Automotive Industry
Changes In Global Business Assignment
Brief History
Ferrari 250 GT LWB
Mercedes-Mclaren SLR
Pagani Zonda LM
Technological Changes In The Industry
Gadgetry
The automotive industry has been evolving over the past few years due to the rapid changes in technology affecting the industry. Many of these technological advancements are as a result of other shifts in trends, or mindsets but are often completely independent of environmental concerns, or health issues. For example, in the past, car manufacturers would stand out using a good build of the car itself. Nowadays that isn’t really enough so what do car manufacturers do today? With the countless little gadgets that technology provides, car manufacturers have found the way to being unique. Car manufacturers today can be seen producing 7 different shades of ambient lighting in their cars, or cars that act as a wifi hotspot, or cars with a 10 function massage chair, or cars with a night-vision feature. These little features seem unnecessary to many, but it allows cars to stand out by providing little things that may not even be used, but act simply as a cool feature to have. These features have provided the basis for some car models’ success entirely on their own.
Electric Motors
New Processes
Marketing
The automotive industry is changing right in front of us and the last few years has seen the greatest change to the industry yet. The method of making a connection with the customer has changed drastically. The internet is the main reason for this change. A huge number of buyers will look up a car before going into the dealership so what may have been the best dealership in the past may not even get a customer into the dealership if the website isn’t appealing enough. Beyond just the look of the website, a recent option to build your vehicle online plays perhaps the biggest role for serious customers. Many online websites do not give an adequate view of the car being built, showcasing the car built online instantly attracts customers as they appreciate what has been built and they will go into the dealership because they have a good image of what they will get. If what they built online is not appealing, they won’t expect much from what they are going to buy so they won’t bother going to the dealership. For the customers who aren’t serious enough to build a car, but are online window-shopping, the outlook of the website, just on a superficial level is enough to make or break their perception about a company. That image is what will decide where they do end up going once they actually decide to buy a car. Entirely different from the past, the marketing game nowadays starts long before the customer enters the dealership.
Distribution
New processes in the aspect of distribution plays a big role in the automotive industry today. Many higher-end car manufacturers deliver cars to the customer rather than having customers pick them up from the dealership. Examples are Ferrari, Lamborghini, Audi (for certain cars) and many others. This exclusivity factor adds hugely to the experience of buying the car and allows car companies to set up fewer plants as they will be shipping cars anyway. This exclusivity also pulls in customers in an odd way. One of the key factors of buying an expensive is the rarity of the vehicle, so adding to that feeling is an almost effortless way for the dealer to add to this feeling.
Inventory Control
New Trends And Attitudes
Environmental Concern
Health Concerns
Watching old movies gives all of us the semi-true impression that the 1960s were incomplete without cigarettes. Today however, laws are being put into place to actively restrict the impact that smoking can have on health. This new attitude towards smoking has made ‘smoke-free’ cars more valued on the classified market. Car companies saw this opportunity and have decided to step up to this challenge for their customers and have fitted their cars with air purifiers so customers can enjoy smoking without ruining the resale value of the car.
Emission testing has taken a huge leap on our list of priorities in recent years as a result of the health concerns related to it. All cars now post their emission ratings as a regular statistic next to horsepower and torque figures. In the past, nobody had time to care very much about these figures. Governments now impose very strict regulations for the emission levels of different vehicles. An example which attests to the seriousness of the issue is the Volkswagen scandal. They were fined huge sums of money for cheating through tests meant to regulate the emissions of the vehicles. The size of the fine really attests to how seriously this issue is taken by governments in today’s health oriented world.
For the purpose of foresight, even with the new hybrid and electric cars slowly emerging in the market, health concerns are already being voiced. The concern now is of the effect of electromagnetic radiation effect occupants of the vehicle. This obviously applies to pregnant women and young children first as they are most susceptible to it. No moves have been made to address the issue as of yet, but with the number of electric/hybrid vehicles in the market increasing, the voice articulating this issue will only keep growing.