Segment Trios for All US Market Brands

Kinja'd!!! by "Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
Published 01/23/2017 at 16:45

Tags: Brands
STARS: 3

Kinja'd!!!

I have a strange need to create trios. It’s similar to the way you have a red player and a blue player that rival each other and create a binary, then some more modern third player jumps in as the underdog story. Here are all the trios that I currently split the US Market into.

*Note that I see each unit in each Trio as one of the following:

Red Player/Sport Brand - Focus on driving the car. Uses “driver-focused design” as primary brand elements.

Blue Player/Comfort Brand - Focus on being in the car. Uses “luxury and craftsmanship” as primary brand elements.

Green or Yellow Player/Balanced Brand - Splits the difference between the sport and comfort brands. Uses “value and/or creativity” as primary brand elements.

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Koenigsegg (Balanced), Bugatti (Comfort), Pagani (Sport)

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Ferrari (Comfort), Lamborghini (Sport), McLaren (Balanced)

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Rolls Royce (Comfort), Bentley (Balanced), Aston Martin (Sport)

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Porsche (Balanced), Maserati (Comfort), [Lotus (Sport)]

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Tesla, “Coming Soon”, “Coming Later”

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Mercedes (Comfort), BMW (Sport), Audi (Balanced)

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Jaguar (Comfort), Alfa Romeo (Sport), Cadillac (Balanced)

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Lexus (Comfort), Infiniti (Sport), Genesis (Balanced)

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Volvo (Balanced), Lincoln (Comfort), Acura (Sport)

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MINI (Balanced), Fiat (Sport), smart (Comfort)

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Jeep-Ram-Chrysler (Balanced), GMC-Buick (Comfort), “Missing Ford Brands (Sport)“

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Toyota (Comfort), Honda (Sport), Nissan (Balanced)

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Ford (Balanced), Chevrolet (Sport), Dodge (Comfort)

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Subaru (Comfort), Mazda (Sport), Mitsubishi (Balanced)

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Volkswagen (Balanced), Hyundai (Comfort), Kia (Sport)

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I also line up the brands by their tier player versions and create an evolutionary connection. This means, in my mind, Dodge lovers would progress up to Mercedes-AMG owners and end as Bugatti lovers. Your Mazda and Honda buyers become Alfa Romeo and BMW buyers and end up wanting Lamborghinis and Paganis. Then your balanced buyers go from Volkswagens and Chevys, up to Volvo and Porsches, and end up feeling at home with McLarens and Koenigseggs.

This is also the way I measure brands and whether or not they are succeeding at being what they NEED to be for their market segment. So since Lotus isn’t a complete brand all the BMW buyers end up with Porsche and may end up with McLarens instead of Lambos due to the switch in market position. Since Tesla is all alone, it gets to grab all players looking around its tier.

Welcome to my mind.

Replies (5)

Kinja'd!!! "Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap" (ddadragon)
01/23/2017 at 16:56, STARS: 0

I feel like you nailed it with your little groups of three and it’s a good way to compare different brands. I think this could be useful for people who know nothing about cars and only have a vague idea of what they want.

Kinja'd!!! "Mercedes Streeter" (smart)
01/23/2017 at 17:14, STARS: 1

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MINI (Balanced), Fiat (Sport), smart (Comfort)

Huh, that’s actually pretty accurate. The new smarts are all about making you comfortable driving in the city, then you have a car like an Abarth 500 to get your heart racing, or a MINI to get a bit of both. :)

Kinja'd!!! "AMC/Renauledge" (n2skylark)
01/23/2017 at 17:41, STARS: 3

I’d say that Ferrari and McLaren are backwards.

Kinja'd!!! "hike" (hike15)
01/23/2017 at 18:09, STARS: 1

That’s what I was thinking. McLaren’s magic suspension and hydraulic sway bars make it eerily comfortable for such a performance focused vehicle.

Kinja'd!!! "RT" (rt-p)
02/01/2017 at 09:12, STARS: 0

Kinja'd!!!

Anyone who’s seen this episode will probably agree with you here.