Sustainability Plays Only Secondary Role
ResearchImage Cultivation of German Car Manufacturers in the Executive Class Segment
On their product websites, German automobile manufacturers advertise their executive class vehicles primarily using arguments that appeal to their customers’ emotions rather than focusing on sustainability and environmental aspects. The German producers Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche mainly use terms relating to the driving experience on the product websites for their top-class models – unlike the US electric car pioneer Tesla, which primarily concentrates on issues such as safety and autonomous driving in its external communication. This is the result of a recent analysis conducted by ZEW Mannheim.
For their study, ZEW researchers Janna Axenbeck, Irene Bertschek and Thomas Niebel analysed texts on product websites of automobile manufacturers. The 50 most frequently used adjectives were identified and classified. The analysis was limited to car models that are comparable to the all-electric luxury sedan Model S from US manufacturer Tesla and were available on the market in August 2019. Specifically, this applies to the Audi A7 Sportback and A8, the 6 Series and 7 Series Sedan and the 8 Series Coupé from BMW, the Mercedes CLS and S Class as well as the Porsche Panamera.
According to the results, the most frequently used adjectives in the advertising texts of German car manufacturers are “sporty”, “fast”, “dynamic” and “comfortable”. Terms that refer to sustainability, cleanliness and efficiency have not been found in the texts, which clearly distinguishes them from Tesla’s product websites. Tesla’s choice of words for the Model S suggests neither environmental awareness nor a pleasurable driving experience. On its product websites the Californian car manufacturer, which is one of the pioneers in environmentally friendly vehicle construction and sells exclusively electrical-powered models, promises its customers a sustainable driving experience without compromising comfort; however, Tesla clearly focuses on safety and autonomous driving. The aspect of sustainability is only implicitly addressed by the term “electrical”.
Comfort and speed define the image
Only those German vehicle models not belonging to the executive class, such as the all-electric subcompact BWM i3, are advertised as sustainable on their product websites. “When it comes to descriptions of products in the executive segment, German automobile manufacturers focus primarily on comfort, luxury and speed,” says Professor Irene Bertschek, head of ZEW’s Research Department “Digital Economy” and professor for the “Economics of Digitalization” at Justus Liebig University Giessen. “They thus cultivate an image that does not stand for sustainability or the avoidance of environmental pollution. The increasing number of newly registered cars in the executive class segment indicates that this image also reflects the preferences of their customers.”
In 2016, the transport sector accounted for almost 30 per cent of total CO2 emissions in the EU, 72 per cent of which were caused by road traffic. Two thirds of the road traffic CO2 emissions, in turn, were caused by passenger cars. In view of the global climate crisis, automobile manufacturers are under political and social pressure to reduce the environmental damage caused by driving. Yet the average CO2 emissions of newly registered passenger cars rose in 2018. At the same time, the number of newly registered executive class vehicles in Germany, which typically stand for comfort and speed rather than eco-friendliness, also increased. Unlike assisted driving, the switch to more environmentally friendly drives is making only slow progress. For example, not all manufactures have included hybrid and electric motors in their product range, and they are on average more expensive than comparable combustion engines.