WASHINGTON, 11 July — Recently, Dr. Stanley Plog spoke to Arab News of the “psychographics” of car ownership, and focused on upscale European models.
“Psychographics is similar to demographics but uses personality and lifestyle characteristics to predict behavior,” says Plog. “When products have a clear identity, in terms of their psychographics appeal, they usually outperform their competition.”
European automobile brands generally do a better job of establishing clear identities for their cars than domestic companies, says Plog.
As a result, they have enjoyed healthy growth rates and taken a big part of the American market from American manufacturers.
“In advertising parlance, it’s called branding, i.e., creating a clear identify for a product so that consumers know what it stand for,” Plog said.
He says there are lessons to be learned about the importance of branding by looking at US car companies, “most of which have failed to cast the right image, in order to keep the loyalty of a strong core group of buyers.”
Plog says American auto companies still hold a strong lead in overall sales — about 68 percent of the total US market.
They should, he says, since a number of Japanese and European cars are manufactured here, “It’s not workmanship or performance that account for who’s growing and who is not. It’s that GM, Ford and Chrysler haven’t been as good at understanding their target markets to position their cars clearly in the public’s eyes.”
The following is a summary of the personality characteristics of buyers of US brands, with at least one car represented from each of the three manufacturers. Specifically:
• Ford Mercury:
When Plog was informed that this is a favorite car in the Gulf, he said, “Here, it’s basically a retiree’s car. If you look at who’s driving it, you’ll have trouble finding people driving it under their forties. It’s a ‘common man’s’ Lincoln.
Still, Plog had praise for the Ford Mercury:
“It’s an interesting car in the fact that it has the highest repurchase, or loyalty rate, of any American car out there. The Mercury is considered the missing car line. What I mean is that the most perfectly positioned company is the BMW. What I mean is that the fact is that if you buy as 3-series BMW, the next car you are likely to want is a 5-series. And if you move out of that, you’re likely to consider a 7-series or a sports model.”
“The whole concept of General Motors is along the same line; all the GM car lines are positioned to move you up. So if you have to buy a Chevy or a Pontiac, the dealer’s hope is that you will move up to a Buick or a Cadillac.
“However, with Ford products,” Plog said, “one does not tend to move from a Ford to Mercury — because it’s image is so old. It’s a good car; it’s good value for the money. It does a lot of things right, but it’s just that it’s image in the US is not youthful, which hurts sales for the entire division, as people tend not to go from a Ford to Mercury and then on to a Lincoln.”
Plog says the problem is so severe for Ford Motor Company, that “they took their team of marketers and designers and moved them out of Dearborn, Michigan, to Orange Country, California. Because now you are in the car culture of the world. The people out there are young, and cars are very important in people’s lives — and this is the place where product ideas develop more than anywhere else in the world. So, if you’re want to make the car look more youthful, Ford’s idea is to put these folks smack dab in the middle of a youth-oriented market and culture.”
• Catera:
“It’s a lost car line,” says Plog. It’s their answer to Lincoln’s LS series, which has been fairly successful. The car is too small and doesn’t fit the psychology of Americans. It doesn’t have the contemporary design and other features that Americans want. It doesn’t have much interior room. They are discounting it to sell it. It’s a very good car, but it’s just like the Nissan Ultima. When it first came out, they also had to discount it because it was too small. Catera is like a small import car, not a mid-sized one.”
Basically, he said, it is like a Ford Crown Victoria.
• Corvette:
“Corvette may seem to be a young person’s car, but don’t you believe it. Most buyers are men in their 40s and 50s trying to recapture some of their old feelings of youth when they were 20,” says Plog.
“Corvette buyers often are senior executives or entrepreneurs. The product combines a powerful engine and smooth styling, and a price $10,000 to $20,000 below its import competitors.”
• Mustang:
Mustang owners probably fit the mage your currently have of them, says Plog.
“The car is often seen as a poor man’s Corvette. As you might expect, the group consists mostly of young men in their 20s. The car has good handling, lots of power, and an aggressive appearance. Owners feel more powerful, more in command of their lives and much more attractive to the opposite sex when they are behind the wheel. The car also represents a sense of freedom and escape from the boring demands of daily life because of its excellent handling.
“The owners tend to want action and create an aura of ‘don’t hassle me’ in his daily life. Unsettled in career and life choices, but wants to create a feeling of personal importance.”
Plog says this crowd spends most of their money living it up, and they tend to be young, single and without much equity.
• Lincoln Town Car:
“Many car company executives ignore Lincoln Town Car owners because they hate their demographic profile,” notes Plog. “With an average age in the mid-sixties and retired, these folks are often considered to be a dying market segment that must constantly be replaced.
Plog says Town Car owners hold traditional American values, and are very involved with their grandchildren.”
Plog says car designers and markets might make fun of them, but they shouldn’t. They love leisure travel and comfort and convenience, and they are willing to pay for it.
• Pontiac:
“Pontiac is one of the few brands among American car companies that has positioned itself well. Its ‘We Build Excitement’ slogan, along with its constant emphasis on ‘wide track’ for its entire car line-up, has attracted a more youthful group of buyers, both in age and in spirit.”
Plog says young married couples and younger families makeup a large part of its core group. They also hold more traditional American values, and are working to fulfill their part of the American dream.
Thus, a steady job, early home ownership and building a good savings account rate high on a Pontiac owner’s priority list. But they also are more lively and active than owners of many competing brands.
“Choosing a Pontiac becomes a statement to themselves and others that they feel youthful and will act that way,” says Plog.
• The Chrysler PT Cruiser:
“The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a very interesting car,” says Plog. It has an updated retro look of a 1940s roadster, but in a small package. It attracts the audience that Chrysler intended. Young, single, urban and primarily male, it has lowered Chrysler’s age profile and made many people feel that Chrysler has become a much more progressive kind of company. Its buyers, for the most part, hold lower-level jobs since they entered the workforce relatively recently, and they spend most of what they earn on entertainment and going out with friends.”
“Again, most of these owners a young, and who want to appear ‘cool,’ says Plog. “There are also some 40+ buyers who like the retro look and sassiness of the car. They want to be seen and noticed. The PT conveys an image of ‘doing your own thing.’”
Plog also mentioned several other American-made cars on the road:
“The Lincoln LS is a very good car for handling and performance, but I don’t like its ‘plain Jane’ looks,” says Plog.
“And the Pontiac and Buick also has some models, such as the Buick Park Avenue, and the most of the Pontiac car line has good performance.
Regarding SUV’s, Plog didn’t have a very high opinion of their drivers, which he says have a ‘follow-the-crowd’ psychology. “It’s a poor purchase, because they cost a lot more than a regular passenger car. It’s because the SUV and truck market has always had high margins, even though the truck frames, for example, are much simpler than a car frame. By law, they don’t have to have the same level of fuel efficiency, there are a whole lot of standards they don’t have to meet. So the companies love it when you buy one. SUV’s don’t handle as well, not as stable, not as safe.”
Plog says Congress is talking about mandating that SUV’s will have to have lower bumper lines, “because if you have an accident it is likely they will come out on top. If they have wider, deeper bumpers, they will go down lower.
“SUV’s are an in-product, if you consider the Lexus line, and the Cadillac line — why do they need to produce SUV’s? Lincoln is now talking about a luxury truck, and now Cadillac is going to do the same. So my question is, what do you do with a $60,000 truck? Are you going to scratch that beautiful paint by carrying something in it?”
Plog says he is happy to see that some of the bigger SUV’s are losing popularity.
He said smaller SUV’s are taking over “because they have better mobility, and better gas mileage.”
Finally, Plog says people need to be able to identify with the car that they drive.
“If you think it isn’t important, he says, consider what happened to a couple of venerable old car lines that didn’t get it right. Chrysler dropped Plymouth several years ago because the company didn’t distinguish itself from its sister company, Dodge. And Chrysler never established an identity for its Eagle brand, so it got rid of that moniker also. GM has announced that this is the last model year for Oldsmobile, which had great brand positioning a few decades back as the performance-oriented divisions of GM. But that was then, and now is now.”
“Dr. Stanley Plog is a leading travel industry consultant, and founder of NFO Plog Research, Inc. He is currently a consultant, author of several books, and lecturer in the travel field. He may be reached at: [email protected].”
