Research and Markets: The Global Report on Automotive Retailing: Current Advertising and Promotion Spend Estimated at $35 Billion

DUBLIN, Ireland--May 7, 2004--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com) has announced the addition of The Global Report on Automotive Retailing to their offering.

Automotive retailing has faced significant hurdles in the past decade around the world, and the challenges have varied by region, but for the most part, the traditional franchise dealer model has prevailed.

This exclusive report provides a complete guide to understanding how retail markets across the globe will change in the future and clearly identifies the sector's key trends, showing how they are set to affect your interests in the key markets.

-How will the recasting of the automotive block exemption affect European retailers?

-How will Japanese retailers restructure to accommodate OEM's continued attempts to cut costs and increase retail level productivity?

-How are US retailers intending to recapture the billions of dollars surrendered to the customer as part of the intense incentive wars?

These and many other crucial industry questions are comprehensively addressed so you can make the right decisions to stay ahead of the competition.

Report coverage:

1. Market and branding

The global automotive industry currently spends an estimated $35 billion a year on advertising and promotion. If incentives and other opportunity costs (eg dealer-level price discounts), that figure probably exceeds $70 million. This is far more than any other industry spends, and far eclipses total industry profits. Furthermore, it is becoming clear that increases in advertising and promotion have little correlation to increases in market share at the company level. Clearly, spending more to build stronger, more profitable brands is a dubious proposition, made more so by the probable near-term slowing of demand and the increasing price pressures the markets will witness. And yet many OEMs seem unable to do anything else. How did we get here?

2. The Internet: attractive but elusive

The Internet has already become a deeply integrated part of the automotive industry, and will become even more important as time goes on. Auto dealer 'disintermediation' will remain the exception rather than the rule in the three major markets, and the Internet will further accelerate the value capture capabilities of consumers by improving pricing and inventory transparencies. The benefits to OEMs will include perhaps ephemeral opportunities at CRM and more substantial opportunities to increase demand prediction accuracy, understand emerging trends and, of course, to sell cars.

3. Europe: regulators in the driving seat

The continued integration of the European Union is having a tremendous impact on the automotive retailing business. It seems logical that during such a period of instability players will jockey for advantage in as many ways as possible. Clearly, despite changes in the block exemption, the automotive manufacturers will remain the dominant force in the industry. Beyond the block exemption, one has to note the veritable crush of new regulations descending on the industry, and note it with increasing alarm. While most of these ideas are undoubtedly worthwhile, combined they could make motoring a decidedly expensive proposition in Europe in the very near future.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c1803