Introduction
Global automobile industry is basically affected by some factors and these factors are generally economic factors. The ups and downs of the factors affect the promotions and demotions of this industry. Global automobile industry drivers consist of global GDP, personal income, economic conditions, consumer confidence and availability of credits. These factors affect the global auto industry. All of these influencing factors combined with the marketing strategies in the automobile industry and success factors are discussed below:
Global automobile industry drivers
Global GDP
Global GDP justifies the extent of development of a certain country and the development of the whole world. If the global GDP decreases then it indicates that the world is making bad in production sector, on the contrary, the higher GDP indicates that the world is making development in the economic perspective. So a manufacturer such as Ford can make justification on the basis of GDP of a certain country. For example, if a country’s GDP increases in higher rate, this means that country is making better development and therefore, the company can target the country as one of the destinations for sales.
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Consumer confidence
Consumer confidence is another important factor in the global auto industry. Consumer confidence means the extent of confidence that there will be better economic condition in the near future and the economy will see resilience and thus the purchasing power of the consumer will increase. If the consumer confidence increases, consumers will be more inclined to purchase more automobiles. So, auto producers can make the consumer confidence as the base for making decision.
Employment
The level of employment in the economy is another important factor in the global auto industry. If the people are employed and if they are paid better, there will be more money on the hand of the customers and thus auto producers will have a base of selling automobiles. Thus the level of employment matter in the automobile industry.
Availability of credits
Availability of the credits determines the possibility that an individual customers will be eligible to purchase a car. If there is much idle money on the banks, they will be eligible to lend to the consumers and thus the auto sellers will be able to sell autos.
Price of fuel
Prices of fuel is another significant industry drivers in the auto industry. If the prices of the fuel increase then many of the customers will not be interested to purchase the cars because they will need to pay higher for the fuel costs (Council of Economic Advisers, 2009). On the other hand if the prices of fuel decreases, then customers will be interested to purchase cars. Thus the auto manufacturing companies can forecast the demand for cars on the basis of fuel prices.
Positive image
Positive image of the company is another important Fact for the company. Image means the perception of the people about the country. If the image of a particular auto producer, then customers will purchase the products more from the company with good image (Dargay and Sommer, 2007). Image of a company can be made good through properly implementing ethical practices, good relations with the investors, employees and other stakeholders. Therefore, Ford must be concerned to make the image of the company better through corporate social responsibility and ethical practices.
Distribution Network
Distribution network is another important factor for the auto industry. The network should be efficient so that it can reduce the costs at the same time it can response properly with the customers. Therefore, the company should be concerned in making the distribution network efficient and responsive, actually this depends on the type of business philosophies that the company wants to follow.
Compliance
Compliance means to follow all the relevant rules and regulations of the production systems. As the industry is a production and highly scientific industry, it must comply with the rules and regulations of the country of operations.
Flexibility
Flexibility means to make such a system that will be eligible to adopt with the changing situation. A flexible company will be flexible in terms of production, supply chain and marketing and sells. If the company is flexible, then it will be able to response quickly to the customers.
Quality of the product
People always want quality products if that is scientific. Scientific products are demanded by the customers more and thus a company should be more concerned in developing the quality of the products.