Marketing Research: Customer Attitude Towards BMW Green Vehicles

This report investigates customer attitudes towards BMW and its green vehicles, focusing on factors influencing purchase decisions such as price, promotion, and availability. It addresses the research problem of understanding consumer behavior in the context of luxury green vehicles, particularly within BMW's brand image. The research objectives include identifying what attracts individuals to BMW, analyzing factors involved in electric vehicle purchases, and observing recent trends in customer attitudes. Key hypotheses explore the impact of reliability, range, and maintenance costs on purchase behavior. The report also considers the competitive landscape, including companies like Tesla and Volvo, and the challenges BMW faces, such as high initial costs and lack of infrastructure. The research model aims to provide insights into enhancing BMW's market position in the green vehicle sector.

Running Head: Marketing research
MARKETING RESEARCH

Marketing research 1
Table of contents
Introduction 2
Research problem 4
Research objective 4
Research question 4
Hypothesis development 5
Research model 6
References 7

Marketing research 2
Introduction
The current report is being formulated in order to identify the impact of three independent
variables for example price, promotion and place on the dependent variables like sales,
Customer enquiries and size of transaction for BMW and it's green vehicles. In the initial stages,
the discussion will be made to link between profitability as well as competition followed by a
brief introduction of the company. The next phase of the proposal will try to establish the
Research objectives as well as research questions which will be followed by hypothesis
development and discussions on research model (Egbue, Long & Samaranayake 2017).
The psychology of the market can also be attributed as consumer behaviour and in simple
terms, it can be defined as a detailed study of organisations or groups that will help in
understanding how a process and psychology individuals work. A lot of literature has been
already published representing consumer behaviour in respect of luxury automobile. However,
no such detailed study is present that associates the factors influencing consumers to purchase
green vehicles from a company like BMW which is well known for its luxury vehicles. The
modern consumer has felt the increase in disposable income in urban as well as rural sector
and due to easy finance options, the sales of passenger cars has increased significantly (Ullah,
Aimin & Ahmed, 2018).
Evaluation of current scenario
In order to satisfy the environmentally conscious consumers, BMW developed a sub-brand
called BMWi that is fully dedicated to designing as well as manufacturing of green vehicles. The
normal retail consumers of BMW bicycles are actually amateur purchasers who only desire
specificity as well as are willing to spend on consumption of commodities that are non-routine
(Mazur, Offer Contestabile & Brandon, 2018). Normally the BMW customers display their desire
to utilise the symbolic as well as experiential benefits of the brand with their attitudes as well as
behaviours. The consumers are more attracted to the brand rather than the vehicles
themselves. The key factors that a responsible for motivating the environmental conscious

Marketing research 3
behaviour in the consumers are personal value and beliefs (Schüppel, Schlüter & Gacnik,
2017).
However, it has been found out that the surging gas prices complemented with reducing
maintenance cost, better handling abilities, as well as a reduction in air pollutants, are some of
the factors that have a great impact on the consumer behaviour influencing them to purchase
electric vehicles (Franke, Günther, Trantow & Krems, 2017). With energy crisis becoming a
reality day by day, the people are looking up to Green vehicles because of the strong
preference for energy security as well as environmentalism. The sales of electric vehicles are
largely dependent on the rising prices of gasoline along with social preferences. The three main
independent variables that can be identified in the course of the proposal are fuel economy,
price and lastly reliability.
It should be kept in mind the social demographic, as well as socio-economic variables, also play
an important role in the motivational aspect of purchasing as well as using a car. The adoption
of green and eco-friendly vehicles is a Testament of the pro-environmental identity of an
individual which has a positive impact on the perception of such green vehicles. BMW has long
established itself as one of the premium manufacturers in luxury vehicles in Europe and the
company is present all over the globe. The strong Geographic presence of the company has
allowed BMW to penetrate into the market of Europe, United States, Middle East and Asia
(Kühl, Goutier, Ensslen & Jochem, 2019).
The company as already mentioned has developed its sub-brand which helps it to portray their
commitment to the environmental cause. This portrayal of environmental consciousness clicks
with the consumers having a similar mindset or psychology. In today's day and age, the air
quality of air, negative effect of pollutants and harmful effect of these pollutants is a very critical
factor that influences the purchase decisions of individuals who wishes to buy a green vehicle.
However, lack of infrastructure and the high initial cost has discouraged consumers from making
a purchase of green vehicles (Choi, 2018). BMW has accepted the fact that significant

Marketing research 4
investment in terms of research and development will allow the company to develop a
sustainable as well as competitive advantage in the long term. However, in the short term, it will
not be able to enjoy the profits that it usually did.
Recent studies have shown that green vehicles are sufficient enough for meeting a large quota
of the driving needs. BMW has been experimenting with its electric vehicle portfolio for a while
and the future seems quite positive for the company. BMW has been targeting the urban market
because of the Limited range of vehicles as well as due to the high cost of purchase (Bozhuk &
Pletneva, 2017). Being able to drive a car that has minimal impact on the environment attracts
the environmental revolutionaries who are young, successful as well as affluent.
The BMW vehicles are highly responsive and have great on-road feedback which is due to
balanced power and low centre of gravity. The premium finishing and materials that have been
used also influence the buyers. However, the price fixed for such vehicles means that only a
select handful of individuals will be able to enjoy the luxury of operating a BMW green vehicle.
Perhaps the most vital criteria before the purchase of a green vehicle are the range of the
vehicle (Rocha, Melo, Rolim & Baptista, 2016). BMW has this taken into account and
intelligently packed a super powerful, heavy as well as massive battery such that it has
increased boot load, vehicle agility, as well as range and this operational design, has been
adopted for all the future generation models that the car manufacturer will produce in the future.
With companies like Tesla, Volvo and even motorcycling bands like Zero entering the fray, the
competition in the market pertaining to electric vehicles has surged and each of the company
have been actively tweaking with their product line to give the customers a more suitable
product that can easily fulfil the needs of the customer which are namely Energy Efficiency,
reliability and low maintenance cost (Knez & Obrecht, 2017). Unlike Tesla which used limited
resources for dominating the niche Market before its expansion into the adjacent areas, BMW is
already established and really wants to target the markets that have begun to embrace the Eco
car initiative (Lai, Liu, Sun, Zhang & Xu, 2015).

Marketing research 5
The company is making use of a strong reputation in terms of performance and luxury for
targeting a large market which has high disposable income. BMW is at the peak of the global
level in terms of a brand and over the years the brand has become the part of the lives as a
symbol of societal status, affluence and exclusiveness. BMW has been reflecting the
individualistic desires of consumers in the rich countries and its green vehicle initiative is also so
doing the same thing (Korajman, Rachinger & Vorbach, 2018).
They are not targeting economically weaker market section who will be unable to appreciate the
value of individuality, effort and craftsmanship that it has been put together in developing these
green and eco-friendly vehicles. However, BMW also has to face from negative effects of rising
rate of electricity, lack of choice in terms of vehicles, high purchase cost and psychological
factors in addition to short range and inconvenience due to lack of infrastructure which are
actually responsible for becoming barriers to consumer psychology that prevents a customer
from purchasing a BMW green vehicle (Kessler & Bogenberger, 2016).
Research problem
The problem to be focused on the current research proposal is the customer attitude towards
the German car maker BMW and its fleet of electric or green vehicles. It is justifiable as the
expansion towards the green community is well new for the automobile giants and has never
been tried by any of its operational head before.
Research objective
● To understand what attracts an individual to BMW
● To analyse the different factors involved in the purchase of electric vehicles
● To observe the recent trends in customer attitude towards electric vehicles

Marketing research 6
Research question
● What are the different factors that it influences an individual to purchase from BMW?
● What are the different factors that it influences an individual to abstain from purchasing
from BMW?
Hypothesis development
Some studies have indicated the influence of tax incentives on the sale of green vehicles is
quite impactful on the purchasing behavior of customers. Most of the Literature cites the
increase in gasoline price is a significant contributor to the sales of green vehicles. However, it
has been observed that these factors partially affect the perception as well as acceptance of the
consumers towards the green vehicles (Bohnsack, Van den Hoed & Oude Reimer, 2015). The
reliability of using eco-friendly vehicle is directly related with the behavioural as well as purchase
intention of the user. It indicates the willingness to consider the Purchase Decision, if and only if
the commodity in question is reliable in different conditions and scenario.
Hypothesis 1: The reliability of green BMW vehicles has a positive impact on the
purchasing behavior of the user
A lot of automobile companies have been developing their own prototypes and models of green
vehicles. However, these prototypes have a very limited range which indicates a very low fuel
economy that may hinder the Traveling plans of an individual. Consumers often tend to
underestimate the range of electric vehicles and it means that the consumers have to develop
habits which may be slightly different from the traditional behaviour (Broadbent, Drozdzewski &
Metternicht, 2018). This means that if BMW is able to increase the range of their electric
vehicles, it will have a significant impact on the Purchase Decision as well as the behavioural
intention of the user for purchase of a BMW green vehicle.

Marketing research 7
Hypothesis 2: The range of the electric vehicle has a positive impact on the Purchase
Decision of the user towards buying a BMW green vehicle.
The green vehicles are overestimated in terms of cost. It is true that the initial cost of purchasing
a green vehicle may be higher than that of the diesel or gasoline counterpart. However in the
long run and it has been observed that green vehicles, either fully electric or hybrid are actually
cheaper than the cars which are powered by gasoline. This estimation takes into account the
cost of fuelling, repairing as well as other expenses (Colmorn & Hülsmann, 2016). This means
that if BMW who has an extensive infrastructure that is appropriate for the green vehicles it
manufactures, complemented with low cost of maintenance will definitely give BMW the positive
boost that it requires in terms of sales.
Hypothesis 3: The low cost of maintenance over time has a positive impact on the sales
of the BMW company.

Marketing research 8
Research model
Fig
ure 1: Research model
(Source: self generated)

Marketing research 9
References
Bozhuk, S., & Pletneva, N. Y. (2017, April). The problems of market orientation of russian
innovative products (electric cars as a case study). In Energy Management of Municipal
Transportation Facilities and Transport (pp. 1234-1242). Springer, Cham.
Choi, H. (2018). Technology-push and demand-pull factors in emerging sectors: evidence from
the electric vehicle market. Industry and Innovation, 25(7), 655-674.
Egbue, O., Long, S., & Samaranayake, V. A. (2017). Mass deployment of sustainable
transportation: evaluation of factors that influence electric vehicle adoption. Clean
Technologies and Environmental Policy, 19(7), 1927-1939.
Franke, T., Günther, M., Trantow, M., & Krems, J. F. (2017). Does this range suit me? Range
satisfaction of battery electric vehicle users. Applied ergonomics, 65, 191-199.
Kessler, L., & Bogenberger, K. (2016, November). Mobility patterns and charging behavior of
BMW i3 customers. In 2016 IEEE 19th International Conference on Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITSC) (pp. 1994-1999). IEEE.
Knez, M., & Obrecht, M. (2017). Policies for promotion of electric vehicles and factors
influencing consumers’ purchasing decisions of low emission vehicles. Journal of
Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, 5(2), 151-162.
Korajman, I., Rachinger, M., & Vorbach, S. (2018, June). How has the Battery Electric Vehicle
Transformed Car-OEM's Business Models?. In ISPIM Innovation Symposium (pp. 1-9).
The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM).
Kühl, N., Goutier, M., Ensslen, A., & Jochem, P. (2019). Literature vs. Twitter: Empirical insights
on customer needs in e-mobility. Journal of Cleaner Production, 213, 508-520.
Lai, I., Liu, Y., Sun, X., Zhang, H., & Xu, W. (2015). Factors influencing the behavioural intention
towards full electric vehicles: An empirical study in Macau. Sustainability, 7(9), 12564-
12585.

Marketing research 10
Mazur, C., Offer, G., Contestabile, M., & Brandon, N. (2018). Comparing the effects of vehicle
automation, policy-making and changed user preferences on the uptake of electric cars
and emissions from transport. Sustainability, 10(3), 676.
Rocha, C., Melo, S., Rolim, C., & Baptista, P. (2016). The relevance of customer expectations
and preferences: Adoption of electric vehicles and impacts on noise, energy
consumption and air pollution. A review from Portugal. NHV Analysis Techniques for
Design and Optimization of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles.
Schüppel, F., Schlüter, M., & Gacnik, J. (2017). Design of battery electric vehicles in
accordance with legal standards and manufacturers’ and customers’ requirements. In
Der Antrieb von morgen 2017 (pp. 13-29). Springer Vieweg, Wiesbaden.
Ullah, A., Aimin, W., & Ahmed, M. (2018). Smart Automation, Customer Experience and
Customer Engagement in Electric Vehicles. Sustainability, 10(5), 1350
Bohnsack, R., Van den Hoed, R., & Oude Reimer, H. (2015). Deriving vehicle-to-grid business
models from consumer preferences. World Electric Vehicle Journal, 7(4), 621-630.
Broadbent, G. H., Drozdzewski, D., & Metternicht, G. (2018). Electric vehicle adoption: An
analysis of best practice and pitfalls for policy making from experiences of Europe and
the US. Geography Compass, 12(2), e12358.
Colmorn, R., & Hülsmann, M. (2016). Strategic Perspectives of Electric Mobility—Steps
Towards the Slope of Enlightenment. In Markets and Policy Measures in the Evolution of
Electric Mobility (pp. 9-20). Springer, Cham.