Tag Archives: automotive

by | Wednesday, March 16, 2022 · 7:21 am

Top Car Brands for 2022

The automotive industry is notoriously tough. Considering that an automotive purchase is among a consumer’s most important buys, are purchases that are high-impact and high-involvement, and that there are hundreds of different choices, each sale is important.

Manufacturers compete for not only sales, but also for top rankings by organizations such as J.D. Powers, Car & Driver, and Edmund. Among the most popular ranking reports on vehicles is the one done for consumers by independent testing organization, Consumer Reports.

To compile the report, the team at Consumer Reports test drives and evaluates multiple attributes of more than 250 different vehicles. To be a top tier pick, the cars must score well in road tests, crash tests, owner satisfaction, and have better predicted reliability. Key safety features are also important. Top picks must have forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection. These are safety features which have been proven to save lives.

This year six Japanese brands are among the top-10: Subaru, Mazda, BMW, Honda, Lexus, Audi, Porsche, Mini, Toyota, and Infiniti.

  • Best overall, best overall mainstream, best road test score mainstream, and best road test score overall: Subaru
  • Best reliability: Mazda
  • Best American overall: Buick
  • Worst overall: Jeep
  • Worst road test score: Mitsubishi

The top EV pick this year is the electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, a first-year electric vehicle with a base price of $44,000. The Ford EV beat out Tesla as being more reliable, practical, quieter, and less complicated than Tesla Model 3.

Among U.S. manufacturers are Buick as the highest-charting brand (in 11th place), followed by Chrysler (13th), Dodge (16th). Dead last on the list was Jeep which had significant reliability issues with its Gladiator pickup truck.

This year’s winners by category include:

  • Electric vehicle: Ford Mustang Mach-E
  • Small SUV: Subaru Forester
  • Midsized sedan: Honda Accord
  • Compact pickup truck: Honda Ridgeline
  • Subcompact SUV: Nissan Rogue Sport
  • Two-row SUV: Toyota RAV4 Prime
  • Three-row SUV: Kia Telluride
  • Luxury midsized SUV: Lexus RX
  • Small car: Nissan Sentra
  • Hybrid: Toyota Prius

Did your vehicle make the list?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show Consumer Reports’ rankings: https://www.consumerreports.org/media-room/press-releases/2022/02/mainstream-auto-brands-beat-luxury-names-in-cr-2022-rankings/
  2. Show the video of car rankings: https://youtu.be/wQ_fHOmo0aY
  3. Discuss how companies can use the report in their marketing.
  4. What should companies that didn’t make the top list do to promote their vehicles?
  5. Review key aspects of developing a product positioning map, including determining the axis labels for positioning.
  6. Divide students into teams and have each team develop a positioning map for a category of automobiles.

Source:  Best cars of the year: 10 top picks of 2022. Consumer Reports.

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by | Wednesday, November 23, 2016 · 7:03 am

Consumer Report’s Annual Car Reliability Rankings

cars

Other than homes (and education), probably the most expensive purchase the average household makes is for a car. Since it is so large a part of our lives, automotive reliability is a key issue for Americans. Cars that are not reliable cost consumers’ time and money, and most notably, affects overall satisfaction and willingness to buy the brand again.

Research company Consumer Reports publishes an annual reliability survey based on data gathered from its subscribers. The report is based on those who have owned or leased more than a half a million vehicles, from years 2000 to 2016, covering more than 300 models of automobiles. This year’s survey includes the ranking of 29 brands, with eight brands listed as “more reliable,” 10 brands ranked as “reliable,” and 11 brands ranked as “less reliable.”

In the top eight more reliable brands were Lexus, Toyota, Buick, Audi, Kia, Mazda, Hyundai, and Infiniti. The next 10 reliable brands included BMW, Honda, Subaru, Acura, Nissan, Mini, Chevrolet, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford. Among the less reliable brands were Volvo, Lincoln, Cadillac, Volkswagen, Jeep, GMC, Tesla, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, and Ram

Did your vehicle make the reliable list?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show Consumer Reports’ report on car reliability: http://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability/car-brands-reliability-how-they-stack-up/
  2. Show the video of car rankings: http://youtu.be/g_RkhbF2CVg
  3. An FAQ on the research methodology can be found at: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2011/10/consumer-reports-car-reliability-faq/index.htm
  4. Discuss how companies can use the report in their marketing.
  5. What should companies that didn’t make the top list do to promote their vehicles?
  6. Review key aspects of developing a product positioning map, including determining the axis labels for positioning.
  7. Divide students into teams and have each team develop a positioning map for a category of automobiles.

Source:  Consumer Reports

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by | Friday, May 6, 2016 · 7:43 am

Tesla Model 3 Orders Top 325,000 Cars

tesla

Only a few short weeks ago we wrote that Tesla Motors announced pre-sales for its Model 3. While the car will not be available until 2017, pre-sale orders quickly surged. In the first few days, orders passed 110,000 units for an estimated revenue of $4 billion. Seems like a lot, but wait…

A little more than one week after opening the ordering process, Tesla stunned the industry when it announced that it had received $1,000 deposits for more than 325,000 cars – corresponding to an estimated $14 billion in future sales revenue! This is an amazing volume for a pre-sale for a vehicle that is not yet in full production.

Sounds ideal for the company, but not necessarily ideal for customers. Last year, Tesla delivered an estimated 50,000 vehicles, which would make for an extremely long wait time for Model 3 deliveries. However, the cash from the deposits should help Tesla more quickly expand its manufacturing capacity.

One wonders though – since there are other electric vehicles on the market from companies such as General Motors, Nissan, Toyota, and more, what is it that makes this vehicle such an enticing draw for consumers?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show Tesla’s announcement: https://www.teslamotors.com/blog/the-week-electric-vehicles-went-mainstream
  2. Discuss pricing strategies and models: demand-oriented, cost-oriented, profit-oriented, and competition-oriented.
  3. Which strategy is Tesla using? Why?
  4. Divide students into teams. Given the large volume of pre-orders, who is the target market for the Model 3?
  5. Discuss what would happen with sales volume if Tesla raised the price.
  6. Have teams develop a SWOT analysis for Tesla.

Source: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, other news sources

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