We talked recently about how the troubled car market can try to stimulate sales or maintain price by adding value by partnering with the right brands to create limited edition models. That's all good and well for some prospective buyers but at the moment a lot of the public just don't want to commit to a large purchase (Chart 4). To counter this Hyundai in the US are now introducing a new initiative to bail people out if they lose their job in the next 12 months. Basically they've added redundancy insurance into the purchase cost. It's a neat initiative that will no doubt generate sales as well as get a fair about of positive column inches.
This highlights that brands just can't stand still in a down-turn. Consumer attitudes and behaviour have changed significantly over the past 6-12 months, which means brands need to get to the bottom of these changes and innovate accordingly. Given the need for immediate results for some brands this might mean experimenting more and then latching on to something that really works. That or risk being left behind.
Stephen
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.