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Ford Discusses Marketing Strategy For Upcoming EVs

 
1,522 views Aug 28, 2009

Ford Focus BEV

Ford Focus BEV

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Marketing a vehicle is never an easy thing to do with success.  It takes advertising, campaigns, press releases and so on to successfully market any product, vehicles included.  Though marketing a new vehicle may be difficult, Ford has discovered that marketing an electric vehicle is a daunting task.

Ford is planning to release their 2011 Ford Focus EV later next year, but product planners are having difficulty organizing the marketing campaign.  According to Ford's hybrid vehicle marketing manager Dave Finnegan,"Consumers interested in electric vehicles are a different breed."  Finnegan is working hard on how to market around and ease "range anxiety" which drives buyers away from EVs.

Ford has conducted studies to determine many aspects about potential EV buyers.  They have concluded that most motorists drive less than 70 miles per day.  According to Finnegan, the Focus will exceed that mileage, but buyers need to be reassured that they won't be stranded roadside due to depleted batteries.

The marketing rollout from Ford will address issue about the nation's charging infrastructure and will also touch on the future of this nation charging abilities.  The will use the success of their hybrid vehicles to draw buyers into showrooms.  As Finnegan said, "Hybrids are still growing right now and as more and more people see and understand the technology, they see the value in it and consider moving into a hybrid vehicle."  The hybrid's success will make buyers aware of battery technology and hopefully venture towards fully electric vehicles.

Ford is also hoping that the Focus EV and upcoming Transit Connect EV will gain market share in the environmentally friendly state of California where domestic auto makers have had a difficult time gaining ground on foreign car sales in the state.

With the release of the Focus EV slightly more than a year away, the vehicle can has been spotted undergoing testing at Ford's Dearborn Proving Grounds. 

Let's hope Ford finds a way to successfully market their first EVs to a different breed of buyers.

Source:  Wards Auto  (Login required)





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Comments (5)

  1. By Chris O Posted: 8/28/2009 3:46am PDT

    Like the Nissan Leaf the Focus EV will have a range "up to" 100 miles.Such a limited range will do nothing to alleviate the range anxiety problem. Since research shows that range anxiety is a largely irrational thing people probably need to be reassured by a significant buffer in battery capacity. So may be offer larger battery packs,at least as an option.
     
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  2. By Jason M. Hendler Posted: 8/28/2009 7:17am PDT

    I am so glad that Ford is now understanding the market "training / conditioning" benefit of the plug-in hybrid. The Volt is the essential stepping stone to bring the ICE market over to the EV / fuel cell market.
     
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  3. By Chris O Posted: 8/28/2009 11:30am PDT

    The plug-in hybrid principle would sure take away the range anxiety problem but equipping a car with what almost amounts to double drive train (80% ICE/ 80% BEV) is not cheap. The extra $15000 the Volt would cost compared to the Leaf would probably buy you 30KWH of extra battery capacity, instantly more than doubling the Leaf's range to 225 miles which would go a long way in soothing my range anxiety. If you think about it it's not even more expensive in the long run since the larger battery pack can handle proportionally more miles before it wears out.
     
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  4. By  Eletruk Posted: 8/28/2009 9:23pm PDT

    "Range anxiety" is really only a problem to those who have not owned an EV. Maybe the solution is a rental test. Rent/lease the EV for 3 months and if you still have "Range Anxiety" you don't have to buy the car. Otherwise, those 3 months payments go towards the purchase of the car. Once you have an EV and drive it every day, you find out that even 40 miles is enough, so a range of 100 miles is plenty for 90% of the population. Maybe throw in a bi-annual rental of a gas car for vacations for those once or twice a year trips that you ACTUALLY need to go more than 100 miles. Or throw in a membership to Zipcar.
    See Ford, it's not that hard...
     
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  5. By  Eric E Posted: 8/30/2009 6:18pm PDT

    Yeah... I'll bet it is hard to market something that doesn't exist.
     
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