From: Grlygrl201@aol.com
Date: Sat Sep 09 2000 - 07:54:26 PDT
In a message dated 9/9/00 10:10:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
kents@trajecta.com writes:
<< Fair enough - after posting I thought "well, duh, gasoline is convenient,
and so are SUVs. That convenience is worth the trade-off to a lot of
people."
I was really after the point that the oil and automotive industries use
psychological ploys to maintain the Joe and Jane Publics' belief that
electric cars are not desirable.
>>
in other words, if joe and jane public don't want electric cars, it's due to
"psychological ploys"? i wonder why toyota and honda would invest so much in
development and advertising to introduce us to the prius and insight? i
checked out the insight, with hybrid elec motor/gas engine, at a local honda
dealership. demand is so high and availability so low that they were
charging between $23 - $25 k for a $17k car. ford intro'd the focus last
year, running between $15 - $17 - though not electric, and "liesurely" in
pick-up, it's cute. demand is high, as it is for the bug and the pt cruiser
and all the new (do you people read magazines?) little cars intro'd lately.
as will be for outback-style sport-ute wagons, as evidenced by the BMW's
foray into that market.
i have trouble with the concept that advertising drives buying, rather than
the other way around. marketing is about finding out what people want,
getting that info to advertising, then go go go. Not the other way around,
as you seem to think. car advertising is BRAND advertising - why a ford
truck and not a chevy truck - not "hey buy a great big hunk o' steel and
pollute." even though profits are high on suv's, i see tons on the showroom
floor and on used car lots - indicating some degree of market saturation.
there's a fork archived bit i wrote - had to be two years ago - about the
intro of two new LEXUS suv models. i couldn't believe the market then would
support so many luxury suvs. it has, but for how long? big offroad vehicles
are what people want now, but i suspect a trend for average-car drivers is
developing for cheaper "disposable" cars, like bugs and focuses, the kind
their owners or leasors will trade in every two years for new and shiny. on
the keeper side, or for people with $$$$$$, performance cars will reign.
gg
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 09 2000 - 08:00:25 PDT