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Given the maturity of Internal Combustion Engine car technology nowadays, a new car purchase can not be justified on ordinary rational grounds. It's like taking a vacation to Hawaii or having a cake (for breakfast). Very reliable transportation appliances are readily available among used cars. Carmakers have to connect with some irrational aspects of the consumer's brain to make a new car sale:
1. BMW, MB, Lexus (and to a lesser degree Audi, Accura, Infiniti, etc.) covers that angle from "bragging rights" / vanity, and/or the very real benefit of business/personal relations that can be derived from a new showy/statement car.
2. Toyota and Honda profit from people, especially women and business people buying vehicles for work, who can't afford the time/safety factor involved in breakdowns, even though car breakdowns are extremely rare nowadays with modern cars. There is an irrational fear involved there. I fell for that one once and bought the Highlander when my 9-5 turned 3yrs old, as my business was growing rapidly, and we were getting ready for our first child. The 9-5 is almost 10yrs old now, and it still runs very well. Knock on wood.
Both points are more about perception than reality: how people perceive the cars and brands (and their own personal needs), not necessarily how the cars themselves are. Saab was somewhat missing the boat on both accounts, thanks to the GM connection. GM managed to alienate even the "practical" eccentrics by discontinuing the hatch. Saab's slow product development and bad timing didn't help: introducing SUV's when the fad ended; introducing convertible in winter, AWD SUV/cross-over in summer.
The support group here is by definition not predominated by new car purchasers, although visiting this site more than a decade ago (when Scott still ran the server out of his apartment) did influence my purchase of my first new Saab, the '01 9-5 wagon. In the years to come, if cars become more electrically involved, ownership cycles may well shorten due to battery dying and electronics advance faster than ICE technology. Components will also become more modular, just like computers have become. Saab's marketing position of using evocative designs to get the first-owners in the door through lease deals, then have an army of second-owners to tinker with the cars on resale to help hold up residual value may well be a winning strategy.
posted by 76.118.39...
, Tue, 1 Mar 2011 06:35:23
, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:48:36
, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:13:27
, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:17:57
, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 11:26:39, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:14:37, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 09:50:37, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 09:30:23, Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:12:16, Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:04:29, Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:31:43
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