The Green Side of the
Automotive Industry: A Consumer-Based Analysis
Angeloantonio Russo
LUM University
Domenico Morrone
LUM University
Donato Calace
LUM University
In recent times, firms brand their products with environmentally
friendly features and labels, as they are trying to convey to the market the
image of a sustainable company. Relevant literature has explored whether
environmentally-oriented marketing affects consumer behavior. This study aims
to evaluate the effectiveness of car manufacturers’ green marketing in
promoting and building consumers’ awareness on eco-sustainability issues. Based
on a sample of 300 car-users, the results suggest the presence of a strong
brand bias when consumers are called to assess the eco-sustainability factor,
which is supposed to be the green facet of consumers’ purchasing habit.
INTRODUCTION
In recent times, “green” has become a pervasive buzzword in
business. Companies brand their products with environmentally friendly features
and labels, as they are trying to convey to the market the image of a
sustainable company. These efforts are generally referred to as green marketing strategies (for a deep
review, see Chamorro, Rubio, & Miranda, 2009).
Considering the automotive industry, car manufacturers are
pushing forward the competition through the ecological and sustainable path,
betting on hybrid technologies and electrification. Transport accounts for
roughly a third of greenhouse gases emissions worldwide and public opinion
widely considers it as one of the most evident symbols of pollution. For this
reason, car manufacturers are largely investing in the development of more
efficient and eco-friendly products, as well as in the communication of such
features to the market.
The decarburization of the industry is a top priority also
in governments’ and regional authorities’ agendas. The European Union has
established the European Clean Transport Facility (ECTF), a development fund
for low or zero carbon projects. In the UK, the government announced plans to
improve electric charging infrastructures and subsidy motorists to buy electric
or hybrid cars. The US Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing (ATVM) program
has made funds available for the development of clean technologies, such as
Electric Vehicles batteries and electric motors. In Japan, the government has
been encouraging the electric automotive through tax incentives and R&D
grants since the 1990s. Last but not least, Chinese government is aiming to
become the world’s leading manufacturer of electric vehicles and batteries and
is supporting the industry through consumer subsidies and extensive R&D
grants (Milmo, 2009).
This eco-trend offers a wide range of innovative occasions
for businesses. Consumers generally consider environmentally friendly
innovation as an important driver of differentiation (Kassarjian, 1971). Car
manufacturers are aware of this tendency, aiming to exploit this trend
fruitfully. Still, do car manufacturers’ green marketing strategies by
correctly address the consumer choices and behaviors?
In light of this context, our study focuses on the consumer
behavior tendencies in response to green marketing in the automotive industry.
The aim is to evaluate the effectiveness of car manufacturers’ green marketing
in promoting and building consumers’ awareness of eco-sustainability issues.
Based on a sample of 300 car users, a questionnaire has been
developed and a factor and cluster analyses have been run to identify the
components driving consumers’ purchasing habits. These are performance,
functionality, eco-sustainability and brand appeal. Then, each component has
been evaluated for car manufacturers’ brands. The results suggest the presence
of a strong brand bias when consumers are called to assess the
eco-sustainability factor, which is the main component of what is supposed to
be the green facet of consumers’ purchasing habit.
THEORETICAL
BACKGROUND
Green Marketing and
Consumer Behavior
The notion of green marketing stems out from a broader idea
of “value for customers” that includes environmental and social responsibility
elements. This re-interpretation of the customer value proposition relies on
the strategic orientation of the firm toward corporate sustainability (Chamorro
& Bañegil, 2006; Fisk, 1973; Henion & Kinnear, 1976; Peattie &
Crane, 2005; Polonsky, 1995). Moreover, a large part of the literature has
explored whether and how environmentally-oriented marketing affects consumer behavior,
originating a vast and multilayered area of research (Hur, Kim, & Park,
2013).
The first point to be considered is the effect on consumers’
willingness to pay. As reducing environmental impacts requires firms to
consider extra investments, firms expect the market to pay a premium price for
environmentally friendly products. Literature provides strong evidence on the
existence of an increased willingness to pay when consumers face goods labelled
as green: evidence has been found in several industries, such as the oil &
gas (Kassarjian, 1971), food (Galarraga & Markandya, 2004; Teisl, Roe,
& Hicks, 2002) , babyfood (2004), textile (Casadesus-Masanell, Crooke,
Reinhardt, & Vasishth, 2009; Nimon & Beghin, 1999), and tourism (Ndahimana,
Musonera, & Weber, 2013).
Nevertheless, some uncertainties still persist, calling for
a deeper analysis of the green marketingconsumer behavior relationship
(Chamorro et al., 2009). Some authors observed a gap between consumers’
declared intention to purchase environmentally friendly goods and their actual
consumption behavior (Peattie & Crane, 2005). The so-called
attitude-behavior gap has gathered considerable scholarly attention to
understand in which conditions it occurs. Initially, skepticism of the green
committed consumers was indicated as a key bias in determining their purchasing
habits. Zinkhan and Carlson (1995, p. 5) introduced the idea of a “green
consumer, who is somewhat cynical about marketing activities and is likely to
discount advertising messages.” Their proposal was supported by Shrum, McCarty
and Lowrey (1995), who observed a correlation between green consumerism and
advertising skepticism. Their findings achieved wide recognition in green
marketing literature, and still today are shared by a number of scholars
(Bickart & Ruth, 2012; Paço & Reis, 2012).
Despite the spreading of the skepticisim argument, many
scholars accepted the idea of the skeptical green consumer without
systematically examining the factors that drive skepticism toward green ads (Matthes
& Wonneberger, 2014). Matthes et al.,
(2014) claimed that general advertisement skepticism has to be distinguished
from green ads distrust, as well as green consumers’ reaction has to be
disentangled from nongreen consumers’ one. According to their research, green
oriented consumers find informational utility in green ads, showing more trust
when compared to nongreen consumers. Conversely, advertising claims that are
difficult to verify for consumers are likely to prompt skepticism, consumer
distrust, or disbelief in marketer actions (Bickart & Ruth, 2012). It is
the case of the so-called “green washing” strategies, used to clean up a
company reputation with illusory advertising or reparative campaigns, or to
cover up environmental or social misbehaviors. Thus, the reasons explaining the
attitude-behavior gap do not lie in a general skepticism of the green
consumers, but are linked to other factors (Gagnon, Michael, Elser, &
Gyory, 2013).
Webb, Mohr, and Harris (2008) considered green consumption
to be motivated by societal benefit appeal, because consumers pay more or give
up part of their private benefit when they purchase environmentally friendly
goods. On the other hand, Peattie (2001) argued that private motivations, like
money saving, are the only way to encourage prosocial behaviors and they often
succeed even when the environmental benefits are marginal. Green and Peloza
(2014, p. 134) proposed that “consumers’ responses to advertising appeals that
encourage environmentally friendly consumption behavior are […] significantly
influenced by the decision-making context.” In particular, they introduce the
moderating role of impression management, according to which individuals desire
to have a positive impression on others and tend to present themselves in a
favorable way. Their results showed that consumers’ purchasing habits are
driven by societal benefits appeals when they are publicly accountable for
their behavior. Based on competitive altruism (Miller, 2000) and costly
signaling theory (Van Vugt, Roberts, & Hardy, 2007), Griskevicius, Van den
Bergh and Tybur (2010) supported this outcome, showing that preference for
hybrid vehicles increases because they are publicly visible products. According
to their view, altruism is a symbolic behavior that proves a prosocial status.
Such status is highly desirable, as it is linked to reputation,
trustworthiness, prestige and it can eventually affect the role of an
individual in a group. For this reason, consumers compete to signal, even in a
costly way, their prosociality and their capacity to spend resources, time and
money for the collective sake without negatively affecting their lifestyle.
This explains why, according to a market research appeared in 2007 on The New York Times, 57 percent of Prius
owners bought the car because “it makes a
statement about me”, while just 36 percent cited energy saving as a key
motivation. “By purchasing a Toyota Prius […] a person can signal that he or
she is a prosocial, rather than a pro-self, individual. That is, instead of
buying a conventional and more luxurious car that benefit only him or her, the
Prius owner instead voluntarily chooses to benefit the environment for everyone
- even though this act means forgoing the luxury of having a car with more
features, comfort or performance” (Griskevicius et al., 2010, p. 393).
Propositions
Development
As stated before, the automotive industry competitive arena
is following the ecological and sustainable path, developing hybrid
technologies and electrification. The investments in greener products are
growing rapidly in this highly competitive sector. To quote some examples, Ford
Motor Company planned investments on fuel-efficiency for $14 billion ($5
billion loan from the US Department of Energy and $9 billion in bridge loans),
with the goal to achieve a 36 percent enhancement in fuel economy for its whole
range by 2015. Audi challenged the energy production industry becoming itself a
producer of alternative fuels in order to propose a valid ecological
alternative to the oil market. As of today, Audi has invested roughly €65
million for a new center for electrified power trains.
Consequently, once understood the reasons and the dynamics
of the relationship between investment strategies by car manufacturers, green
marketing orientation, and consumers’ behavior, it is important to be aware of
customers’ opinion and feel the reactions to this trend (Braimah &
Tweneboah-Koduah, 2011). Therefore, based on the above mentioned literature and
empirical evidence, this study first investigates the real distance between the
green car and customers, since “to be green” has become a common factor for the
entire automotive industry. The first proposition of this study regards the
effectiveness of green marketing strategies by car manufacturers on consumers
purchasing behaviors.
Proposition 1: Green marketing strategies by
car manufacturer successfully generate “green” awareness in consumers, as they
take environmental performance into consideration in their purchasing decision
process.
Bickart and Ruth (2012) observed that brand familiarity
plays a central role in guiding the consumers’ perception of a green
advertisement. In particular, they observed that when consumer environmental
concern is high, an on-package eco-seal shown in an ad helps familiar brands,
but hurts unfamiliar brands.
Low environmentally concerned
consumers evaluate the familiar brand more favorably than the unfamiliar brand.
Evidently, brand image has the power to affect consumers’ trust (or skepticism)
in adverstising claiming the green performance of the product. Therefore, it is
important to consider brand positioning effect in the mind of the customer,
especially considering the car market, where brand image notably conveys the quality
and the features of the car. For example, a brand commonly associated with the
idea of safety might be as well considered as environmentally friendly. The
second proposition therefore, deals with the relationship between perceived
environmental performance and brand positioning.
Proposition 2: Car manufacturers’ brand positioning affects consumers’
percepetions concerning the environmental performance of the product.
METHODOLOGY
Sample
This study supports the propositions analyzing data
collected through a survey. The questionnaire consisted of three sections:
consumer general and specific purchasing habits, brand positioning and personal
information. The questionnaire has been administered through the internet, and
in particular via social networking services (Facebook and Twitter mainly) to
about 500 car users. Accordingly, social media users holding or at least
frequently using a car constituted the sample. Indeed, it was possible to collect
300 completed surveys, with a response ratio of 60 percent. A description of
the sample is provided in Table 1.
TABLE
1
THE
SAMPLE
Variable
|
|
Frequency
|
%
|
Gender
|
Female
|
123
|
41
|
Male
|
177
|
49
|
|
Age
|
18-23
|
93
|
31
|
24-28
|
138
|
46
|
|
29-33
|
31
|
10.3
|
|
34-38
|
18
|
6
|
|
> 39
|
20
|
6.7
|
|
Occupation
|
Employee
|
57
|
19
|
Entrepreneur
|
20
|
6.7
|
|
Freelance
|
22
|
7.3
|
|
Internship
|
25
|
8.3
|
|
Part-time/Seasonal worker
|
12
|
4
|
|
Student
|
137
|
45.7
|
|
Unemployed
|
14
|
4.7
|
|
Other
|
13
|
4.3
|
|
Geographical area
|
North Italy
|
166
|
55.3
|
Center Italy
|
49
|
16.3
|
|
South Italy
|
60
|
20
|
|
Non-European Country
|
14
|
4.7
|
|
European Country
|
11
|
3.7
|
|
Area of residence
|
City center
|
97
|
32.3
|
Close to the city center
|
87
|
29
|
|
Periphery/Suburbia
|
52
|
17.3
|
|
Residential district
|
41
|
13.7
|
|
Rural area/Mountain region
|
23
|
7.7
|
When looking at the gender of the interviewees, male
respondents accounted for 59 percent of the sample, against the 41 percent of
female respondents. The age distribution of the sample is concentrated in the
lowest ranges, the first two brackets 18-23 and 24-28 represent the 77 percent
of the sample. Accordingly, the most frequent occupation is student, followed
by employee and internship. Students and employees represent together the
largest part of the sample, nearly 65 percent. Considering provenience, the
Italian respondents were the absolute majority, 55.3 percent coming from North
Italy, 16.3 percent from Central Italy and 20 percent from South Italy, barely
the 8.4 percent was non-Italian. “City center” and “Close the city center”
accounted for the 61.3 percent of the responses regarding the area of
residence.
The first feature emerging from the answers in the
purchasing habits section of the questionnaire was the preponderance of the
“Specialized magazine” as a reliable source of information. In the age of the
Internet, the appeal of the periodical is still very high. However, web factors
come into play: 34.6 percent of the answers were divided into researches
through “Specialized forums and blogs” (18.8 percent) and “Web search engine”
(15.8 percent). What is losing importance is one of the traditional ways of
approaching to the information. “Information pack from local dealers” is
becoming obsolete because of the above-mentioned internet generation explosion,
as well as advice from friends or parents. Despite buying a car involves a
significant amount of money and time gathering information, people consider
easier and faster to find out opinions and characteristics on a website, rather
than going physically to the local dealer, and discuss with a professional
seller.
Here below, the bar charts present the answers regarding
respondents’ own cars (Figure 1), while a bar chart clustered by producer’s
country origin shows the weight of the most representative countries, led by
Germany and Italy (Figure 2).
FIGURE
1
PERSONAL
OR FAMILY CAR BY BRAND
FIGURE
2
PRODUCER’S ORIGIN
1 2
4 2
24
|
19
|
13
|
Italian German French English American Japanese Korean Swedish
Spanish Czech
131
|
71
|
RESULTS
33
|
Factor Analysis and
Cluster Analysis
As a first step of the methodology used in this study, a
focus group was established in order to identify the most important items
directing the choice of a car. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and
the respondents gave their free opinions about their perceptions, opinions,
beliefs and attitudes towards the car. In particular, the interactive group
made up of 10 people was stimulated to focus on the main drivers to take into
consideration when buying a new car.
The results of the focus group converged into 16 variables,
and these drivers have been revised for the questionnaire with Likert scales, a
symmetric agree-disagree scale for a series of statements evaluated from 1
(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The 16 statements are reported in Appendix
A with their means, standard deviation, and sum. In the final survey they were
mixed randomly.
In a second step of the research, the factor analysis was
implemented in order to check the significance of each item and reduce the
number of the factors explaining the phenomenon under investigation. The four
extracted factors explained the 53.66 percent of the total variance. After
rotation and optimization of eigenvalues, the values did not change
considerably, providing evidence the distribution was less wide and ranged from
the 18.44 percent of the first factor to the 10.13 percent of the fourth
factor.
The factor loadings matrix responded to the first
proposition of the analysis, showing that ecoperformances are a significant
driver when buying a new car. The output presented by the Rotated Component
Matrix showed the correlations between the original variables and the detected
components (factor loadings). Each variable was associated to a particular
factor with the highest correlation after orthogonal rotation Varimax with
Kaiser Normalization that has the aim to minimize the number of variables with
high saturation for each factor. The result of the analysis was the
determination of four macro-components including the original 16 items (Table 2).
TABLE
2
ROTATED
COMPONENT MATRIXA
|
Component
|
|||
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
I use the car to hang out with my friends,
go out by night, go to clubs and pubs
|
|
|
|
.
641
|
I will choice a certain car in order to
distinguish myself from other people
|
|
|
|
.
497
|
When I consider a car, I like to compare
the different models’ design
|
|
|
|
.
584
|
A label reputation is a byword for safety
|
|
|
|
.
628
|
I can mention several eco-friendly car
models
|
|
|
.
570
|
|
I
am disposed to spend up to 20% more for a hybrid o electric car rather than
the same with traditional engine
|
|
|
.
740
|
|
I consider the social and environmental
policies of a brand before buying a car
|
|
|
.
765
|
|
I take into consideration eco-incentives
before buying a car
|
|
|
.
535
|
|
I use the car mainly to go to work or to
run an errand
|
|
.
501
|
|
|
When I choose a car, I am looking for a
good quality/price ratio
|
|
.
781
|
|
|
Maintenance costs are a determinant factor
in my choices about cars
|
|
.
618
|
|
|
I always consider the solidity and the
practicalness of a vehicle before buying it
|
|
.
643
|
|
|
With my I car I would like to go on track
days
|
.
761
|
|
|
|
I would like to buy cars only with more
than 200 horsepower
|
.
801
|
|
|
|
When I choose a car, I am looking for a
good 0-100 sprint
|
.
743
|
|
|
|
When I choose a car I inquiry about the
maximum speed and the road-holding
|
.
718
|
|
|
|
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation
Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.
a Rotation converged in 5 iterations.
Once the number of items had been reduced from 16 to 4
factors it was possible to proceed with the cluster analysis of the sample, in
order to understand more about the potential presence of homogeneous groups.
With the K-means method, we chose to assume 4 clusters, and in this way it was
possible to obtain a model with a perfect statistical significance (p < .001
for each cluster). In addition, the population of each cluster showed a good
homogeneity.
Table 3 shows the mean of the clusters for each variable
used in the process; it was possible to discover the characteristics of the
clusters compared with other variables used. Ranking each factor, the output
highlighted the above mentioned 4 clusters, described as follows.
TABLE
3
FINAL
CLUSTER CENTERS
|
Cluster
|
|
||
|
1: Enthusiast
|
2: Conspicuous
|
3: Uninvolved
|
4: Eco-practical
|
Performance
|
1.18299
|
-.70566
|
-.01400
|
-.42496
|
Functionality
|
.40615
|
.25412
|
-1.53049
|
.46413
|
Eco-sustainability
|
-.03261
|
-.35253
|
.03543
|
.57347
|
Brand appeal
|
.18197
|
.58185
|
-.10281
|
-1.07524
|
Cluster 1 - Enthusiast (82 individuals): it is a group
composed by truly car-lovers, always attentive and updated to the latest news.
They judge a car on the design and the appeal, but especially looking at
driving dynamics, performances, safety, and comfort. Their perfect car is
technically valid, eye-catching, solid and reliable, but they are not so keen
on considering the environmental issue as a crucial point. They might consider
green features as clashing with the performances of a vehicle.
Cluster 2 - Conspicuous (99 individuals): people
particularly brand sensitive. In their opinion, being part of an elite and
distinguish from other people is fundamental, and achievable by owning a
prestigious brand. It does not matter if the performances are poor or
excellent, or the emissions are compliant with the latest standards; in their
view a high brand reputation means safe and reliable cars. People in this group
pay attention to the design of a car that should be eye-catching in order to
communicate a good image of the owner.
Cluster 3 - Uninvolved (57 individuals): this is the less
populated group including people who are not interested in the topic, so less
informed and influenced in the purchasing behavior from friends and family.
Here the car is seen as a means of transportation rather than a symbolic
product.
Cluster 4 - Eco-practical (62 individuals): it is a group
uninterested in brand appeal or in performances; customers recognize the
functional features and the ecological orientation as fundamental when
considering buying a new vehicle. Maintenance costs, solidness, comfort,
emissions, environmental and social impact, value for money, are the key words
for these people.
The Positioning
To answer proposition 2, a second step of the analysis was
dedicated to the study of the brands’ positioning, with particular reference to
cluster 4, the eco-practical. Brands were identified through a top of mind
process, whereas respondents were asked to indicate the first three automotive
brands in their mind when thinking about a car. Then, they evaluated each
chosen brand in four aspects: performance, functionality, eco-sustainability,
and brand appeal. In more detail, the brands with a total score of more than 20
preferences were investigated, namely Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Fiat,
Lamborghini, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Toyota, and Volkswagen. The results have
been then analyzed by testing the correlations between the four variables
describing each brand.
Premium car
manufacturers. BMW was the top of the choices in the test. In each pairwise
correlation, the eco-sustainability value never reached a univocal evaluation
in the BMW’s case. Audi was in the second position according to respondents’
choice. The latter revealed results oriented towards the top of the
eco-sustainability variable and closer to the mean of the scale. Despite a few
superior evaluations, Audi had the worse sustainable perception among the
eco-friendly users, even if the results remind that Audi had the best fleet
consumption against BMW and especially Mercedes-Benz. An explanation of this result
could be that Audi suffered the lack of an eco-label, which could grab the
attention of the eco-practical consumers. It might also be that Audi
experienced an inferior awareness because of the massive use of platform and
component sharing strategies. Mercedes-Benz was the third of the German trio in
this ranking with almost half of the preferences collected by Audi. The
outcomes in terms of eco-sustainability were again a bit over the means of the
scale but less scattered than the others premium producers, revealing a lower
but focused consensus by respondents.
Generalist car
manufacturers. In this section, despite the effort of building greener
vehicles and work on the social responsibility, the respondents did not reward
Fiat with a univocal rating. In fact, the cluster is not clearly grouped
showing a positive correlation between eco-sustainability and the other three
factors. The other Italian manufacturer in this block was Alfa Romeo, which is
part of the Fiat Group together with Lancia, Ferrari and Maserati. Here again
the respondents’ perception seemed not univocal: nobody evaluated
eco-sustainability with top scores; the values in relation with the other
traits were mostly on average with negative peaks when tied to functionality
and performance, while brand appeal was the less negative. Volkswagen showed
the most aligned values in terms of eco-sustainability and with relation to the
other factors the scores were always just over the average. Toyota had a modest
number of respondents, but it was interesting to see how the Japanese
manufacturer had completely opposite concentration groups. Bad evaluations
about its performances were followed by good assessments in functionality and
ambiguous references in brand appeal, while the eco-sustainability items
depicted contrasting opinions, revealing a massive misunderstanding in the
brand perception.
Sport-luxury car
manufacturers. In this section, Ferrari and Porsche had almost identical
matrixes in terms of sustainability. Lamborghini also showed similar results.
The eco-sustainability label seemed to clash with the nature of the models
produced in the sport-luxury segment, since powerful cars with big engines
produce higher emission and show less efficiency than an average engine.
DISCUSSION
The aim of this study was to investigate the consumer
behavior tendencies in response to green marketing in the automotive industry.
The results represent an additional contribution to the consumer behavior-green
marketing strategy debate, providing evidence of an alignment (and
misalignment) between the effectiveness of car manufacturers’ green marketing
in promoting and building consumers’ awareness on eco-sustainability issues and
consumers’ response to these strategies.
Numerous facets emerging from the results must be taken into
considerations. First of all, even though the factor analysis confirms
proposition 1, analysing the descriptive statistics of the four items defined
in the eco-friendly group, it was possible to observe that their average
evaluation was below the mean of 4.205. Our results suggest that consumers are
driven mainly by the personal benefit appeal, as they demonstrate a poor
involvement in the green issue and a lower knowledge about green promotions in
general; consumers in fact, were not able to mention green models and they did
not care much about green marketing and sustainability-oriented policies. Also
the statement “I am disposed to spend up to 20 percent more for a hybrid o
electric car rather than the same with traditional engine” had poor results,
and in spite of the savings and the ecological advantages provided by green
cars, a large number of respondents seemed not disposed to pay more for
alternative fuel cars. In short, consumers recognize the importance of green
features when considering to buy a new car, but this awareness does not go
through an actual commitment stage.
Several exogenous causes might explain this outcome. First,
there is a number of technical difficulties related to the product, as buying a
hybrid vehicle means, among the others: installing an electric vehicle outlet
at home, limited trip range, difficulties in recharging the batteries once far
from home. In addition, as showed by people in the enthusiasts cluster, car
lovers are generally against the use of alternative fuels because in their
opinion cars lose appeal when the sound is not a traditional rumble and the
smell is not burnt gasoline.
Second, the top of mind awareness was useful to get the
picture of the most recognized brands among car manufacturers. In this way, it
has been easier to test the impact of brand familiarity on consumers’
judgement. Premium car manufacturers (e.g., Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz) have
recorded very similar results and in every correlation there was not a clear
polarization. A certain confusion pools these manufacturers, since they have
the wider range of models which covers almost all classes, going from the premium
small family-car (e.g., Audi A3, BMW 1 Series, Mercedes-Benz A-Class) to fast
and performing sports sedan (e.g., Audi RS4, BMW M3, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG).
This leads the consumer to consider each brand in an ambiguous way. Again, the
consumers are torn between the premium BMW’s and Mercedes-Benz’s eco-labels
Efficient Dynamics and BlueTec and the production of SUVs (e.g., Audi Q7, BMW
X5, Mercedes-Benz ML-Class) or full-size luxury vehicles (e.g., Audi A8, BMW 7
Series, Mercedes-Benz S-Class) with low efficiency and high emissions.
Furthermore, this unclear awareness could derive from the massive use of
platforms and components sharing strategies with other generalist and low-cost
car manufacturers.
When looking at generalist car manufacturers, the results
showed again an unequal polarization, but with different features. Indeed, the
cluster was not clearly grouped; in addition, it was found a general tendency
of positive correlations between eco-sustainability and the other factors. This
phenomenon is more evident in the cases of Fiat and Alfa Romeo, revealing a
lower tendency in attributing an ecosustainability label to the two Italian
brands. Instead, this is not the case for Volkswagen. Toyota deserves a
specific mention because the Japanese manufacturer is widely known for its
environmentally friendly strategy, led by the iconic Prius. The Environmental
Action Plans, constantly implemented through the years, allowed Toyota to reach
several environmental records. Despite these acknowledgments, Toyota has been
chosen few times and among the respondents only a small number of them were in
the cluster of eco-practical. In addition, the results are controversial, as
they are polarized at the opposite side. This demonstrated a big
misunderstanding in how the brand is considered, that is a first clue of the
effect of the brand familiarity bias.
Moreover, the more consumers considered the brand as
appealing, well-performing and functional to all the needs, the more they saw
it as ecological and vice versa. High values in the eco-friendly factor
associated to high performances supported this bias. Sport-luxury car
manufacturers revealed a common path and same results in the analysis. First
thing to notice is the confusion on the environmental matter, since this
segment had the worst environmental performance due to cars low efficiency and
high fuel consumptions. However, consumers seemed not to be aware of this
higher environmental impact, apparently judging a sport car as not functional
in everyday life. Only Porsche had better values in this sub-matrix thanks to a
soberer design and smaller engines. Once again, the high level of brand
reputation associated to manufacturers belonging to this segment drove
consumers’ opinions. Furthermore, the high visibility of such brands
overemphasised their efforts to become more environmentally friendly. Top
producers are investing in eco-friendly factories with cutting edge technology,
where they develop highefficiency models (e.g., Ferrari introduced the HELE
system on the model California, which stands for High Emotion Low Emissions).
CONCLUSIONS
This study confirms that green marketing strategies
implemented by car manufacturers succesfully raised the consumers’ awareness on
sustainability issues. However, the gap separating recognition of the issue
from enactment of environmentally friendly consumption is still to be filled.
In addition, without a well-shaped opinion about the eco-sustainability of each
brand, consumers extended their general opinion concerning the manufacturer
when answering to environmental related items.
Car users have to take into consideration a number of
trade-offs, mainly regarding the difficulty in recharging while undertaking
long trips. The previsions estimate that this weakness will be solved in the
upcoming years by introducing more efficient batteries and more
recharge-station.
Bearing in mind the industry-specific factors, the gap
analysis is able to point out that actually firms do not use resources properly
in the face of large investment towards efficient technologies. Pointing the
attention on the development of clean technologies and consumers’ expectations
on them, we suggest four different gaps, as described in Table 4.
TABLE
4
THE
GREEN TECHNOLOGY GAP
Green
technology development
Product
gap
|
Pricing
gap
|
Communication
gap
|
Eco-sustainability
gap
|
Ongoing
Ready-to-market
Low
Consumer expectations
High
Product gap: it
indicates the discrepancy between the green product as expected by car users
and the current green car, which presents some usability limitations as
remarked before. This is a kind of “technological gap” for the reason that
green solutions are still evolving and their upcoming path is still not fixed
in the lence of consumers.
Pricing gap: when
asked if disposed to spend 20 percent more for a green car rather than
traditional car, customers’ answer was considerably under the average value,
although the potential savings in fuel’s cost and the less polluting impact on
the environment did represent valid motivations to pay more. Although
technologies are at very good stage of development, car manufacturers are still
not able to meet the consumers’ expectations in terms of pricing.
Communication gap:
The lack of an adequate communication is the main cause of the misunderstanding
emerged here, and every brand should be more focused on promoting its own green
models, keeping in mind the brand familiarity bias. According to our results,
many respondents do not have a real awareness of the green issue, or they are
not able to identify properly the greenest brands. The green cause seem to be
an universal common factor for every car manufacturer, but on the other side,
it seems to be a not-so-common factor among the consumers.
Eco-sustainability
gap: industry reports underscore that more than 90 percent of CEOs think
that the sustainability issue is and will be decisive to the upcoming success
of firms (UNGC & Accenture, 2013). In this sense, Chief Sustainability
Officers may have a key role to integrate environmental and social goals with
economic targets, in a triple bottom line approach. Therefore, an
eco-sustainability gap raises, whereas dark sides between the stage of
development of green technologies and high consumers’ expectations do exist.
Car manufacturers need to use the right tools to fill in
these gaps. Only firms ready to accept the current challenge will be able to
face the crisis and catch the opportunities generated by market pressure in
terms of green demand. Many are betting on transports electrification, but new
models of mobility, like car sharing, are emerging with several benefits for
the environment. By means of a series of industryspecific aspects like
strategies, networks, cross-sector partnerships, know-how and managerial
skills, automotive has the new vital mission of challenging the way of
interpreting the concept of mobility. Therefore, future research should clearly
consider how innovative business models will have the tough duty to integrate
software and hardware, services and products, in order to generate alternative
sales sources.
Moreover, this work has started to assess the actual
effectiveness of green marketing strategies, a topic that deserves a deeper and
vaster analysis, making contributions for both academia and practitioners. New
research avenues are still open, future research might also analyze in more
detail the antecedents and determinants of consumers’ reaction to green
marketing initiatives.
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APPENDIX
A
DESCRIPTIVE
STATISTICS FOR STATEMENTS USED IN THE QUESTIONNAIRE
|
Mean
|
Std. Deviation
|
Analysis N
|
I use
the car to hang out with my friends, go out by night, go to clubs and
pubs
|
4,82
|
1,466
|
300
|
I will choice a certain car in order to
distinguish myself from other people
|
4,46
|
1,429
|
300
|
When I consider a car, I like to compare the different models’ design
|
5,39
|
1,201
|
300
|
A label reputation is a byword for safety
|
4,66
|
1,360
|
300
|
I can mention several eco-friendly car models
|
3,61
|
1,678
|
300
|
I am disposed to spend up to 20% more for a
hybrid o electric car rather than the same with traditional engine
|
3,68
|
1,839
|
300
|
I consider the social and environmental
policies of a brand before buying a car
|
3,57
|
1,729
|
300
|
I take into consideration eco-incentives
before buying a car
|
4,22
|
1,860
|
300
|
I use the car mainly to go to work or to run an errand
|
3,38
|
1,452
|
300
|
When I choose a car, I am looking for a good
quality/price ratio
|
5,25
|
1,373
|
300
|
Maintenance costs are a determinant factor in my choices about cars
|
5,33
|
1,445
|
300
|
I always consider the solidity and the practicalness of a vehicle
before buying it
|
5,73
|
1,279
|
300
|
With my I car I would like to go on track
days
|
2,95
|
2,165
|
300
|
I would like to buy cars only with more than
200 horsepower
|
3,52
|
2,076
|
300
|
When I choose a car, I am looking for a good
0-100 sprint
|
2,67
|
1,758
|
300
|
When I choose a car, I
look for maximum speed and road-holding
|
4,04
|
1,594
|
300
|
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