Marketing and Its Components

Essay by adharviUniversity, Master'sA+, July 2004

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The U. S. auto industry's share of the market has experienced fluctuations over the past 50 years. These fluctuations have been caused by many reasons which include quality, price, and foreign competition. The Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, and the Chrysler Corporation are the three largest manufacturers of automobiles in the world. These three companies hold nearly 75% of the market and produce over 8 million automobiles per year. The largest competitors of these three companies are Japanese auto producers that include Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. These three foreign manufacturers hold 20% of the market and produce about 2.7 million automobiles per year. They all have adopted e-business/commerce services and pushed the U.S. auto industry into a different area. In future, there will be more technological innovation involved in the auto industry, which will also change the customers' demand of the market and the way of operating business for car sellers as well.

Information Technology (IT) has made it possible for consumers to become "picky" about the products they buy. IT has made it possible for people to research features and prices on just about everything from personalized ink pens to computer hardware. An area that has really been affected by this phenomenon is the automobile industry.

Two ways the automobile manufacturers have become effect are moving upscale or down-market or both and slicing and dicing their cars and trucks to fit ever narrower niches. Even companies such as Mercedes and BMW finding it necessary to move their marketing focus just to stay competitive. Cobb explains, "But like other automakers who have expanded their reach by moving upscale or down-market or both, even Mercedes has scrambled its mix. Today, a modestly successful blues belter can probably swing the monthly lease payments on a C230 Sports Coupe, which...