Customer Measurement for SUVs

This article discusses the use of three scales for customer measurement for SUVs: Brand Choice, Brand Loyalty, and Brand Image. It also explores the economic, legal, technological, and competitive aspects of developing SUVs.

Running Head: MARKETING PROJECT
Title
Name
Institute Affiliation

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Q1
We have used three scales for customer measurement for our product which is SUV’s.
These were Brand Choice, Brand Loyalty and Brand Image.
For them Brand choice is a behavioural tendency which provides direction to consumer’s
predisposition toward a brand (Burner, James, & Hensel, 2001). We used this as its the most
fundamental element of the strategies. We asked questions related to the characteristics of our
sport utility vehicle and approximately 89% have responded to exactly what we are currently
offering.
Another scale we used was Brand Loyalty in which there were five metrics: Reliability,
Trust, Esteem, Customer Affinity and Identification (Burner et al., 2001). These scales are
what we find as the main elements of any customer base in different markets. Out of these,
confidence, esteem and reliability were preference of 70, while 40 also wanted identification.
Brand Image is a capacity of the buyers to distinguish a product from other brands,
through a feature that is established in the mind of the consumers (Burner et al., 2001). This
also means that there is a passionate link between consumers and brands. Our brand image is
also what attracted respondents to choose our description of an SUV in which 98 respondents
viewed the image as crucial rather than that of competitors.
Q2
There are many aspects which a company needs to take into consideration before
developing a product or service. A thorough formulation of the Economic, Legal,
Technological and Competitive study should be done of the environment in order to
understand its impact on all the stake holders (Yüksel, 2012).
Economical
As a result of trade tensions and a slowdown in Chinese growth, the global economy is
drying and looking for new ways to widen its business. The shift from traditional cars to

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SUVs started back in 2011 and grew strong in 2018. The message that SUVs are the vehicles
they want to drive clearly sent by consumers around the world. Last year, SUV gained the top
position among all segments with 29.77 million units sold (Tabuchi, 2018). Thanks to the
increase posted in 2018, this made for another record year. Volume increased by 6.8 percent,
or nearly 1.9 million units, which is impressive given the global situation in the three largest
vehicle markets: the United States, China and Europe ((Tabuchi, 2018). With 36.4 percentage
points, SUVs also posted the highest market share of all time, up 2.5 percentage points from
2017(Tabuchi, 2018).This is all indifferent to the price of fuel volatility. This has resulted in
an increase in interest in SUVs and cars around the world.
Legal
SUV is now a big risk on the roads. Unfortunately, the popularity of Sports Utility
Vehicle seems to always grow. This increase in popularity causes some problems that all
seem to be related to its size. Sport utility vehicles are less fuel efficient which is why they
have to strictly adhere to the CAFE standards, these were passed in 1975 to conserve oil and
improve the nations gas mileage as the gasoline waste is too big and more dangerous than
conventional cars. However, sport utility vehicles are also not really environmentally
friendly(Albarracin et al., 2014). Due to the excessive speed of the sport utility vehicle, it can
result in roll overs which has led to the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
(NHTSA) to issue a standard that likely would have required SUVs to be redesigned if it is
considered to have a dangerous aspect of any party and pass the Government Crash test
before being available to the public for purchasing(Yuksel, 2012).
Technological
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have a key role to play in the
future of the automotive industry, because cars have increased predictability capabilities to
customize the driving adventure of a person who can determine whether they want to buy a

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car or not (Hill, Alexander, 2017). Autonomous cars use many cameras, EPS motors, sensors,
laser scanners and GPS (Mazodier and Merunka, 2012).This has led to an increase in demand
for such cars which offer these features and much more. By updating the position of the
vehicle at regular intervals, the GPS tracking system can assist the driver in proper mobility.
The GPS device can be moved from one vehicle to another for comfort, although it is too
small for the vehicle. These are the modifications which are being demanded by customers
apart from electrical cars and fuel efficiency.
SUV will face competition in future by the following in terms of technology :
 Volvo all-electric XC40
 Kia Niro EV
 Porsche Taycan
 Nissan Leaf 2019
 BMW i3 2019
 Mini Electric 2019
 Mercedes-Benz EQC 2019
 Audi e-tron 2019
Competitive
Compact Sports Utility Vehicles remain the most popular as they constitute for 41% of
total sales. Hyundai-Kia leaded the ranking by 7% which was 12.24 million units. Renault-
Nissan Mid-size SUVs were about 7.26 million units increasing only by 3 percent. Hyundai -
Kia and VW Group led the 13 percent boost only. Big SUV sales averaged to 3.68 million
units which has been 2 percent higher and led by General Motors(Kagali, 2014).
Sr No. Company Name Lead by
Percentage
Units in
Millions
1 Hyundai-Kia 7% 12.24

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2 Renault Nissan 3% 7.26
4 General Motors
(Big SUV’s)
2% 3.68
Table 1 : Competitors by brand name
Sr No. Top Brand Top Seller Units in
Millions
Lead by %
1 Large Ford Explorer 3.68 +2%
2 Mid size Nissan X-trail/Rogue 7.26 +3%
3 Compact Toyota Rav-4 6.58 +13%
4 Small Honda HR-V 12.24 +7%
Table 2: Competitots by size
However those who do not buy SUVS are probably looking for more fuel efficient cars
such as the Mitsubishi Mirage, Honda Fit, Honda Civic, Ford Focus, Toyota Yaris and many
others who are much more compact, environmental friendly and affordable too with less legal
implications. Furthermore, SUV can also be compared to Minivans and Hybrids but
obviously this all depends on different factors mentioned by Malhotra (2016) as he suggests
that buyers of such different segment are dictated by the Size, Price, Driving experience,
Maintainable Cost, Resale and Brand Recognition.
References:
Burner, G. C., James, K. E., & Hensel, P. J. (2001). Marketing scales handbook: A
compilation of multi-item measures, Volume III. Chicago: American Marketing
Association.

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Albarracin, D., Johnson, B. T., & Zanna, M. P. (2014). Handbook of Attitudes (1st ed.).
Mahwah: Taylor and Francis. doi: 9781410612823
Hill, N., & Alexander, J. (2017). The handbook of customer satisfaction and loyalty
measurement (3rd ed.): Routledge. doi: 9781315239279
Kagali, L. B. (2014). Emotion Design of an Iconic (Volkswagen) Campervan (Master's
thesis). University of Applied Sciences. pp. 39
Malhotra, N. K. (2016). Essentials of marketing research: A hands-on orientation (1st ed.).
Beijing: Zhongguo.
Mazodier, M., & Merunka, D. (2012). Achieving brand loyalty through sponsorship: the role
of fit and self-congruity. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 40(6), pp.
807-820.
Tabuchi, H. (2018, March 03). The World Is Embracing S.U.V.s. That's Bad News for the
Climate. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/03/climate/suv-sales-global-
climate.html [18th April 2019]
Yuksel, I. (2012). Developing a multi-criteria decision making model for PESTEL
analysis. International Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 7(24), pp. 52.