Source: http://pocketnow.com/2012/10/05/self-driving-cars

As Google Inc. leads the quest for driverless cars [1], Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker, recently announced that in about two years from now, it will introduce systems enabling cars to communicate with each other to avoid collisions. GM, the largest U.S. carmaker, is also aiming to come up with vehicles by 2020 that will be able to drive themselves on controlled-access highways.

It seems that the auto industry has specific target customers in mind — the younger customers and the elder ones. [a] The automakers see potential growth in the younger ones as they see the value in taking a relational orientation approach. Being young, they would like to have a fun and comfortable lifestyle and freedom to go wherever they want to go. Although they may not have a lot of spending power currently, they will one day. When they do and are looking to make a car purchase, these automakers wish to be in their retrieval set or evoked set.

However, the recent market trend has shown that the younger customers care less about buying a car and more about renting. [2] In fact, more promising customers are the elderly, the fastest-growing demographic in the world. Being involved in the labour market for longer, they enjoy relatively better disposable income and more purchasing power. Often their health slowly deterioriates in terms of vision, hearing and hand-eye coordination, resulting in some accidents. Last april, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration noted that people aged 65 or older accounted for 17 percent of the 32,367 traffic deaths in the U.S. in 2011. This does not necessarily mean that the elderlies are always the ones at fault in accidents. However, it is possible that they may be able to prevent certain accidents if they are in a better health condition. Hence the automakers are looking into becoming a part of the solutions for these elderly.

More info: [1] http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_thrun_google_s_driverless_car.html

Source: [a] http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-20/elderly-dying-in-crashes-seen-spurring-self-driving-car-demand.html

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In providing different models for various geodemographic and psychographic market segments to satisfy the needs/wants of custmers in those segments, Toyota tailors its advertising efforts towards alligning with the local cultures to ensure customers feel familiar with its brand and hence establishes different stories through its localized commercials which differ in languages, cultural assumptions and lifestyles.

The commercial for Toyota Auris, a compact 3/5 doors hatchback (available in European market but not North America) has a European feel with its focus on a man in a crowd defying an authoritiative figure for a new exiciting Auris.

Similarly, Toyota GT 86’s commercial is about a man trapped inside a CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) city discovering a Toyota GT86 from the real world, feeling alive for the first time and deciding to make his escape.

While the first two commercials probably target younger European generations, its commercial for Verso, a compact MPV (MultiPurpose Vehicle) in German language for the German family market, depicts father as a hero.

As for its United States consumers, Corolla 2014 commercial attempts to have a hip and cool image for different American generations.

With trucks gaining more popularity in America, Toyota Tacoma model commercial highlights Tacoma’s features in interesting way for young adults segment . For instance, a girlfriend’s tear drops falling in the car seem nothing against its water-resistant seats and all-weather flooring.

Likewise, Toyota Tundra commercial targets certain baseball-loving American demographics.

Meanwhile, Toyota Corolla and Camry commericals, mainly targeting Korean but most likely also Asian urban populations, have different advertising approaches. While the former is in a music video style featuring Hyuna from 4minute, a popular korean-pop girl group, the latter is in a drama style featuring Lee Min Ho, a famous korean actor.

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