Premcar turns 30 in 2026. To celebrate, we’re sharing some of our carmaking knowledge. This time, it’s about targeted localised products, and how they take you from ‘selling’ to ‘satisfying’.
You’re a carmaker or an official new-car importer.
You have a persistent unsold stock problem with a particular model line.
Repeated low-interest finance offers, discounts, rebates and bonuses don’t shift the sales needle every month.
Sales training, product training, dealer retreats and motivational sessions haven’t worked.
And adding extra standard equipment and free genuine accessories hasn’t lifted enquiry.
Staff at the global HQ, national head office, state head office and regional office are all over you.
They’re demanding more Excel spreadsheets and more PowerPoint decks to explain why sales won’t shift.
Perhaps it’s time to look more closely at the product.
Price discounts and other financial incentives can be powerful drivers of new-car sales, but they all have ceilings.
They can develop fatigue with buyers, becoming marketing noise.
They can erode the model line’s perceived value.
They also erode profit, which can quickly grind down head office’s tolerance and patience.
But …
- If you gently tailor the model series to offer what the local buying segment wants
- Offer depth and usability in the right product features
- And deliver it with obvious consideration for the customer (and not yourself as a brand)
… then the market dynamic can change quickly.
Buyers will go from ignoring you to talking to you – and become more likely to buy from you.
Don’t do cheap and easy ‘stuff’ like stickers and stripes. They don’t work.
Give local buyers the product features and enhancements they want.
For example:
We did a suspension / wheel / tyre package for a big automaker’s largest market some years ago.
They offered it to customers as an optional extra.
They knew they needed specific features to reach the sales segment’s long-standing leader.
This product program we ran for them was profitable for the automaker at less than five percent customer uptake.
Customer uptake hit more than 40 percent from launch, and stayed there for the first few years.
And that car quickly climbed up the segment’s sales ranks, going from problem to popular.
It pays to directly address new car buyers’ product-based objections and desires.
It pays in terms of:
- Customer satisfaction
- Dealer satisfaction
- Brand value and loyalty
- Badge value and loyalty
- Preservation of marketing spend
And, of course, it delivers financial value – for the customer, the automaker and their dealer.
That’s why targeted localised products work.
They move you from ‘selling to buyers’ to ‘satisfying buyers’.
And those are completely different things.
Bernie Quinn, CEO of Premcar
About Premcar:
Premcar Pty Ltd is a leading Australian vehicle engineering business that specialises in the automotive, defence and aerospace industries. For 30 years, global car-makers have made Premcar their go-to partner for the complete design, engineering and manufacture of niche-model new cars, full-scale new-vehicle development programs, and electric vehicle (EV) conversions and manufacturing. Premcar’s body of work is extensive. It is the name behind more than 213,000 new cars and 55,000 new-vehicle engines. The company has delivered technical advancements and sales success for major car brands from Europe, the USA, Japan, China and Australia. Visit premcar.au.
