The financial crisis and the automobile industry

Résumé du document

Since the beginning of the world financial crisis in 2008, the automobile industry like all the other industries has been strongly impacted by the situation. The slump of the car sales was a huge setback for the majority of the constructors. During these difficult times, marketing departments have been busy charting out their plans all over the world. The product to market could differ in term of equipment/quality level, but answers globally to the same need. Obviously, the customers' expectations change in relation to function of the countries because their behavior is different. For instance, there are pick up vans and S.U.Vs in the USA, supermini cars for the French market, a big sedan for the Germans. Despite the differences, all marketing managers had the same problem to address whatever their location in the world: how to boost the declining sales?

Extraits

[...] The destocking offer launched by Citroën is illustrated by a Mac Donald box from which cars flies off. The key message “takeaway cars” correspond to the advert which use the notoriety of the famous American fast food of which Polynesian are fan[11]. For the retailer, it makes no odds even if the brand image of Citroën in deteriorated: the sole purpose is to exhaust the stocks. We can also notice that the mention “Créative technologie” does not make any more sense. [...]

[...] In United States of America In the USA, the RAM 1500 distributed by the Dodge is a flagship pick-up. This ad for a Dodge retailer points up one competitive advantage: the price. The price in big and red, is reduced of almost one third. Furthermore, the client has the possibility to pay in 72 months without any fee. But if we look closely, there is only one car available for this price, and an asterisk follows the mention APR financing for 72 months”. Finally, this advert concerns a new model but only the price seems to be interesting. [...]

[...] Thanks to the Z.E. innovation, the owners will have the possibility to go to quick drop station enabling to charge the batteries in only 3 minutes[8]. Social environment The social atmosphere is quite bad due to the financial crisis. People prefer to allocate their budget for essential expenses and postpone the purchase of expensive goods. Therefore, they are more sensitive to discount offers which are flooding the market. Low cost car are strongly in the trend, what explain the success in West Europe of the Dacia Logan[9]. [...]

[...] The slump of the car sales was huge for the majority of the constructors. In December 2008, results were as follows: - for Renault in France, for Chrysler and for General Motors in USA, - in 2008 for the Spanish market and - for the Japanese market[1]. But in one year, the situation has rolled over; year 2009 has shown signs of economic recovery and the private car sales have risen of in France[2]. However, results for 2010 are nuanced and financial analysts plan on different scenarios depending on geographic area: sales shall increase of in USA[3] because the market has reached the bottom limit, whereas the end of the scrappage premium shall have terrible consequences on the European market in France, - in Germany, and - in west Europe[4]). [...]

[...] A lot of financial aids have been set up by governments. Measures taken by Europe and USA illustrate clearly this willingness to reflate the automobile market. The famous “prime à la casse” or scrappage premium refers to the financial aid given to customers who are willing to get rid of their old car to buy a new one which is more environment friendly. Germany is the most advantageous country regarding the scrappage premium since the government offers for a every car above 9 years old. [...]