International Marketing The Future Automotive Market Analysis in Europe and North America

Driving in Europe and in the United States has a lot of different things. For the different shape of geographical condition, available funding and different approaches in policies, there would be differences in the type of vehicle people choose, or the type of public transportation the government would provide for the whole community.

There is no doubt for the cultural factors that may give an impact to what people choose. Car manufacturers also take studies for the two different communities. As more tendencies to people in Europe and the U.S. develop their own preferences in automobile types and accessories, they would also need to target the market to suit the needs of the different communities.

The Europeans and The Small Cars

Chandler said that road infrastructures apparently become one of the challenging factors for car manufacturers to decide what to produce net and where to sell it. It is not that different in every country to pick a car to drive. The major differences in North American structures and Asian seem has made this fact. Asians buy small cars, and mostly, many of the Asian manufacturers also see it and made it fit, just to make it suitable with the crowded major streets where they have to pass through everyday. Many car manufacturers then think to make some adjustments to produce their car meeting the need (and preference) of most people living in the continent. For example, Honda made an expanded design to sell to American markets, while it present in smaller size series in Asia.

Europeans also seem to adjust to this trend. Although in the real condition there are not much crowds compared to what happens in many Asian countries, the European customers also develop preferences to drive small, and compact cars.

For Europeans, small cars enable them to drive in an efficient concept in saving spaces, energy, simplicity, as personal reasons. There is also another advantage that with smaller sizes of the vehicle, there will be a lot of space saved for parking area, less pollution, and even less traffic jams.

One of the main reasons many Europeans take when buying a car in the energy factor. Chandler mentioned that while Americans are enthusiastic to compare velocities and accessories, Europeans want more information about how energy saving the car is. Fuel price is rising in the area that it would be a wise decision to buy an economic one.

The travel volume of people in both regions is quite different that made the efficiency difference too. The article "Saving Energy for U.S. Transportation" gave the information, that Europeans travel about half as much (in miles per capita per year) as Americans."

There are a lot of other contributing factors like tight land use policies, travel cost (due to facilities and fuel price), cultural histories, the willingness to travel, different urban system, culture and lifestyle also take place in this data.

With quite similar economic status, the data also showed that Europeans do not follow the trend to buy cars as much as the U.S. communities. This is possible as there are more options of facilities that utilized most for Europeans travelers like buses and subways. There are the same facilities as available in the U.S., but the frequent of use in Europe is much higher.

European communities have been long known as the bicycle lovers. People travel in reasonable distances using this one-person vehicle while the city roads have the facilities for this. The city transport systems in European regions like Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, house a lot of bicycle transport systems which allow bike-riders to ride safely without having to compete with big trucks and other types of large vehicles, as well as not to inhale too much poisonous exhaust waste from them.

He said that Europeans are more sensitive to economic condition that was said to be worsening. General Motors, For and Chrysler made a little advancement of 1%, 6% and 10% sales increase than the previous year.

The most sales were made after the companies introduced "light truck," previously famous for American buyers. This type of vehicle seemed have stolen public's heart as they recognized it for the luxurious performance and facilities upon the larger, roomy size. The fuel consumption did not really matter for American customers.

In the other region, Madslien said, the force down from the high-fuel price and tightening policies for car industry, the manufacturers decide to build smaller machines, especially with the energy-saving and environment-friendly orientation.

The AA motoring organization, as cited by BBC News has made a view that in the UK, there was a lot of inconvenience in the transportation as the British spent a lot of time commuting for work, while there was enough air pollution on the road, and not to mention the fuel price hiked up for 15%. That was the highest price to pay among the other European countries. The AA's Great British Motorist study confirmed that from across the Europe, Britons pay worst for the car, referring to the fuel price and quality of air. This seems to be one important factor to reveal the European most valued number when they choose for cars.

In the "Saving Energy for U.S. Transportation" document, European transportation system is said to be different from the U.S. system from the "different levels of travel." Europe has faster growth of travel, although this is not commonly associated with the energy consumption. There is a matter of efficiency here, and this is what is seen differently between both regions. It is said that:

European levels of per capita travel and energy consumption should continue significantly below those of the United States because of a combination of different geography and urban histories; European gasoline prices that are three to four times higher than prices in the United States; different policies regarding land use controls, parking availability, automobile restrictions, and other factors that affect travel; Europe's reasonably robust mass transit systems; and cultural and socioeconomic differences."

The whole performance showed that European system would be less energy consuming than the U.S. system. This was the result of optimizing the public transportation facilities, rather than pursuing automobile possessions. In fact, although there was no significant difference for the income, but buying a car is not an utmost choice if public transportation considered providing enough access for the working place and daily activities.

There is no direct evidence that the Americans are more affected to the availability of exact transportation structure system that encourages them to buy big and luxurious cars. There could be a closer assumption driven by the changing lifestyle of the Americans and the greater need to the availability of suitable cars that meet the lifestyle requirements.

There is a fast growing of urban population that is related to the new habit throughout the cities, where people's demands of secure jobs and independent living have inhabited the modern community. Many people have to survive their daily lives at work and sometimes there is merely not enough time to satisfy the multiple needs between the work stretch and the private travels.

A vehicle, where some parts of the communities sometimes think as the second home, and spend most of their time during their commute, is probably chosen for its reliability to suit people's needs to be a means of transportation, as well as a matter of taste. A car does not only satisfy the owner for the function, but also becomes a second place for the owner to find personal space where they can do what they want, as well as being at home.

The "home" function of the car can be identified both for professional as well as family-related activities. Somebody could buy a car for the main function to deliver him or her to the workplace, while in fact many Americans get trapped in uncomfortable driving lanes - due to traffic jams, crowd, and more traffic lights present. In this case people would choose that the car provide more facilities (entertainment centers), room to breath and to rest the legs, as well as extra features where people can express their need.

Scott (2002) said, "Americans also…