ROCHESTER, Mich., March 30, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Near record 2014 sales have the auto industry glowing, and indicators suggest 2015 will also not disappoint. Foresight Research's annual surveys of households in 64 U.S. markets continue to show dramatic lifts in new-car intention. "Of the first group of markets we've analyzed so far this year, increases of up to 50% have been seen in market incidence of 12-month intention," said Chris Stommel, President of Foresight Research. "These intention rates are in line with current robust new car sales, lower gas prices and a generally-positive economic outlook."
If this wasn't good enough news for the nation's new car dealers, there is more. Last year, a majority of new auto purchasers were over 55 years old. According to Foresight's 2014 Dealer Immersion Report™, which is based on an annual study of 7,500 recent buyers measuring the purchase influence across 16 different marketing communication channels, the experience at the dealership was more influential among buyers age 55 or over than was any other marketing channel.
"Dealers are incredibly important to the purchase decision for all buyers, but even more so for mature buyers making up the majority of today's market," Stommel said. "The challenge for dealers is how to best maximize their strength position in this current growth period and at the same time establish a strong foundation for the inevitable times when sales are less robust."
In response, Foresight has developed a suite of reports tailored to helping dealers address best practices for specific areas of interest. These reports draw on their extensive consumer survey databases and input from dealers. In addition to the Dealer Immersion Report™, these include the Market Intelligence Report™, providing a market specific perspective of local prospects and addressing their shopping process preferences, dealer selection criteria, brand perceptions, influential messaging and best practices for converting prospects into buyers. This report is available for many large U.S. markets.
There is also a new series of streamlined, single-topic Dealer Action Reports™ designed to provide actionable insights into specific areas of managing, marketing and selling at dealerships. Among these are: How Prospects Choose Dealers (surprisingly, gender has no impact on the criteria people use for selecting a dealer, though age and luxury brand purchase does) and Brochures And Your Dealership (3 in 10 new auto purchasers are influenced by brochures in the purchase process!).
The dealer-focused reports are described in more detail at foresightreserch.com and are available starting in June, 2015.
About Foresight Research – www.foresightresearch.com
Foresight Research specializes in syndicated and custom studies focusing on key influencers of purchase decisions in the automotive industry. Since 2008, Foresight Research publishes syndicated reports each year that provide information, strategies and best practices to help auto companies, their partners, and auto dealers to build, position, and support marketing insights and actions.