Marketing of Electric Cars: Analysis of Australian Automobile Market

This report provides a detailed analysis of the marketing strategies for electric cars, focusing on the Australian market. It begins with an executive summary, followed by an introduction that examines the current situation, including the background of sustainable offerings and environmental analysis, as well as market and customer analysis. The report outlines specific financial, marketing, and stakeholder objectives, along with a SMART analysis. It identifies the target market based on demographics and psychographics and then delves into marketing strategies, including positioning, product/offering details (nature, level, type, USP), pricing, placement, and promotion. The report also covers marketing implementation, budget considerations, and evaluation and control mechanisms, concluding with a summary of key findings and recommendations. The assignment covers topics such as market analysis, competitive landscape, product positioning, target market identification, and the development of effective marketing strategies within the context of the Australian automobile market. The report emphasizes sustainability, customer preferences, and the competitive dynamics of the electric vehicle industry.

Running head: MARKETING OF ELECTRIC CAR
Marketing of Electrical Car
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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MARKETING OF ELECTRIC CAR
Executive Summary:
Electric car is a revolutionary product of the automobile industry, which combines
technology and sustainability. The market is aimed at the upper class customers, which
generates high revenue. The industry has presence of big competitors like Nissan, Tesla and
Chevrolet. The paper studies the marketing strategies of electric car in the Australian market.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary:..................................................................................................................1
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................4
1. Current situation:....................................................................................................................4
Background of sustainable offering:..........................................................................................4
Environmental analysis:.........................................................................................................4
Market and customer analysis:...............................................................................................5
2. Objectives:..............................................................................................................................6
Financial objectives:...............................................................................................................6
Marketing objectives:.............................................................................................................6
Other Stakeholder objectives:................................................................................................6
SMART analysis of the objectives:........................................................................................6
3. Target market:........................................................................................................................7
4. Marketing strategies:..............................................................................................................8
4.1 Positioning:......................................................................................................................8
4.2. Product/offering:.............................................................................................................9
Nature of the offer:.............................................................................................................9
Level:..................................................................................................................................9
Type:......................................................................................................................................9
Unique selling Proposition (USP) or sustainable competitive advantage (CSA):.............9
Existing Brand Perceptions:...............................................................................................9

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Recommendations:.................................................................................................................9
4.2. Optional additional product:.........................................................................................10
4.2.2 Process:...................................................................................................................10
4.2.3 Physical evidence:...................................................................................................10
4.3 Price:..............................................................................................................................10
4.4 Placement:......................................................................................................................10
4.4 Promotion:......................................................................................................................11
5. Marketing implementation:..................................................................................................11
6. Budget:.................................................................................................................................11
7. Evaluation and Control:.......................................................................................................12
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................13
References:...........................................................................................................................14

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Introduction:
The aim of the paper is to study marketing plan of an environment friendly product.
The paper starts with an analysis of the current situation of the sustainable automobile
manufacturing followed by marketing objectives. The next section studies the target market
of the product, namely an electric car. This is followed by marketing strategies followed by
marketing implementation, budget and evaluation and control.
1. Current situation:
Background of sustainable offering:
The rising demand for sustainable modes of transport like electric car in Australia due
to increase in environmental concern among the consumers are creating strong background
for expanding market of sustainable modes of transport like electric cars. The advancement of
automobile manufacturing, innovation and entry of multinational automobile manufacturers
are triggering market growth of electric cars (Moons and De Pelsmacker 2015). The
increasing legal and social pressures on the automobile industry to achieve sustainability in
production are also
Environmental analysis:
Environmental analysis of the market of sustainable methods of transport shows that it
is impacted by several political, economic, social and technological factors. The political
factors consist of government policies and laws made by the government of Australia like the
Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. An analysis of these acts
shows that they mandate the automobile industry to shift towards more environmental
friendly and sustainable methods of production (Kivimaa and Kern 2016).

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The economic environmental factors affecting the automobile industry are rise in per
capita income in Australia, increasing profitability in the Australian automobile market due to
entry of multinational automobile companies and available of resources like human
resources, capital and raw materials. An analysis of these economic factors shows that they
are interdependent and related each other (Lippiatt 2017). The increase in per capita income
among Australians has made more disposable income available to the people and they are
ready to spend on expensive cars which pumping revenue into the automobile industry. This
increase in revenue generation in the automobile industry and availability of resources have
attracted multinational automobile companies which is encouraging research and innovation
towards manufacturing of sustainable electric cars (Lockwood 2013) Thus, the favourable
economic environment in Australia is driving the sustainable automobile production.
The increase in the per capita income and preference for sustainable modes of
transport are acting as important social environmental factors driving the expansion of
electric cars in Australia. The technological factors like advancement of automobile
manufacturing technology, advent of knowledge management system using cloud computing
and social media between the companies and the consumers and more scientific waste
management facilities are the technological factors, which are triggering expansion of
sustainable automobile market in Australia (Mowforth and Munt 2015).
Market and customer analysis:
An analysis of the market of sustainable automobile market shows that it is
experiencing high demand for environment friendly vehicles. The market has presence of
multinational companies like Tesla and Nissan, which has made the market severely
competitive.

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A customer analysis shows that customers prefer environment friendly modes of
transport like electric car. The increase in their income allows them to spend more towards
purchase of expensive sustainable vehicles (Kushwaha and Sharma 2016).
2. Objectives:
Financial objectives:
The financial objectives of the electric car manufacturing companies like Nissan and
Tesla are to increase their sales and net profits by manufacturing more electric cars and
catering to the expanding customer base for the product. This increase in profits would allow
them to gain more return on the robust investment they inject into manufacturing and
innovations of electric cars (Li et al. 2016).
Marketing objectives:
The electric car manufacturing companies seek to market their products in new
markets to create more customer awareness. They acquire larger numbers of dealers and
distributors to cater to the new markets and generate maximum revenue (Zeriti et al. 2014).
Other Stakeholder objectives:
The other stakeholder objectives of the automobile companies manufacturing electric
cars are to achieve sustainability by operating in environment friendly ways like reducing
their waste emission and management of wastes. They also aim to benefit the community by
increasing awareness about environmental protection and participating in sustainability
projects (Hörisch, Freeman and Schaltegger 2014).
SMART analysis of the objectives:
The financial objectives like increasing profits are specific, measurable, attainable
and can be achieved in 1 year. However, achieving a high rate of return on investment (ROI)

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is dependent on various factors market expansion, which would take more than a year. The
effectiveness of the marketing objectives can be measured by analysing the increase in
profits due to the increase in marketing activities. The other stakeholders’ objectives like
reduction of environmental pollution cannot be measured quantitatively. They would take a
long period like five years. Total reduction of pollution is not achievable but the
manufacturers can invest in specific sustainable manufacturing methods like installing
carbon-trapping chimneys to reduce pollution (Boiral and Henri 2017).
3. Target market:
The target market of the electric cars can be segmented based on demography and
psychography. The demographical consumer segmentation consist of middle and upper class
consumers who sufficient disposable income to invest in expensive sustainable electric cars.
The psychographical segmentation consists of consumers who are conscious about the
environment and prefer expensive environment friendly electric cars compared to their
cheaper counterparts running on petrol or diesel (Firat, Turker and Metin 2014).
The needs of the rich and the environment conscious target market are environment
friendly modes of transport like electric cars. They also demand high quality, fuel efficiency
and cost effectiveness from the car manufacturers. These two customer segments are the
present users who use cars by multinational companies. The competitive manufacturers in
the sustainable automobile market are multinational companies like Nissan, Chevrolet and
Hyundai (Shukla, Banerjee and Singh 2016).
It can be recommended that the automobile manufacturing companies should target to
market their expensive electric cars based on demographic segmentation and market their
products among the middle and upper class customers. This is because the upper class
customers have sufficient disposable income to buy these expensive products. The companies

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manufacturing electric cars can gain further information about the needs of the upper class
customers using primary and secondary marketing research. The primary marketing research
consists of surveys, questionnaires and interview of customers both online and offline. They
can also gain information about customer preferences from secondary sources like newspaper
articles, magazines and from other marketing firms (Dion and Borraz 2017).
4. Marketing strategies:
The following section would deal with the marketing strategies automobile
manufacturing companies can follow with marketing electric cars in the market:
4.1 Positioning:
The positioning statement of the car manufacturing companies to differentiate their
products from their competitors to attract the affluent customer segment in the market and
occupy high market position is as follows:
A sustainable luxury electric car designed differently to add value to the
customers’ money.
The electric car manufacturing companies would beat the market competition by
positing their products as sustainable, cost effective in Australia.
The manufacturers require obtaining market research information about the needs of
the middle and lower class customers using both primary and secondary sources to gain the
information. This information would help them design electric car for this segment of
customers as well.

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4.2. Product/offering:
Nature of the offer:
The product would be electric car which would combine advanced technology and
sustainability to give the consumer superior driving experience. The companies would also
provide services like financing and after sales services.
Level:
The sustainable electric car as a product would have three layers, core product, actual
product and the augmented product. The core product would be the comfort and value
addition to their investment. The actual product is the car while the augmented product
consists of services like financing and after sales services (Shukla, Banerjee and Singh 2016).
Type:
The electric car would be a speciality good.
Unique selling Proposition (USP) or sustainable competitive advantage (CSA):
The USP or CSA of the electric cars would be the fact that they combine luxury and
sustainability.
Existing Brand Perceptions:
The existing brand perception about electric cars is that they are luxurious,
sustainability and meant for the upper class society.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that the electric car manufacturers must brand, package and label
their products strategies. They must extend their product line and strengthen their product
mix to gain more competitive advantage.

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4.2. Optional additional product:
The electric manufacturers must conduct internet marketing to develop an efficient
customer service department. They must acquire, motivate, train and reward customer service
staffs to ensure they achieve degree of customer service and satisfaction by meeting
customers’ expectations (Kushwaha and Sharma 2016).
4.2.2 Process:
The customer service staff should be trained to serve using advanced systems like
information systems and queuing systems. This will ensure they serve customers efficiently
to match diverse customer expectations.
4.2.3 Physical evidence:
The electric car manufacturing companies like Nissan and Chevrolet should have
exterior facilities like gardens and parking facilities. They should have sophisticated interior
designing of their customer service areas like appropriate lighting systems, sober and sound
systems. They sound systems should help the customers to hear the announcements made to
them from the customer service desks (Atwal and Williams 2017).
4.3 Price:
The pricing strategy used by the companies like Nissan and Chevrolet should be
status-quo oriented and the price strategy should be skimming. This is because the electric
cars are luxury products whose target customer segment is the rich and upper class
customers.
4.4 Placement:
The car manufacturing companies should have efficient supply and distribution chain.

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4.4 Promotion:
The car manufacturing companies should promote their electric car products
aggressively using advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, internet
marketing and selling through outlet.
5. Marketing implementation:
The automobile companies should market electric cars and the target completion date
should be two years. The accounts departments should allocate sufficient funds so that they
can market the products in eco-friendly ways to boost its socially responsible image.
6. Budget:
Revenue 500000 700000 750000 850000 900000
Add: Profit c/d 0 500000 380000 1080000 550000 1300000 615000 1465000 700000 1600000
Less: cost of production 50000 80000 40000 80000 75000
Less: cost of distribution 60000 60000 75000 60000 40000
Less: marketing plan 10000 120000 10000 150000 20000 135000 10000 150000 20000 135000
Projected profit 380000 550000 615000 700000 765000
Year 1($) Year 2($) Year 3($) Year 4($) Year 5($)
Figure 1. Budget of electric car company
(Source: Author)
Year wise profit($) Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
380000 550000 615000 700000 765000

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Year wise
profit($)
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
0
100000
200000
300000
400000
500000
600000
700000
800000
900000
Series1
Figure 2. Graph showing increase in profit in 5 years
(Source: Author)
7. Evaluation and Control:
The car manufacturing companies should monitor their marketing activities to ensure
high sales and return on investments. They should market their products to create brand
awareness about their products among a large consumer base to gain large market share and
market penetration. They should offer high quality and environment friendly high products to
ensure customer satisfaction.

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Conclusion:
It can be summarised that the electric car market is a revolutionary product of the
automobile industry. The product would combine advanced technology and sustainability.
They should market their products aggressively in the market to attract the rich upper class
and sell these cars to them at high prices. This result in earning of high revenue which the can
direct to introduce low priced model in the market. This will allow them to cater to the lower
class customers using their low price variants. Thus, these companies would be able to cater
to both high and low segment customers.

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