現代汽車產品定位策略-以美國市場為例

Abstract

身為美國汽車市場的後進者，現代汽車自1986年進入市場初期，即抓住市場欠缺入門車款的斷層，以「物美價廉」為產品定位的核心，市占率由1995年的0.5%成長至2011年的5%，一躍成為美國市占率第七大的製造商；就2001-2011年的銷售量成長率而言，美國市場五大龍頭通用汽車、福特、豐田、克萊斯勒及本田皆為負成長，反觀現代汽車享有最高的85%成長率。本文以Kotler的「Three Levels of a Product」為核心架構，探討現代汽車在美國市場的產品定位。結果發現，以「物美價廉」為核心利益的現代汽車，以「流體雕塑」為設計哲學，提供未來感設計的車款；而在品牌方面，現代為世界上成長最快的品牌之一，「物美價廉」也是普羅大眾對其印象。與美國五大龍頭汽車製造商相比，現代汽車價格為第二低廉，品質排名第三，燃油經濟性、及安全性評比為第一，綜合(售前/售後)服務為第四；此外，現代汽車提供業界第一的售後保固，加上其掌握時機，於2009金融風暴時推出創新的「退車方案」、以及「油價補貼」等保險方案，讓其於當年創下8.3%的銷售成長，遠優於業界的平均成長率-21%。故由此可知，現代汽車具有兩種明顯的產品定位策略:「價格/品質」，以及「風險趨避」。以上述產品定位為根基，提供中等品質、低廉價位，卻具有高安全性、燃油經濟性以及業界第一的保固，加上創新的汽車保險方案，創造後進者優勢，在競爭激烈的美國市場享有一席之地。

Being a late entrant in the U.S. market, Hyundai catches the void of entry level car at the beginning of its entrance in 1986. With ‘value for money’ as the product core benefit, Hyundai’s market shares increases from 0.5% in 1995 to 5% in 2011 and becomes the top 7th manufacturers in the U.S. market. When the top automotive manufacturers General Motor, Ford, Toyota, Chrysler and Honda suffers from negative sales growth rate between 2001-2011, Hyundai enjoys the highest growth rate of 85% instead. This paper explores Hyundai Motor’s product positioning in the U.S. market by using Kotler’s ‘Three levels of product’ as conceptual framework. The result shows that Hyundai has ‘future image’ car design based on the ‘fluidic sculpture’ design philosophy. It’s one of the fastest growing brands in the world and well-renowned for its ‘value for money’ image, tallied with its provided core benefit. Compare to other top 5 manufacturers in the U.S. market, Hyundai ranked as number 3 on quality performance, number 4 on service rating, number 2 on affordable price, and top 1 on fuel-economy, safety performance and warranty terms. Additionally, Hyundai grasps the opportunities of 2008 financial crisis by introducing innovative insurances programs like ‘Car Return’ and ‘Assurance Gas Lock’ programs which makes a hit and has an amazing 8.3% sales growth at that time, far greater than the negative industry average rate. In conclusion, Hyundai has ‘price/quality’ positioning and ‘less risk attribute’ positioning in the U.S. Based on the positioning strategies, Hyundai provides affordable but satisfactory-quality car with excellent safety and fuel economy performance, along with the best warranty and innovative car insurance programs. Hyundai successfully creates late entrant advantage and creates its position in the competitive market.