Marketing for Toyota Prius Phv

...

[11]Energy Technology perspectives expects the world future car purchasing trends. In 2020, PHV is expected for 5%, but will rise to 35% in 2050.

Age

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Over 60

1.10

1.11

1.10

1.11

1.11

1.12

50s,40s

1.04

1.10

1.09

1.08

1.10

1.10

30s,20s

1

1.06

1.05

1.09

1.08

1.10

[pic 5]

In Japan, the survey of Consumer Affairs agency illustrates [12]59.2% of public are interested in social contribution when purchasing. Moreover, the number of eco-friendly automobiles owned in Japan is in a steady progress. The number of EV (Electric Vehicle), PHV (Plug-in Hybrid-electric Vehicle) are growing step by step, FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) also increased with small number from 150 to 630 in a year. Aside from these three types, HEV (Hybrid-Electric Vehicle) marks more large number, 2029009 in 2011 and raised to 5764401 in 2015. This remarkable progress comes from the public’s concern about eco- friendly automobiles, and this movement will definitely be our market opportunity.

[pic 6]

- Strong brand image.

According to the survey of Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, [13]although Japanese automobile market is shrinking these days, Toyota won the competition, made up top share, 30 percent of Japanese car market in 2015.

When looking at sales of Prius in 2014 and 2015, [14]its number of sales grew slightly from 154000 to 155000, but the ranking raised dramatically from 7 to 3 in a year.

- Japanese main transportation is automobile.

A survey of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japanese public mentions the shift of main transportation.[15]In urban areas, 33% of people use car, 26% for railways in 2010. On the other hand, in rural cities, 58% of people drive their cars as main transportation, with only 4% use railways. Automobile still have great opportunities in our society.

Threats

- Developing phase of solar energy.

Japanese introduction of solar energy is still low compared to other developed countries in the world. Japanese recyclable energy rate in a total amount of power generation is only [16]12%. Government aims to increase this percentage to 22 to 24% until 2030, but it seems quite difficult.

- Possibility of undesirable review.

Nowadays, earlier consumer reviews are very important when purchasing. Amazon, Airbnb, Rakuten are the famous companies that operates customer reviews on the internet well. Prius PHV is a new model launched on February 2017, so few reviews are shown on the internet. However, as same as earlier models, it is a matter of time that motor review website will show the Prius PHV’s column. In such motor review website, [17]customers are recommended to review with many aspects such as interior, engine, function, comfortability, fuel efficiency, and price.

When I asked Toyota’s salesmen, they did not know Prius PHV’s customer review yet, so that I found them difficult to explain me the detail about comfortability or convenience of real drivers. If current customers will write undesirable review after this, future customer interest may decrease.

- A trend that young people turn away from driving.

These days in Japanese society, young generation tends not to choose cars as their daily transportation means. [18]As shown in line graph below, new car purchasing rate of age group under 29 years old is remarkably lower than older groups. This shift can be a thread to our automobile market. Almost all of my friends living in Tokyo do not own their cars.

[pic 7]

- Ford is developing a solar car.

[19]In 2014, Ford Motor Company exhibited a concept car ‘C-MAX Solar Energi’ in 2014 international CES in Las Vegas. This model is not sold to market, but the concept of solar roof-top is similar to Prius PHV. Ford is developing the effective concentrated solar unit for this model, aims to gain energy for four hours per day.

Although Toyota already stopped joint operation for Hybrid automobiles between Ford in 2013, but if this ‘C-MAX solar Energi’ will be launched, this must be a formidable rival for us.

Cross SWOT analysis

From the facts I gathered until now, let me evaluate and focus on what should we do next. When I cross each SWOT categories, it will be easy to generate our future marketing strategy.

[pic 8]

-

Objectives

Segmenting consumer markets

In this section, I will segment the consumer markets for Prius PHV with geographic, demographic, physiographical, and behavioural variable.

- Geographic variable

This project focus on Japanese rural ordinance-designated cities, with population under 12 million, and on sparsely population area, under 1400 people per 1 square kilometre. To be concrete, [20]Hiroshima, Sendai, Niigata, Hamamatsu, Okayama and Shizuoka. Demographic variable

This variable focuses on the age group