A new analysis of the automotive industry by Todd Turner, principal at consultancy Car Concepts, shows significant disconnects between the segmented sales performances of some vehicles and the marketing dollars spent to promote those trucks and cars.
In fact, some of the findings were downright schizophrenic: strong ad spends failed to boost sales in some cases, while other vehicles have sold quite well despite minimal marketing support.
The survey takes into account each vehicle's share of segment and notes trends such as overall declines in some categories (trucks, SUVs) and rises in others (compact and economy cars).
"Until now, we hadn't been reporting each vehicle's share of its segment. This new way of looking at the numbers has helped us to instantly identify performers in particular markets," said Turner, whose practice is based in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Example: Despite healthy ad spending and incentives on the relatively new Chevrolet Silverado