NEW DELHI: Kia Motors, MG Motor and other new entrants in India’s automobile market are pushing leading players such as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd and Hyundai Motor India Ltd to adapt their advertising strategies to showcase the latest technologies and innovative features in their new vehicles.
Through these efforts, the companies are seeking to get top-of-mind recall of millennials who are demanding such tech-enabled features. These include automatic transmission, remote controlling of the car, voice commands, app-related convenience and location-based services.
“New entrants have redefined the concept of ‘value’ in auto industry which translates to connectedness and technology innovation. It is different from the classic definition of value such as more space and fuel efficiency,” said Jitender Dabas, COO, McCann Worldgroup India. “In fact, connectedness and technology has become a hygiene feature especially after pandemic which has made technology a more integral part of our life and mobility will also have to live up to that. The likes of Kia Motors, MG Motors and Tesla’s focus on the India market is further pushing the existing players to offer more advanced tech benefits.”
Hyundai said it has changed its product and communication strategy to become a smart mobility solutions provider. The company has introduced its AI-powered platform called Blue Link that enables flow of information between the customer and the vehicle. It is also offering a host of tech features such as voice-enabled panoramic sunroof, auto crash notification, vehicle tracking across Venue, Creta and i20 models.
“Technology has been playing a key role in bringing convenience but pandemic has accelerated this change bringing younger customers in the car buying fold. Many of them are moving away from shared mobility due to safety and hygiene challenges,” said Tarun Garg, director, marketing and sales at Hyundai India.
In its latest campaign titled People Technology, Maruti Suzuki features young consumers using car models equipped with K-series engines (reduction in noise and vibration), live vehicle tracking and emergency reporting of accidents online.
“The percentage of first-time car buyers currently stands at 45% while the replacement and additional car buying has gone up which shows people are upgrading vehicles with more advanced technology features. Women buyers have also increased from 6% to 16% and hence safety related features such as live tracking becomes important which is highlighted in our campaign,” said Shashank Srivastava, executive director – marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki.
Tata Motors, which introduced Connected Technology Platform – iRA in January 2020, has been running campaigns for models like the Harrier sport-utility vehicle to highlight the performance of the vehicle’s automatic transmission along with its automatic sunroof. The company is sharing video brochures of its electric vehicle-specific tech-based features on WhatsApp or via other one-to-one communication apps with customers.
“Leveraging social media platforms, we also pushed the creatives and info-graphics that helped us demonstrate features such as voice commands, app-related benefits like ‘locate your vehicle’, ‘find the nearest charging stations’, etc. We have explored the option of using 3-D visualization too,” said a Tata Motors spokesperson.
