You might think that “love” is a hard thing to quantify, but a Strategic Vision survey of over 200,000 new-vehicle owners (via Business Insider) found that Cupertino, California-based tech brand Apple ranked third overall in a list of brands that people love. And, crucially, that more people would consider a car made by Apple than one made be Tesla.
As interesting as that little nugget is, however, the most interesting news from that study might be that a majority of Tesla owners (“more than half,” were the words used, but ) gave the strongest positive response to a potential future Apple Car.
“Apple is the 3rd highest brand consideration with 26% of customers stating they would, ‘Definitely Consider’ an Apple-branded vehicle in the future; just behind Toyota (38%) and Honda (32%), followed by Ford (21%) and Tesla (20%). However, Apple’s strength doesn’t end here,” says Strategic Vision President Alexander Edwards. “What should be concerning to (other carmakers) is that Apple generates a greater amount of ‘love’ than any other automotive company, double that of strong brands like Honda, Toyota, and Tesla.”
That’s important, because Tesla has historically maintained some of the strongest customer loyalty figures of any car brand, with a 62% loyalty figure in the most recent numbers. While that’s a huge number, it’s worth noting that it had previously been as high as 70%, and that a good percentage of repeat Tesla buyers seem to be going from a more expensive (and, presumably, more profitable) Model S to the smaller, more affordable Model 3 or (more likely) Model Y.
It’s worth noting, too, that the promotion of Porsche CEO Oliver Blume to the big chair at the VW Group (which includes Audi, Lamborghini, and Bugatti) may serve to accelerate Apple’s plans to bring an Car to production. That statement is based on rumors that began circulating after Apple hired the former vice president of Porsche chassis development, Manfred Harrer, on the assumption that Blume’s history with Harrer that could help smooth the path forward for the two companies and allow Apple to take advantage of VW’s economies of scale that they wouldn’t have access to alone.
Besides, “if you’re looking for a high-end Apple Car to compete with the Model S and Lucid Air,” I argued at the time, “you could do much worse than starting off with a Porsche Taycan.since Blume has been rumored to be collaborating with Apple in the past.”
One last thing worth mentioning before we move on here, is that the (nonexistent) Apple Car also had the highest “quality impression”, with a score of 24% compared to 15% for Toyota and 11% for Tesla. Hilariously, only 34% of respondents reported that they, “didn’t know enough about the car to make a judgement.”
Ah, well— they must have gotten some of the 17% of respondent’s to Cox’ survey (below) that said they didn’t know Tesla made an electric car, right? 🤣
Source | Images: Business Insider, Apple.
Appreciate CleanTechnica’s originality and cleantech news coverage? Consider becoming a CleanTechnica Member, Supporter, Technician, or Ambassador — or a patron on Patreon.
Don’t want to miss a cleantech story? Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica, want to advertise, or want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Source: Clean Technica