Auto Brands Continue to Re-Evaluate their Audience Targeting Styles Amidst Recent Market Difficulties
As consumer adoption evolves from the Early Adopter cohort into the Early Majority and BEV growth slows, auto brands are shifting their strategy to include additional drive trains and marketing tactics.
Brands are also re-evaluating their targeting tactics, now looking to meet EV adopters “where they are”. Brands are now focusing on converting the most likely prospects they face based on geographic factors, instead of casting a wider net in regions less likely to adopt EVs. This marks a new shift in brand strategy - one keeping up with a changing and evolving auto market.
The Sedan Lives to Fight Another Day
In an era of an ever-growing list of cancelled Sedan and Coupe models across the board from brands, the 2024 NYAS was unique with the unveiling of a new Kia Sedan model – the Kia K4. As one of the first new Sedan models unveiled at an auto show in years, its sleek external design along with an impressive array of internal electronics caught many attendees attention; however, the pricing of the vehicle at $23,000 provided a fascinating peek at Kia’s strategy to draw in younger consumers. With a firm understanding of their strong product offerings (particularly their award-winning 2024 World Car of the Year Kia EV9), Kia continues to look for ways to draw consumers into their larger ecosystem with a lower priced point offering, one that is now unique within the market.
A Renewed Emphasis on Listening to Consumer Preferences
A major theme across brands at the show was a renewed interest in consumer needs and demands. Brands across the board unveiled new features within their vehicles that indicated they had listened to what their specific customers wanted. Hyundai re-designed dashboards to include physical knobs and switches again as a response to consumer backlash against virtual buttons. Kia addressed consumer concerns regarding EVs by running creative that emphasized how their EV9 can power homes during storms, demonstrated their bi-directional capabilities, and showcased the strength and resilience of their batteries. Infiniti unveiled an updated QX80 model, replacing the existing 5.6L V8 engine with a new 3.5L Turbo-charged V6 - drastically improving fuel economy ratings, a previous pain point for QX80 owners, with little performance sacrifice. Brands are now reacting faster to customer feedback, a reflection of an evolving industry.
OEMs are Partnering on EV Production
With growing challenges facing the maturing EV market, the unveiling of the Acura ZDX at the NYAS offered a glimpse into the evolution of OEM EV production, and the new partnerships that have been forged. As Acura’s first entry into the battery-electric vehicle space, the ZDX is the product of a partnership between Acura and General Motors. Not only will the ZDX utilize GM's Ultium battery, but it is also reportedly being built at GM’s Springhill, Tennessee plant alongside the Cadillac Lyriq electric SUV. This underscores a significant trend occurring within the electric vehicle industry, that of partnerships among competitors. In addition to Acura-GM, Nissan announced a partnership with Honda via a “memorandum of understanding”, outlining potential areas of collaboration on EV and AI technology. Many industry experts view these unlikely collaborations as part of an overall strategy to fend off international competition from encroaching upon the North American market, notably Chinese EV brands such as BYD & Geely.
A New Focus on Visible Partnership Events
Following a post-Covid malaise of marketing partnerships, the 2024 NYAS demonstrated that the era of visible partnerships from auto brands was back in full swing. Brands at the show strongly emphasized their partnership aspects, with Kia highlighting their new marketing partnerships with various eSports channels, as well as showing off their new naming sponsorships of the Inglewood Kia Forum and Orlando Kia Center. Brands have re-entered the visible partnership space and continue to look for ways for themselves to be constantly present within consumers’ minds. With a newfound focus on magnifying their brands perception as often as possible in the physical space, VDX.tv offers a unique opportunity to magnify that presence across the virtual sphere as well.
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