Employment in the Industry

The automotive industry is extremely cyclical; it ebbs and flows with the economy.  When economic recession struck in 2008 the car industry plummeted, thus bringing down employment within the industry.  After some major readjusting, automakers have begun to see their fortunes improve.  With auto sales in bloom,  car companies are hiring again! The jobs that are being created aren’t just restricted to workers either.

 

The chart shows the average income for particular jobs inside the industry.  These prices are stated with out any of the compensation most workers receive (which generally increases the salary).  Depending on the sector of employment, you can make a pretty penny working in the automotive industry.  With this money comes the perks as well.  Often times companies give their employees and family members significant discounts when purchasing a vehicle, and who wouldn’t want that?

Behind every paycheck are the hours put into the work. The chart above gives an estimate of on average how many hours each sectors works.  While certain positions require more hours than others, large companies, such as GM, do try to work with their employees to allow them to have a balanced work and home life.  They do so by allowing employees to select hours they wish to work and sometimes offers them the opportunity to work from home.  Sounds like a good deal to me!

 

By: Alex Slipow

The LEAF and the Roadster

These are two videos: a comparison between a review of the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla
Roadster.

——

Selling electric cars in America is an incredibly difficult undertaking. Most of our large cities were designed with infinitely cheap gasoline in mind. relative to the rest of the world, we’re still obsessed with large vehicles.  And we don’t want to have to think ahead to charge our vehicles; we want to wait until our gas light goes on, then pull into a gas station that will inevitably be minutes away. But these statements do not suggest that introducing electric cars to America is impossible- just that it is very difficult.

These two cars (The Nissan LEAF and Telsa Roadster) are designed, priced, and marketed quite differently, but both are successful.

Distance Per Charge:
Nissan new that without substantial range between charges, a fully electric car could not succeed in America. With average round trip commutes of 32 miles, and taking meals and errands into account, it’s hard to imagine a 50 or 60-mile-per-charge car ever succeeding in America. So Nissan put $100 as its benchmark waited until 100-mile-per-charge battery technology became reasonably priced.

Tesla Motors through all thoughts of reasonable pricing out the window. They use compact, highly efficient laptop batteries to power the Roadster. These batteries contribute to the car’s $109,000 price tag.

Marketing:
The LEAF’s advertiements highlight the car’s economic efficiency. It’s target audience is composed of middle-class Americans who live in cities and want to save the planet.

The Tesla Roadster’s advertisements mention that the car is green, but the real focus is on the cars “coolness.” The car goes from 0 to 60 in 3.9 seconds,and the batteries exist in the shell of a Lotus Elise, a sexy British sports car. The roadster’s audience is composed mostly of million- and billionaires who can say, “This is my favorite car in my collection… because
it is 100% electric.

In the futue, Nissan will try to improve the technology and reduce the cost of later LEAF models, but Tesla Motors is planning to introduce an all-electric SUV in 2012.  With the efforts of these two companies and others like them, electric cars may slowly gain a significant foothold in America

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Traffic/story?id=485098&page=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhSqI77aLHU

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster

http://www.mercurynews.com/cars/ci_19936093

Trends in Automotive Industry

The amenities that each vehicle offers becomes more important for differentiation amongst companies.The new marketing campaigns focus on affordability, performance, and visual appeal, focusing on high horsepower capabilities and features standard on all vehicles. Companies have released competing models that leverage on the growing age segments. As companies profit from an increase in the customer base, companies are becoming innovative to remain competitive.

As Americans increase the time spent in their vehicles, the new technology companies include in vehicles is of utmost importance for the customer. Car companies compete on recognizable added value and innovative technologies.  Although customers value technology improvement, safety is the most important feature of any vehicle. The automotive industry has seen the effects of a brand image, its intangible asset, tarnished when Toyota experienced problems with brake pedals. Including the most technologically advanced safety features in a vehicle is extremely important in an industry where customers demand and pay for the highest quality of vehicle available.

Safety has become an imaginable asset for many of the major companies, exemplified by this Lexus’s commercials focused on safety innovation.

Recent technological advances have attracted more customers, which has increased revenues. Technology improvements to drivability, interaction, and design have allowed the companies to revolutionize a mature industry. As fuel efficiency continues to be of great importance to Americans, many companies have focused on technology that can reduce the fuel engines require to run these powerful vehicles. American society emphasizes the importance of sustaining the environment and creating ways to reduce the fuel dependency of the country.  Environmental regulations and increased energy constraints have caused fuel to increase. Fuel efficiency has become very important to Americans, and companies are beginning to focus technology on alternative energy sources for vehicles.

By: Alex Slipow

 

Consumer Behavior

 On February 2^nd,  January sales report  from 2012 were released also accompanied by the percent in sales changed from January 2011.

Through these numbers one can look at the consumer purchasing behavior in the past year and see the trend in “down-sizing” vehicles.  Although the Ford-F series is the high-level of sales, Toyota Camry sales jumped 55% within years time.  With that, other smaller vehicles, such as the Honda Civic, also had a large increase in sales.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/top-selling-vehicles-us-january-15492788#.TzWX07Egfkg

By: Lauren Bernard

The U.S. Small Car Market

As the trend for smaller more fuel-efficient cars increases in the United States companies are developing innovative marketing strategies to get attention.  Recently, Chevy has taken an extremely creative approach to market the Chevy Sonic through the “Let’s Do This Campaign.”  In order to reach the target audience of “younger people with a sense of adventure” Chevy sent the Sonic skydiving, literally.

In an effort to continue promoting the smallest car in the United States, Chevy developed a Superbowl Advertisement featuring the band OK Go, using celebrity endorsement to help build the brand image. It is important companies convey that these cars are no longer bare-bone models.  Instead they must show that these vehicles  are fully equipped with heated rear seats, navigation systems, premium audio, and safety touches.

By: Lauren Bernard