Bain Study Confirms: EVs Are for Rich Posers
Inflammatory much? Of course we do. Quick digression: Bain & Co is one of those international consultancies whose website doesn’t provide a client list, or any exact idea of what it does for them. Reading between the lines, like McKinsey & Company, they probably specialize in firing people (e.g., “Where appropriate, we work with clients to make it [increasing “value”] happen—which may mean fundamentally changing the company.”) The connection between Bain and a study of potential EV ownership is left unspoken. Looks like the usual client angling to me. OK, so, Business Week reports that Bain reports that EV intenders are rich bastards. “The survey of 4,000 people in eight countries, including the U.S., China, Japan and Germany, finds that high-income buyers are ready to buy all-electric vehicles as a second vehicle for short trips. ‘Consumers would be buying now if there were products,’ says Gregor Matthies, a Munich-based partner at Bain who specializes in the auto industry.” Did they only survey high income buyers? Not specified. So which theoretical EVs are we talking about?
“The Bain survey finds that customers are eager to buy an electric car from familiar names such as Toyota, Daimler, Volkswagen or BMW. (Respondents weren’t asked about any of the U.S. carmakers.) ‘The consumers are expecting trusted brands to deliver these products,’ says Matthies.”
And here we go into that strange journalistic territory where you can’t tell if the text is the author’s opinion, the subject’s opinion or the author’s opinion of the subject’s opinion. Or, more likely, a re-written press release.
“The other challenge for carmakers will be to differentiate their products from competitors. Electric motors are much less complicated to build than internal combustion engines and require only a simple gearbox. They are inherently quiet and peppy. The qualities that have sold BMWs, Lexus and Mercedes won’t be as unique anymore.
“So design may be the key competitive factor. Some automakers may decide to form partnerships with companies known for superb product design. In fact, the Bain survey asked people whether they would buy a car from Apple. Only 21% of Europeans said they would, vs. 48% who would buy an electric car from BMW. Still, Apple’s score was surprisingly high for a company that has never made a motor vehicle. Existing carmakers can’t take it for granted that they’ll own the market.”
And how’s this for prevarication?
“The Bain study suggests that, after many false starts, the era of electric cars may finally be on the horizon.”
Like the electric car hasn’t been on the horizon since cars began…
More by Robert Farago
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In the late 1990's I was in an ancient barbershop waiting to be served and some commotion was going on at the front entrance. I went to investigate and several guys were standing around staring at a Ford Fiesta. It turned out to be an electric vehicle that was owned by a local wealthy man. It had cost 30,000$. He was married to a New York model that cost considerably more.
@ no_slushy You just love that thinkgeek link...