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Success of Marketing Green Vehicles in U.S. Depends Largely on Continued Commitment By Automakers, Energy Policymakers

Posted on: Thursday, 16 April 2009, 07:00 CDT

Consumer Market Research Expert Contends Auto Buyers Will Switch to Hybrid Vehicles If Little Financial Risk Is Clear in Making the Switch

DETROIT, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Success in marketing "green," hybrid or alternative fueled-vehicles during the current economic recession will depend largely on overcoming consumer concerns about the personal financial risks associated with such an investment, such as resale value, availability and costs of battery replacement, reliability and fuel costs that remain low, according to research from Synovate Motoresearch.

Scott Miller, chief executive officer of Synovate, will discuss global research findings as a featured panelist in the "Does Green Matter in a Try-to-Survive Market?" forum at 9 a.m. EDT, on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, as part of the ATX-Consulting4Drive Executive Business Theater. The event is in conjunction with the three-day annual Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress at Cobo Center. ATX (www.atxg.com) is a leading provider of connected vehicle (or telematics) services to the global automotive industry.

As one of the world's largest custom market research agencies, Synovate interviews hundreds of thousands of consumers worldwide every week. Based on this work and data from Synovate's "Survey of Consumer Attitudes toward Alternatively Fueled and Advanced Propulsion Vehicles" syndicated study, Miller contends that marketing "green" vehicles does matter. "Consuming less and emitting less are trends that will influence consumer behavior for years but the extent that impact must be evaluated within the context of concerns over personal finance and risk," Miller said.

"Compounding these concerns are the uncertainties about the futures of political policy, energy and the automotive industry itself," he added. "The more schizophrenic that industry and government appear regarding the solutions offered to consumers, the less likely consumers will commit shares of their wallets to any of the new alternatives that the industry is spending billions to develop."

Moderated by ATX President Steve Millstein, Tuesday's panel also will feature Alexander Edwards, president-automotive, Strategic Vision, and Paul Taylor, Ph.D., chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA).

ABOUT ATX:

ATX Group (www.atxg.com) is one of the world's leading providers of customized, connected vehicle services to global automobile manufacturers. ATX pioneered connected vehicle services in 1996, and today provides innovative safety, security, communication, navigation and information services to vehicle owners through many of world's most distinguished automotive brands, including Toyota, Lexus, BMW, Peugeot, Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

ATX also customizes services to help automobile manufacturers and their affiliated dealerships use telematics data and multiple customer contact channels to reduce costs, enhance vehicle servicing, and more closely manage customer relationships and contacts with the vehicle through its lifetime. ATX operates from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and Dusseldorf, Germany.

ATX is a division of Cross Country Automotive Services (www.crosscountry-auto.com), a leading provider of enhanced claims management services to automobile insurance carriers and driver and vehicle assistance services to motorists.

ABOUT CONSULTING4DRIVE

Based in Berlin, Germany, and with offices in North America, India, China and Russia, Consulting4Drive is a strategy and process consulting company that helps automotive industry executives with "Widening Prospects" in the areas of Globalization, Organization and Process Excellence to improve efficiency and competitiveness. The company is a leading provider of consulting services across the automotive value chain in Development, Production, Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Sales, and Service & Marketing. The company also provides unique expertise in bridging the focus of technology with market and customer needs to position organizations for success in the future. Consulting4Drive partners with its customers to provide analysis & market trend studies, strategy and execution to ensure effectiveness.

Customers are global automakers and dealerships, automotive suppliers, and manufacturing companies.

Consulting4Drive is a company of IAV GmbH, one of the world's leading providers of engineering and product development services to the automotive industry.

www.consulting4drive.com.

NOTE: For a full schedule of events taking place at the SAE Executive Business Theater, please visit www.sae.org/congress

SOURCE ATX Group

Source: PR Newswire

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