British Car Brands Survey, 2008 - Brand Awareness and Intention to Purchase June 2008
Introduction: A comprehensive research study was carried out between March and May 2008 which looked at British Car Brands awareness and possible intention to purchase. This included currently available British brands such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Mini as well as potential brands such as MG, Rover, Triumph, Riley and Austin. The research looked at brand awareness, brand perception, name awareness and attitudes towards next car purchase. It also included some recent show cars and prototypes from the British car industry to gauge reaction and potential. The aim of this research is to measure the current awareness and attitudes towards British car brands and potential car brands and the car buying public s perception of them. Possible intention to purchase was considered against both brands and possible show cars. This survey has been conducted by One Vision Marketing on behalf of AROnline and the findings will be made available to the OEMs which are currently the custodians of the brands covered by the survey. Characteristics of the territory: Four locations were chosen in the North of England including Kingston upon Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and Nottingham. Methodology: 320 respondents were interviewed in the street and door to door at the 4 locations (80 respondents at each location) between 1st March 2008 and 20th May 2008.* The respondents were selected at random but there was a quota (50% Male/ 50% Female). The respondents had to drive a car no more than 5 years old and be willing to consider a new car purchase as their next car. * N.B.: The questions relating to the Sterling brand were added later in the data collection phase of the research and consequently the sample size for these questions was 175 respondents and not 320 respondents as was the case for all other data in the survey.
Demographics: Of those surveyed the following demographics was established: Demographic: 320 Respondents across the territory: Gender: 1. Male: 51% 2. Female 49% Male verus Female demographic 49% 51% 1 2 Street interviews by their nature yield more male respondents than females especially when the subject matter is automotive. This demographic has been adjusted to reflect the fact that females now represent an equal influence on the car purchase where joint decisions are made, and indeed are responsible for nearly 50% of new cars purchased.
Age: (Total Survey) 1. 17-25: 3% 4. 46-55: 19% 2. 26-35: 12% 5. 56-65: 20% 3. 36-45: 31% 6. 65 +: 15% Age Profile of Respondents % interviewed in Age Group 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 31 19 20 15 12 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 Age Groups (1-6) Series1 Whilst chosen at random the interviewers have tried to reflect the age profile of new car buyers, hence the bias towards older respondents (54% over the age of 45) which broadly reflects the new car buyers owner profile. Only 15% of respondents were below 35 again reflecting the age profile of new car buyers. During this survey the researchers have targeted a greater proportion of the 36-45 age group to reflect this influential demographic.
Socio-economic profile: Socio-economic profile is split into 5 categories and reflects the income and job type of the respondent: the higher the job category and salary, the greater propensity of the respondent to consider buying a new car. 1. A 2% Professional and Director level job 2. B 23% Senior Manager level job 3. C1 43% Lower level White Collar job 4. C2 27% Skilled Manual level job 5. D/E 5% Unskilled Manual level job Total 100% Socio economic profile of respondents 27% 5% 2% 23% 1 2 3 4 5 43% The socio-economic profile chosen quite clearly matches the profile of new car buyers and is thus a representative sample. 68% of the sample size is C1 or above which reflects the income required to purchase a new car. This profile closely matches other surveys carried out by One Vision Marketing for a leading UK manufacturer.
Findings: Can you name any UK car brands (Unprompted) Recall of British Car brands (Unprompted ) - Total profile 1. Rolls Royce 69% 9. MG 23% 2. Aston Martin 62% 10. Rover 19% 3. Bentley 58% 11. Lotus 17% 4. Land Rover 55% 12. Triumph 12% 5. Ford 54% 13. Austin Healey 8% 6. Vauxhall 49% 14. Austin 7% 7. Jaguar 35% 15. Morris 5% 8. Mini 34% 16. Riley 2% The overall unprompted recall of UK brands is encouraging with very high response rates for the ultra-premium sector. Current brands in use all achieve high recall with Rover, Triumph and Austin Healey showing the greatest potential if current awareness is factored into their reintroduction. The BLMC legacy brands of Austin, Morris, Riley and Wolseley show little potential if current awareness is considered. Recall of British Car brands (Unprompted ) - Female profile 1. Aston Martin 47% 9. MG 20% 2. Rolls Royce 46% 10. Rover 15% 3. Bentley 45% 11. Lotus 10% 4. Mini 45% 12. Triumph 5% 5. Jaguar 34% 6. Vauxhall 29% 7. Ford 25% 8. Land Rover 24%
The female responses are considerably lower than the overall response figures highlighting a lack of awareness of British car brands especially for brands that are no longer in use. Lack of knowledge, understanding and perception of the legacy brands (Triumph, Austin, Austin Healey and Riley) limits their reintroduction for this group considerably unless they are very clearly positioned in the consumers mind. Can you name any UK car brands (Prompted) The respondents were shown the British car brands (including Chinese, Indian affiliates) and asked to recall brands they recognised. Recall of British Car brands (Prompted ) - Total profile 1. Rolls Royce 100% 9. Triumph 64% 2. Aston Martin 98% 10. Austin Healey 45% 3. Bentley 97% 11. Austin 41% 4. Mini 96% 12. Morris 35% 5. Jaguar 95% 13. Tata 18% 6. Land Rover 92% 14. SsangYong 12% 7. Rover 90% 15. Sterling 11% 8. MG 84% 16. Riley 10% 17. Wolseley 8% 18. Roewe 3% As would be expected prompted recall is much higher for the brands identified. However, the British affiliate brands (Roewe, Tata and SsangYong) have very low awareness even on prompted recall. This calls into question whether using these brands in the UK market is viable. Of the dormant British brands Triumph, Austin Healey and Austin show the most promise. Sterling, the created British brand used for the Rover 800 in the US market in the 1980s, still registers with 11% of respondents.
Can you name any UK car brands that are currently in production and available for sale? Brand A: Rolls Royce 94% Brand B: Aston Martin 87% Brand C: Bentley 82% Brand D: Jaguar 74% Brand E: Land Rover 65% Brand F: Mini 62% Brand G: Vauxhall 56% Brand H: MG 24% Brand I: Rover 12% Brand J: Lotus 8% The super luxury brands still dominate awareness of production and availability but a significant number of respondents think that both MG and Rover are still available (MG having been recently launched again). Can you name any UK car brands that are going to be available in production and available for sale? Brand A: MG 44% Brand B: Rover 11% Brand C: Austin Healey 4% Brand D: Triumph 3%
On a scale of 1-10 where 1 means definitely not and 10 means very likely, how likely would you consider purchasing the following brands in the future if they were available? All respondents: Jaguar: 5.2 Land Rover 4.4 MG: 4.3 Triumph 3.4 Rover: 2.7 Austin Healey 2.5 Sterling 1.9 Morris 1.4 Austin 1.2 Riley 0.7 Tata 0.5 Roewe 0.4 SsangYong 0.3 Notable brands for purchase consideration include Jaguar, Land Rover, MG, Triumph and Austin Healey. Potential brands include Sterling, Rover, Morris and Austin depending on positioning and product differentiation. Notable quotes from respondents are as follows: Jaguar: Jaguar is an up and coming brand. The new XF has really put them on the map. Jaguar needs to develop the X Type further as the bigger Jags are out of my price range.
Jaguar could become the new Audi - cool and understated. Jaguar needs a wider range where are the coupe s, cabriolets, sports cars and smaller saloons? MG: MG was going in the right direction producing hard edged sporting saloons - they need to get that back with new models. I would really need to see new world-beating models before I would consider MG again. The new TF is just too old - where are the new models? MG needs some good diesel cars to compete with European brands for me to consider one. I would be nervous that they might go under again and that is my concern. Triumph: They used to produce beautiful sports cars - Spitfires, Stags etc if they did so again I would definitely consider them. For me Triumph was the BMW of their day a range of sporting saloons would interest me a lot - but the quality would have to be good. Triumph made great sports cars such as the TR range there is a gap in the market for an affordable British sports car. Rover: They would need to be very good value and regain their quality image for me to consider buying one again.
Rovers are an old man s car and whatever they did would not change that. Rover need the image of Range Rover and should develop a range of SUV s such as the Nissan Qashqai. Rover needs a sporting saloon like the BMW 5 Series to complement the Land Rovers. Rover s mistake was producing small cars and spoiling their image and reputation. Austin Healey: The definitive British sports car - I hope it comes back. A proper sports car in its day it would need to be very good like a Porsche for me to consider buying one. Which of these words or phrases come to mind when you think of the following brands? Rover: Phrase Percentage response Un-cool car 42% Affordable luxury 23% Unreliable 53% High quality 16% Stylish 27% Quality interior 61% Sporting 5% Comfortable 58% For me to consider 21% For me not to consider 79%
MG: Phrase Percentage response Sporting car 73% Performance car 45% Affordable sports 35% Unreliable 42% High quality 22% Stylish 47% Quality interior 52% For me to consider 26% For me not to consider 74% Austin Healey: Sporting car 54% Performance car 40% Affordable sports 25% Unreliable 22% High quality 45% Stylish 57% Quality interior 22% For me to consider 8% For me not to consider 92%
Triumph: Sporting car 23% Affordable luxury 24% Comfortable 32% Performance car 20% Affordable sports 27% Unreliable 32% High quality 41% Stylish 59% Quality interior 54% For me to consider 15% For me not to consider 85% Brand Positioning in the market place: MG: What other brands do you think MG is most like? Mazda 18% Audi 11% BMW 8% Seat 6% Saab 4% What type of cars should MG produce (Unprompted/Prompted): Saloon cars 10%/15% (A) Hatchbacks 35%/52% (B) Sports cars 94%/96% (C) MPV s 4%/8% (D) Four wheel drives 0%/2% (E) SUV s 0%/6% (F)
Price range: A B C D E F 10-12K 17 75 44 14 0 10 (%) 12-14K 54 65 62 52 8 15 (%) 14-16K 70 55 82 55 12 24 (%) 16-18K 65 23 72 47 14 22 (%) 18K + 14 6 45 12 18 23 (%) Rover: What other brands do you think Rover is most like? Renault 16% Skoda 14% Honda 11% Ford 8% Peugeot 5% What type of cars should Rover produce (Unprompted/Prompted): Saloon cars 42%/45% (A) Hatchbacks 65%/83% (B) Sports cars 5%/7% (C) MPV s 15%27% (D) Four wheel drives 0%/2% (E) SUV s 2%/12% (F)
Price range: A B C D E F 10-12K 15 85 0 24 0 12 (%) 12-14K 55 75 6 67 4 19 (%) 14-16K 80 34 5 72 6 18 (%) 16-18K 82 20 3 35 4 28 (%) 18K + 24 9 0 25 6 22 (%) Austin Healey: What other brands do you think Austin Healey is most like? Mazda 11% Porsche 10% Nissan 5% BMW 4% What type of cars should Austin Healey produce (Unprompted/Prompted): Saloon cars 0%/2% (A) Hatchbacks 6%/10% (B) Sports cars 24%/44% (C) MPV s 0%0% (D) Four wheel drives 0%/0% (E) SUV s 0%/0% (F)
Price range: A B C D E F 10-12K 0 0 0 24 0 0 (%) 12-14K 0 0 0 67 0 0 (%) 14-16K 0 15 4 72 0 0 (%) 16-18K 1 22 23 35 0 0 (%) 18K + 1 34 57 25 0 0 (%) The following show cards are of pictures of British cars that might be produced in the near future: Please rate them from 1-10 where 1 means undesirable and 10 means very desirable, and would consider (10) or not consider (1). Showcard D Rover TCV Desirable Would consider 1 2% 4% 2 3% 8% 3 3% 6% 4 8% 22% 5 18% 20% 6 22% 21% 7 23% 11% 8 11% 5% 9 7% 2%
10 3% 1% Showcard E MG TF Desirable Would consider 1 0% 2% 2 2% 12% 3 3% 34% 4 3% 25% 5 17% 10% 6 15% 7% 7 22% 6% 8 18% 2% 9 11% 1% 10 9% 1% Showcard E Jaguar XF Desirable Would consider 1 0% 2% 2 1% 13% 3 2% 19% 4 2% 22% 5 6% 16% 6 25% 10% 7 26% 6% 8 21% 6% 9 11% 4% 10 6% 2%
Showcard F Austin Healey Desirable Would consider 1 0% 18% 2 1% 23% 3 3% 11% 4 6% 8% 5 8% 7% 6 22% 13% 7 25% 5% 8 11% 6% 9 10% 6% 10 14% 3% Showcard G Triumph TR4 Desirable Would consider 1 0% 3% 2 3% 5% 3 6% 25% 4 5% 21% 5 6% 15% 6 28% 10% 7 22% 7% 8 12% 8% 9 13% 4% 10 5% 2%
Showcard H Roewe 750 (Rover) Desirable Would consider 1 2% 4% 2 7% 7% 3 6% 9% 4 7% 16% 5 26% 19% 6 24% 18% 7 8% 15% 8 9% 8% 9 6% 3% 10 5% 1% Showcard I Roewe 550 (Rover) Desirable Would consider 1 0% 4% 2 5% 8% 3 4% 14% 4 6% 9% 5 16% 20% 6 22% 16% 7 21% 14% 8 12% 9% 9 7% 3% 10 6% 3%
Showcard J MG3 Desirable Would consider 1 0% 9% 2 3% 6% 3 7% 4% 4 16% 9% 5 26% 22% 6 17% 12% 7 14% 17% 8 10% 11% 9 5% 6% 10 2% 4% Conclusions: This comprehensive branding study identifies a number of important opportunities for UK Automotive brand holders in terms of brand development and acceptance within different sectors of the market. Key Findings: Existing UK brands have a higher recall and acceptance than either historical UK brands or revisionist brands such as Roewe or Sterling. Of the dormant UK brands Rover (19%) and Triumph have the highest unprompted recall Prompted recall of dormant UK brands is high for Rover, Triumph, Austin Healey, Austin and Morris UK affiliated brands Tata, Roewe, SsangYong have no resonance with UK buyers at present
The dormant historical brands of Riley and Wolseley have no resonance or acceptance with current buyers Consideration to purchase is dominated by Jaguar, Land Rover and MG although there is moderate consideration for Triumph, Austin- Healey and Sterling if they were available. In terms of model derivatives for each brand the respondents had quite definite ideas of which types were suitable for each brand. MG could be stretched into the small and medium hatchback sector quite easily as well as sports cars, whereas Rover could produce a SUV crossover or medium MPV as well as medium saloons/hatches. Triumph and Austin Healey were seen primarily as producers of sports cars. Overall British automotive brand owners should take advantage of their perceived brand strengths in the market place and utilise existing brands such as Land Rover, Jaguar, Mini and MG in their historical market positions. MG can be stretched further providing they build on the work done by MG Rover with the ZR and ZS models. Rover could be successfully reintroduced providing the brand owner focuses on perceived Rover strengths such as comfort, quality interior and specification whilst fixing the perceived negatives of unreliability and un-cool image. A TCV type vehicle to compete with the hugely successful Nissan Qashqai would be a good starting point for the brand. Triumph could also be successfully reintroduced as a sports car brand to sit alongside Mini and BMW with the TR4 concept being a good starting point for the brand. A new Triumph Dolomite might, eventually, be a better sporting saloon interpretation than the BMW 1 Series which currently undermines the BMW premium brand positioning. Austin Healey also shows promise as a sports car brand to compete with Nissan and Porsche in the 20-30K price bracket The other heritage British automotive brands of Austin, Morris, Riley and Wolseley show little resonance with the respondents of this study and would need a lot of positioning and explaining to current UK car buyers which make them unviable as brands to relaunch. Sterling has very little awareness as well with UK buyers but would clearly be less confusing than Roewe in the European car market.
SsangYong and Tata have no perceived value or awareness with UK car buyers and would be destined to be low value and very low volume imports if they were sold here under their own brand names.