Generation Why: How's The Chevrolet Spark Doing?

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

It’s been a little while since we checked in on GM’s A-Car experiment, the Chevrolet Spark. After some cringe-worthy initial attempts at marketing the Spark, we are now getting some early data, and the takeaway is this; sales aren’t so bad, but the demographics of Spark owners aren’t quite what GM wanted.

In the four months it’s been on the market, the Spark has sold 8447 units, already ahead of the Smart Fortwo and Scion iQ, and right behind another Gen Y darling, the Scion FR-S in the sales charts, which only has a 125 unit lead over the Spark. The Spark’s 2100-unit a month average sales pace would put it somewhere around the Toyota Yaris if we were to extrapolate the data over a 12 month period. Not bad for tiny A-segment car that isn’t even available nationwide yet.

But here’s the kicker. The average age of the Spark buyer is 48. Ward’s Auto spoke to Chevrolet’s Cristi Landy, who was unable to work the spin despite strong attempts

A good percentage of Spark buyers are 25 or younger, but dealers report seeing a wide age mix among customers.

“The average (Spark buyer) age is 48,” she says. “In general we’re seeing younger buyers, but to sell in volume you have to have older buyers, too.”

The Spark is unlikely to lose sales to the larger Chevrolet Sonic when customers visit showrooms, because the smaller model has dramatically different styling and appeals to a different buyer, Landy says.

We at TTAC predicted this exact scenario back in July, and the Spark’s average age suggests that the Spark customer is skewing older than GM may have hoped for. It could be the de facto admission that for young people, buying a small hatchback is a conspicuous statement of poverty, or that young people just plain can’t afford cars because they don’t have jobs – and if they do, they aren’t great ones. The answer is somewhere in the middle.

We have the misfortune of being the most aspirational generation, with horrible economic prospects. Spark customers appear to be older, frugal and divorced from the notion that one’s wheels are integral to one’s identity. Maybe we could learn something from them. And maybe they could hire some of us. There are lots of bright, young creative types who could add a lot of value to General Motors, at a fraction of the cost of their current marketing “gurus“.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Whuffo2 Whuffo2 on Nov 09, 2012

    I'm somewhat amused by many of the comments offered here. Firstly, the targeted "college graduate" market doesn't have sufficient discretionary funds to buy one of these. They'll have to settle for something used - or maybe a bicycle. Next, that whole "aspriational" market stuff is somewhat ridiculous. If you (or those you interact with) use the vehicle you drive to determine your worth as a human being, choose different friend and employers. If you believe the same, seek professional help. Cars provide transportation; they're a depreciating asset and impose their own particular set of costs and annoyance. When you're doing your commute to work, consider this: a Ferrari goes just as fast as a sh!tbox does in traffic - and costs a lot more doing it. The mature (and smarter) folks realize this and do the sensible thing and buy a sh!tbox. They save money every day - and spend it on the more important things in life. It usually takes a few decades for these thoughts to rattle around in the average American's head before they figure it out. That's why most of the sh!tboxes sell to mature people; not only because it's sensible, but also because they're the group that has the resources to buy one of them.

  • TW4 TW4 on Nov 09, 2012

    Car manufacturers will never sell to Gen Y b/c car manufacturers refuse to accept that cars are commodities. They imagine that every new vehicle is a life affirming purchase, and the prospective buyer is eager to sift through dozens of options scams and artificial value-added accessories. Additionally, manufacturers imagine that customers are eager to compare the incongruous trim levels across similar models from different manufacturers. I go to Apple. I figure out which iDevice I want. I choose the storage capacity. I choose the color. I pay. I leave. The options simplicity and the economies of scale make the device affordable, and Apple still has plenty of room in the price to rip me off. I'm happy they earn a profit, and I own shares so I get some of the profits myself. Auto manufacturers should make vehicles in one trim level--fully loaded. Let me choose a transmission. Let me choose an engine. Let me choose a color. Let me choose alloys/tires. Give me the benefits of efficient manufacturing and efficient distribution, and don't try to swindle me out of consumer surplus with BS options bundling. Chevy is close with the Spark, but the Spark should only come in 2LT trim, and they need to knock about $2,000 off the price. Sadly, the Sonic is hatch/sedan, 4 trims for each variant, and a purposeless 1.8L Inline-4 option. Simplify. I'm not paying for waste and I'm not assuming unnecessary financial risk.

    • See 5 previous
    • TW4 TW4 on Nov 09, 2012

      @danio3834 I appreciate your industry insight, but I do not agree with your characterization of their attempts to cater to everyone. They are clearly alienating their future customers with an outdated business model, and weak youth sales are sufficient to illustrate the point. I understand why car companies cannot replicate the consumer electronics paradigm, but whether they like it or not, they are competing with consumer electronics for discretionary income. Auto manufacturers should not be embracing business policies that make them less competitive. When you consider fuel cost, insurance cost, government taxes and fees, and opportunity costs; car manufacturers have no product for young people. New cars are for inactive middle-aged individuals who've been culturally programmed from birth to throw away surplus income on personal transportation. Sure, Gen Y looks at cars to see technological progress, but new vehicle ownership is financially improbable and nearly valueless. Car manufacturers know what they have to do to bring new customers into the fray. They refuse. Creating a high-value product for the youth segment would collapse the entire pricing scheme. They don't want a new pricing model. They don't want to reduce prices and increase value with manufacturing efficiency. They want to figure out clever ways to make Gen Y behave like everyone else, which is absurd given that we grew up in the digital dotcom marketplace. They have to adapt their product development, manufacturing, and pricing to sell their goods in the modern consumer marketplace. They will spend 10 fortunes trying to recreate the consumer behaviors of the 80s and 90s.

  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.
  • Jalop1991 WTO--the BBB of the international trade world.
  • Dukeisduke If this is really a supplier issue (Dana-Spicer? American Axle?), Kia should step up and say they're going to repair the vehicles (the electronic parking brake change is a temporary fix) and lean on or sue the supplier to force them to reimburse Kia Motors for the cost of the recall.Neglecting the shaft repairs are just going to make for some expensive repairs for the owners down the road.
  • MaintenanceCosts But we were all told that Joe Biden does whatever China commands him to!
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