creating a flood of
advertisements along with politicians pounding on podiums to
convince voters they are the best candidate for the job.
Politicians present their plans to turn the United States economy
around and create jobs. Both parties discuss plans to invest in
small companies and sexy high tech companies such as Facebook, and
mobile devices including phones and tablets.
Too often, they fail to discuss plans to attract and retain
manufacturing...
Read More »
Americans continue to hold on to their cars and trucks longer
than ever before. Nearly six years (71 months) among new vehicle
owners is the latest trend. New Polk consumer research shows the opportunities for
professionals managing OEM aftersales and the automotive
aftermarket operations should have a lot to look forward to given
this trend. It's about parts and service business, folks.
Two years ago, I posted a blog on the same behavior and when we started
to see a real incline in the average...
Read More »
My business associate, Marc Bland, has provided insightful blogs
on the female automotive market over the last several months.
During the holiday break, I came across coverage of this topic that
peaked my interest. I was intrigued by the first annual two day
"2011 Heels & Wheels" event in beautiful Palm Springs, CA. It
is a gathering of female automotive bloggers, engineers,
journalists and other automotive professionals who get together to
discuss subject matter and issues as they relate to...
Read More »
While reading the
Detroit News recently, I came across the
following article: "
Women-Focused
Auto Shop a Reaction to Disdainful Mechanics." The article
confirmed that at least some portion of the industry can see
the growing impact women are having on the automotive industry and
are not only just taking note, but are actually taking action
to support this growing market. The article focuses
on Mae de la Calzada, who opened LadyParts Auto Services,
a full service auto shop in Redwood City, CA....
Read More »
A lot of what we do for our clients is about helping them
measure, coach and improve customer loyalty. Over the last three
years, we have seen an incredible level of interest among our OEM
clients to try to aggressively help their dealers succeed in this
area. Dealer loyalty is an objective rivaling, yet complementing,
customer satisfaction scores. It's a big deal if a retail operation
is successfully, with hard science to back it, bringing owners back
to their store. And OEMs want them to...
Read More »
I figured it would happen sooner rather than later, so I say
'finally.' Search is converging with a larger data ecosystem to
strengthen both text and display advertising for advertisers and
digital marketers. There isn't a whole lot of detail yet, but
according to my sources, Google has code named a service "DDP" that
is using their rich Google Audience Network click data with their
Adwords data to serve targeted non-contextual site specific text
ads.
I'm assuming their running this through...
Read More »
As you probably know, it is generally easier to sell new products
to existing customers than it is to find entirely new customers for
your products. It logically follows that when companies are
attempting to increase sales, they go to their existing customer
base first.
While this sounds easy enough, companies must have a sound approach
to efficiently and effectively embark on a cross-sell effort. An
overly aggressive "shotgun" approach, using untargeted
communications on numerous products to the...
Read More »
Recently, I was at MediaPost's ReVision
Conference about targeted television advertising. The day was
interesting and informative. We've come a long way from your old
cathode ray tube TV or the little TV sitting on top of the big TV
from yesteryear. I'm talking web-enabled televisions, set-top boxes
synthesizing digital data, and of course, streaming
television/video services online. With all of this new technology
it became very apparent that television viewing habits are changing
dramatically....
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 »
In the last '
Where
You At?' installment, we discussed the growing social networks
based on geo-location technology mixed with social media sharing,
and how it's changing the conversation for businesses. The latest
iteration of the proximity phenomenon finds itself on the web. This
is curious to me, because web users are supposedly concerned about
data privacy, deleting cookies, and generally keeping their click
habits to themselves.
There are a number of sites and programs that blow the above...
Read More »
I love it when other professionals support a similar point of view.
Take a look at Liz Glagowski's
post on automotive loyalty. Liz, a member of
1to1 Media was kind enough to
notice our loyalty awards from last month. More importantly, she
takes note of how "loyalty" is NOT only based on repurchase
behavior, despite that's what our awards are primarily based
upon.
So Liz, I concur! People need to have a personal affinity - an
emotional link to a brand. And when it comes to cars, boy do we
ever...
Read More »
Companies like
Yelp,
Foursquare, and
Gowalla have forever changed the digital
marketing landscape with their proximity check-in and geo-location
"friend spotting" services. For whatever reason, some people
like their friends (and some random strangers) to know exactly
where they've been, where they are, and possibly create charts
about where they will be in the future. Alright, maybe that last
one was going a little far but still, the digital marketing
landscape will be forever changed by what I...
Read More »
Identifying with a brand and
adopting it is critical for loyal behavior. Moreover,
a customer that feels rewarded for their loyalty is more
likely to continue patronizing that business.
So what are car companies doing to reward their loyal customers?
What are they doing beyond interactive websites listing brand news,
upcoming events and products? How are they building relationships
outside of the dealership? Reaching beyond the service experience
and entering into their customers’ everyday...
Read More »
On January 11, 2011 at the World Auto Congress, Polk honored those
manufacturers with the highest loyalty for Model Year 2010. For
more information about the winners of these loyalty awards, please
click here.
I had the distinct pleasure of sitting with gentlemen who received
half of the model to model loyalty awards. And guess where they are
from? I will give you a hint ... you have to travel to the Garden
State. Yep! New Jersey showed up strong this year.
Do you think it is easier to cultivate...
Read More »
While North America and Europe likewise are affected by dealer
bankruptcies and network downsizing, Turkey strives for new growth
superlatives. Istanbul is building a new mega dealership whose
concept completely contradicts the general trends in automotive
retail networks. With more than 200 shops on 117.000 sqm (and even
an 800-metre test track on the roof of the building!), "Autopia
Europia" (opening in 2011) will probably become the largest
Auto Mall in the world.
Autopia was designed to...
Read More »
Wow, what a turnout for the Automotive Loyalty Summit held in Long
Beach! If you didn’t attend, you missed a terrific event. Below are
just a few comments I heard from my customers:
"All the presenters were very
informative and knowledgeable about their areas"
"My take away was 'Listen to the customer Talk with them' and 50%
of customers are loyal to the brand but only 30% are loyal to the
dealer. You only have ONE opportunity to make an impression so use
it wisely."
"Very nice meeting."
Over the...
Read More »
I am a loyal GM owner having purchased six new
GM vehicles over the last 10+ years with the last three purchases
being Saturns. The Saturns were all purchased from the same sales
consultant at the same dealership, but now that store sits empty
and my sales consultant resides in parts unknown as I return to
market for my next purchase.
My wife's Saturn Outlook is due to come off
lease in a little over 2 months (December 2010), but she is at her
mileage limit and I am interested in getting her...
Read More »
Powered by Compendium