U.K. Car Market

U.K. Car Market



U.K. Car Market

Introduction

Car manufacturers in the U.K are predominantly foreign owned companies. The most prestigious UK brands are owned by Ford, BMW and Volkswagen Aston Martin by Ford, Rolls-Royce by BMW and Bentley by Volkswagen.

Ford group of companies is the largest supplier of volume manufactured cars to the U.K market. In addition, its Jaguar and Volvo brands are among the leading brands in the luxury market. Mazda, the Ford subsidiary is a well known band in the sports car and innovative intelligence.

General Motors of the US is the second largest suppliers of cars to the UK market and regularly occupy the leading position in new car sales. Its Vauxhall brand is very famous in the volume market. It has also introduced a powerful sports car to compete with other major brands in the sports car market. French brands like Peugeot, Citroen and Renault are also among the major brands and making good progress. German companies are prominent in both volume and luxury market. The main German brands are Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi and Porsche. BMW manufactured a new Mini in the U.K which is highly successful in the domestic as well as foreign market.

Discussion

The car market is essentially divided between private buyers (consumers) and the business and fleet buyers ( customers), which specialise in providing a range of company and general car hire for their clients. Private buyers will buy their cars from franchised dealers who exclusively sell one brand of car and therefore the manufacturer exercises great control over dealers since he can remove franchise if it falls short of manufacturer's expectations. In return for the franchise, a dealer must offer a good aftercare service, to honour the warranties (typical 3 years) that are guaranteed to be the manufacturer.

The franchise dealer stranglehold is ending paving the way for the Internet and global commercial pressures which will create major changes in car distribution. Car supermarkets, web-based sales companies and retail outlets such as consumer hypermarkets will take an ever-increasing proportion of new car sales.

The market is traditionally segmented by type

Small passenger car segment (A)

Lower/medium passenger car segment (C)

Medium/high passenger car segment (D)

Passenger car segment (E)

Multi-purpose vehicle segment (I)

Sport car segment (G)

In addition it is further segmented by style

Estate

Saloon

Hatchback and

Engine size

Buyers can be classified into six major "need segments" in the car market

Status buyers want to show off success and gain self-confidence.

Utility buyers are motivated by a basic need for transportation.

Adventure buyers seek freedom and adventure.

Family buyers want a car to please their family.

Belonging buyers want to fit in socially.

Attraction buyers want to be attractive and attract attention

Each of these buyer segments is motivated by a different set of needs and their affinity towards a particular brand will depend on the brand's ability to fulfil these implicit needs(news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business).

Understanding new car buyers' emotional needs is undoubtedly the key to successful brand positioning. Manufacturers are beginning to realize the benefits of incorporating such insights into their marketing strategies and this manifest increasingly seeing the advertising of luxury ...