How Do Car Companies know what we want in a car?

Source: http://www.matthewsvwsite.com

How do car companies know what you want in a car?  Christian Wardlaw, from Daily News Autos, explains people’s interests in certain car types, and what people want in a car in his article “10 Top Reasons Why People Buy Specific Cars.” Wardlaw has focused his past 20 years to driving and evaluating popular cars. Wardlaw argues that car companies consider where their target audience lives and how much money customers are willing to spend on cars.

A person’s location in a key variable. If they live in Minnesota, they’re going to want AWD. If they have a long commute to work,, they’re going to want a good handling and comfort. If they live in a large city, they’re going to want good fuel economy. Car companies can predict people’s wants in certain locations and stock that area with that type of car for maximum profit. This mean they’ll stock more AWD drive cars in areas with heavy snow fall. They know that AWD cars sell better in areas of poor weather conditions, like Minnesota, and FWD of RWD cars sell better in places of nice weather, like Arizona.

Money is the second variable. Money can decide which car size, type, color, upgrades, and pretty much everything else possible in the car industry. Most car companies have their normal line of cars, and their luxury line. For example, Toyota has Lexus, Nissan has Infiniti, GM has Cadillac, etc. They’ve made these separate companies in order to increase profit. These luxury cars cost a bit more to make than the non-luxury cars, however they can sell for a lot more. These luxury brands are targeted for middle aged people with money. These brands are made for people who can afford a nice car, but maybe not one that is as nice as a BMW, Audi, or Mercedes-Benz.

Future Research Question: How exactly do companies find out what their specific target consumers want? Focus groups? Surveys? What about for cars in the future (e.g. 5-10 yrs out)?