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Customer LoginsVolt and LEAF - conquest successes?
Are the Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF successful in the marketplace? This year (January-August, 2011), about 3,400 Volts have been registered while the LEAF has sold about 5,300 in the same period. Interestingly, about 94% of LEAF registrations are retail sales compared to 79% for the Volt. Each of these vehicles represent a small fraction of the total brand sales, but it was expected they would at least start out as low-volume vehicles. The true value of these launches is the buzz, the conversation on social media and total media attention.
Where did the Volt and LEAF buyers come from? Did they previously own the make or were they conquests from other brands? It turns out that these two vehicles have been successful at conquesting owners from other brands. The figures given below are for the first six months of 2011, among households that previously owned at least one vehicle bought new and returned to market.
About 78% of Volt buyers didn't own a Chevrolet at the time of the purchase. On average, about 43% of Chevy buyers are conquests, so the Volt buyer was almost twice as likely to be a conquest than the average Chevy buyer. That pattern holds true for the LEAF, too - about 90% of LEAF buyers didn't own a Nissan previously. Nissan's average conquest rate was 52%, so LEAF buyers are also almost twice as likely to be conquests than the average Nissan buyer.
Is this just because they're new models? Well, the Chevy Cruze and Nissan Juke are also new models and their conquest rates are 48% and 65% respectively - above average but certainly not double. It appears these two high-profile launches have been successful in bringing new customers to the brand, and that may have long-term benefits in terms of make loyalty and customer retention.
Posted by Barbara Keys, Analytic Consultant, Polk (10.17.2011)