RS6 v M5 or 635 csi vs urq? (NAC)

[JShadzi at aol.com]

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Right, this is called "Consumer Behavior" in a broad sense, and one of the
most interesting marketing classes I took in college.  Consumer behavior is
the study of determining what factors play into buying decisions of
consumers.

Americans (but I suspenct it to be most of the world really) are highly
influenced by marketing (ie: branding, advertising, "buzz", WOM, image).  The
beauty of it is, consumers will take qualitative marketing messages and
quantify them.  For example, Volvo are the safest cars, or Hondas are the
most reliable, even though statistically, all cars on the market are
essentially just as safe and reliable as the other.  There are laws and
standards that all manufacturers must meet, so Volvo is not operating on a
different standard really than any other car manufacturer.  And, this all
falls under the statistical dictate of Level of Significance (a concept we
sometimes ignore here on the list, something that is "better" is only so
within a range of difference, which must be significant, not just "bigger or
better")

In the same way, I was forced to analyze my love for quattro and Audi.  Lets
face it, as a car company, everyone can't be the safest, or the best
performing, etc.  Every company must find a niche to exist in, and create an
image and brand to support it.

Thus, 3 extremely similar car makes BMW, Mercedes, and Audi all have
different niches and thus messages.  Quanitatively, all the cars are very
similar, even down to performace specifications, but qualitatively, they are
vastly different due to branding and image.  We as consumers all justify our
purchases, none of us need any of the "stuff" we have, but we justify it all
to the satisfaction of companies that market products are services to people
who have everything they "need".

I don't believe Europeans are any different in this regard.

Javad



> Kwattro at aol.com wrote:
> > In a message dated 02-07-05 06:18:04 EDT, you write:
> >
> > ...Mostly this is due to the fact that Americans are
> > inherently stupid, and do very little overall research on all cars, but
> > rather focus of the car that they initially want and then research it
> just
> > enough to justify their purchase...
>
>
>
>
> amen.
>