American cars

The large majority of the interviewees view the American vehicles as non-eco-friendly, which is linked with the characteristic of power associated with US brands. They said American vehicles “suck too much”, “pollute too much” and “are not good at the environmental level”. 

Overall, Chevrolet was the first brand that came to interviewees’ mind when thinking about American cars. We can notice that two interviewees mentioned that US car manufacturers suffer from a poorly developed concessionaire network in France, which is an issue in case of repairs or pieces replacement.

About design, the interviews opinions are varied. However, they all agree on the fact that American cars are clearly different from European cars, using for example expressions like “modern design”, “imposing design”, “exotic look” or “attractive look”.

More particularly, the majority if the interviewees mention that Ford vehicles have a good value for money, using expressions like “the value for money is very competitive” or “they have adopted the same price line”. Moreover, two of them mentioned a good experience with the models Kuga and Focus. However, according to two other interviewees, Ford cars lack of reliability and the brand suffer from problems of customer and after sale service.

Then, we can notice that half of the sample spontaneously mention that it perceive Ford as an European brand, using expressions like “it is not American for me”, “it is similar to Volkswagen or Seat”, “it is between Opel and Volkswagen in terms of image” or “I clearly make a difference between Ford in the United States and Ford in Europe”. Moreover, three interviewees think that Ford adaptation to European standards is very positive; it is a purchase driver for two of them. Please find above the main characteristics of these two consumer groups: