Automotive Market Entry Research | Case Study

As automobile manufacturers from Asia advance on the global stage, they are increasingly clamoring for new opportunities in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa.   In addition to the need to understand product and marketing questions, manufacturers and OEMs are interested to know about preferences and reactions to performance indicators.

Recently, SIS International Research conducted a major car clinic for a well-known domestic automotive local leading brand in Asia in Germany and Czech Republic.  As attitudes and opinions can differ dramatically from Asia to Europe, the client reached out to SIS for insight and strategy development.

Go To Market Study

The client wanted to enter Europe market in the next few years and to launch a Go-to-Market study that would better understand consumers’ behavior for new car models from the perspective of intenders and current car owners.  

Strategic Goals

The goal of the study was to better understand the opinion, ideas, preferences, design and recommendations on a variety of interior & exterior vehicle features.

To provide insight give the designers and manufactures on the developed models a clear full picture. The next step for the client was to make out their achievable strategy to enter Germany market in the following years, to gain the market share rapidly as the good example and representative of Chinese brand.

SIS used Face-to-Face surveys and Focus Groups

We used in-person surveys with pre-recruited respondents and focus group discussions to contextualize the quantitative findings.

The targets were both owners and intenders with each quota.  Major cities were selected in Germany and Czech Republic, including Frankfurt and Prague.

SIS International has been a leader in international market research for over 30 years.  For this study, skilled project managers communicated with the client and fieldwork teams to ensure that the fieldwork proceeded smoothly.    

Cultural differences emerged

This happened when the Chinese clients expected that fieldwork to be managed in real-time flexibly, while in Germany automotive project management and details tend to strictly managed and planned far in advance.  

SIS managed these cultural differences well and communicated such differences to our clients.

This is an example of the importance of cultural understanding and strong project management skills in international projects.   Our clients benefit from our ability to navigate intercultural and on-the-ground logistical opportunities and challenges during projects.

Contact us for your next Global Market Entry Research project.