12 March 2009

Who’s gonna buy this car?

davidfoot David Foot of Boom, Bust & Echo fame has a piece in Canada’s Globe & Mail:

BAILOUTS AND BOOMERS
Who's gonna buy this car?
If we rescue the auto industry, it must
be able to build vehicles for an aging population
globeandmail … Boomers will need different vehicles. Many already have difficulty getting into low-slung cars, and they increasingly need bigger dashboard dials. The Japanese companies have a head start in understanding these trends. It will be necessary for North American auto companies to get up to speed rapidly if they are to compete effectively. And quality will be important. Younger buyers are more willing to trade quality for a better price. This trade-off is proving increasingly difficult when customers are older.

adshow I’ve blabbered about this for years.  In 2005 on The Advertising Show yours truly had a spirited discussion with hosts Brad Forsythe and Ray Schilens.  A chunky segment was about marketing autos to Boomers.  The complete show is here:

Author/Copywriter Champions Advertising to Baby Boomers

Click here.  It should start playing.

And I’ve tossed up a bunch of posts over the years on this subject:

Element Coming Boom in Boomer-Friendly Transport
My point three years ago was that Baby Boomers were buying up those mid-priced boxy cars (even though they were being marketed to college kids and twenty-somethings) because they were easy to get in and out of, easy to see out of, and some had large dashboards that were easy to read. So why not build cars with these and more features for older drivers?

Along with ‘green’ – the auto industry had better retool with an eye on the 50+ market. 

Maybe both eyes.

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