Boomers Defy Car Makers' Marketing Strategies [View all]

[MineralMan]

I was doing a little online research today to try to explain something I noticed in the past month and a half. Back in mid July, my wife and I bought a 2013 Kia Soul. We were completely unaware of the target marketing, which aims at millennials, and hadn't even seen the ubiquitous hip-hop Hamster ads Kia has been using to market this vehicle. We're boomers. We were looking for a low-priced, roomy little car with great gas mileage, and our research led us to that car, which suited us just fine.

Well, when you buy a new car, you start seeing that car wherever you go. It's a psychological thing. I hadn't noticed Kia Souls on the street until I got one. I learned about its marketing strategy, too, after buying it. What I discovered, as I started seeing Souls on the road, along with the other comparable box cars, like the Scion XB and the Nissan Cube, was that about half of the people driving these cars were boomers, just like me.

I had to go pick up the licence plates for mine at the dealership, so I asked the salesperson who sold us ours how the buyers broke down by age. He said that about half of the people buying the Kia Soul were over 50 at his dealership. Interesting.

And yet, Kia, and Scion and Nissan are marketing these cars almost exclusively to a much younger audience. I've been looking at ads and sales campaigns, and it's clear that the marketing effort is almost entirely directed at millennials. So, what's the deal with this, I started wondering? Aren't old farts supposed to want big, luxury cars, with comfy seats and soft suspensions? Well, apparently not as much as the car makers think. Maybe they're missing something here.

So, I took a look at my own reasoning before buying this "millennial" car. I did considerable research before going to the dealer, and we had decided on that car, based on that research. Here's what I had looked for:

1. Low Price - We are working with a lower income these days, and wanted to spend as little as possible for a new car. The Soul is near the bottom of the price range for all cars right now, at about $14,500 for the base model, which we bought.
2. Comfort - The boxy style of this range of cars works well for old farts with creaky knees and hips. Easy entry, and plenty of leg and head room are big pluses.
3. Safety - Checking the safety rating, the Soul came out at the top of its class, with 6 air bags and a well designed passenger compartment structure.
4. Fuel Economy - Everyone wants good gas mileage these days. Gas is expensive. The 27 mpg city/35 mpg highway mileage isn't bad at all.
5. Desired Features - Air Conditioning. It's standard, along with a bunch of other features, like Bluetooth and SiriusXM radio, that are less important to us.
6. Warranty - I'm 67. I'm not going to buy a lot more cars. The 5-year/60,000 mile overall warranty, and the 10 year/100,000 mile power train warranty on the Kia line is about as good as it gets. Most small, inexpensive cars these days have a 3-year/36,000 mile warranty, it seems.
7. Appearance - This was the least important factor of all. That we were looking at box cars means that it wasn't really much of an issue. However, of the three box cars, the Kia is probably the least cubic in design, and has some interesting design features that make it unique. Fit and finish on the Kia is fine for its price range.

So, for this boomer couple, that particular car was a perfect match. Judging from the drivers I've seen in this and similar cars, apparently it's a good fit for many boomers. That being the case, I have to wonder why the auto makers haven't sussed out this trend and aren't marketing to this age group with these cars. It's puzzling. According to statistics, boomers are buying 60+% of all new cars being sold. And yet, the auto makers are pushing almost exclusively for the youthful car buyers, rather than the boomer group. Are the car makers missing a bet with these cars, or are they just figuring that the boomers will find what they want anyhow?