This thread is about discussing the phenomenon of the self-fulfilling prophecy in the automotive world.
Let's look at those who purposefully go out of their way to obtain say, a Toyota Camry, with the intent of racking up the big miles. Clearly this customer's pro-bias to the model is influencing his vehicle purchase. The details about why this customer believes he can't do better than a Camry will be left alone, as we simply need only acknowledge for the purpose of this hypethetical that this type of phenomenon (brand preference based solely on subjective analysis and misleading information) is very common.
This customer picks up his late-model Camry at a slight premium compared to other comparable models, but that's okay because it's a '400k mile vehicle', our customer rationalizes. Immediately, he is informed about a handful of recalls on his brand-new purchase; BCM/ECM manufacturing defects, improper airbag calibration, improperly fastened knee-air bag inflator, faulty vehicle wiring on safety equip. (air bag/wiper), V6 engine valve spring defect resulting in dropped valve and lunched engine at low miles, excessive oil consuption resulting in total loss of crankcase oil etc (these are actual recalls and long-running issues for Camry's in the last 5 years, excl. 07-10 Camry's which have a combined total of 39 recalls in those 3 years alone). Remember, this is apparently the "most reliable model of car" according to marketing agencies(!)
But back to our hypothetic customer, all of these repairs are just fine for him. "I'm really impressed how Toyota has stepped up and taken responsibility by exceuting these recalls, I doubt (other brand X) would be so forthcoming. It's a small inconvenience for a 400K mile vehicle, and so a small inconvenience for me" he rationalizes. "You just can't beat all the positive press and water-cooler praise; Aunt Gertrude swore by her Camry". His car consumes oil considerably, and he raises the issue with the dealer at the next schedules oil change. Toyota tells him that 1qt/1000 miles is normal and acceptable and that "all Toyotas burn oil" (real quote from a Toyota Service Tech). Our endlessly faithful, gracious and merciful customer is not troubled in the least, because for him if a Toyota has these problems, imagine how much worse everything else must be!
Years pass and our friend makes sure to drive his long distances and keep adding a quart at every other fill up. "This car has been flawless!" he says. "After all of the recalls were taken care of, all I need to do is fill it with gas and oil and she just goes. Super-legendary bulletproof performance" he praises. At 250K his rad tank cracks and a problematic stalling, hard-start issue takes a few months to pin-point, but "that's okay just look at those miles of 'trouble free' performance" our customer continues. At long last he makes it to 300K, after replaceing struts and mounts and some front end compnents, water pump, VVT actuator as well as all related wear and tear items. He's just doing his PM he says and starts telling all of his friends how amazing and reliable his Camry is to have made it to 300K.
In this scenario, the preconditioning of the customer to "stick it out and remain insanely gracious" through the issues because he's "got a 300K vehicle" made the constant oil top offs (and the cost of quarts across 300K) seem like nothing but 'due dilligence' to our good customer. "Of course one must stay on top of maintenance if they want to make it to 300K" he says.
In the end, this customer insensibly fulfilled his own prophecy all because of brand psychology that has been inculcated.
On the other side of town, we have a teen delivering pizza in his Mitsubishi Lancer. His Lancer doesn't burn oil, and good thing too because our delivery man never checks his oil level. He doesn't care much what kind of car he's driving but it doesn't have any ECM/brake/engine recalls and so the issue never arises. At 250K his Lancer decides to crack a rad tank, lose all coolant, overheat and pop a head gasket. Never mind being 12K deep in his bulk conventional OCI. Our pizza delivery friend get's stranded during a delivery and loses his car and job. He hasn't the money to repair it, and "it's probably not worth it anyway" so he cuts his losses and off to the junk yards goes the Lancer. Our delivery friend tells all his friends how much Mitsubishi sucks "just look at their ratings on [ranking publication X]". His parents arent happy his car took a [censored] and will never buy a Mitsubishi again. Luckily they heard from a guy with a 300K Camry how reliable and legendary Toyotas are. His parents tell our delivery friend that they'll only sign on a better, more reliable car for him. And so they sign on a new Camry, but it just needs a few TSBs and recalls taken care of. No problem, 'it's a 400K mile car'.... and the cycle continues.
In this second instance, we can see how the self-fulfilling prophecy works inversely, yet still results in a favorable outcome for our heavily-publicized car company, due to nothing but brand psychology. The power of the mind is incredible, is it not? It's no wonder why so many entities spend billions to 'dominate' it. (Fun Fact: 'Domination' is the actual terminology of choice used in marketing to identify a successful influence campaign resulting in the control of the customer's behavior)
Thoughts?
Let's look at those who purposefully go out of their way to obtain say, a Toyota Camry, with the intent of racking up the big miles. Clearly this customer's pro-bias to the model is influencing his vehicle purchase. The details about why this customer believes he can't do better than a Camry will be left alone, as we simply need only acknowledge for the purpose of this hypethetical that this type of phenomenon (brand preference based solely on subjective analysis and misleading information) is very common.
This customer picks up his late-model Camry at a slight premium compared to other comparable models, but that's okay because it's a '400k mile vehicle', our customer rationalizes. Immediately, he is informed about a handful of recalls on his brand-new purchase; BCM/ECM manufacturing defects, improper airbag calibration, improperly fastened knee-air bag inflator, faulty vehicle wiring on safety equip. (air bag/wiper), V6 engine valve spring defect resulting in dropped valve and lunched engine at low miles, excessive oil consuption resulting in total loss of crankcase oil etc (these are actual recalls and long-running issues for Camry's in the last 5 years, excl. 07-10 Camry's which have a combined total of 39 recalls in those 3 years alone). Remember, this is apparently the "most reliable model of car" according to marketing agencies(!)
But back to our hypothetic customer, all of these repairs are just fine for him. "I'm really impressed how Toyota has stepped up and taken responsibility by exceuting these recalls, I doubt (other brand X) would be so forthcoming. It's a small inconvenience for a 400K mile vehicle, and so a small inconvenience for me" he rationalizes. "You just can't beat all the positive press and water-cooler praise; Aunt Gertrude swore by her Camry". His car consumes oil considerably, and he raises the issue with the dealer at the next schedules oil change. Toyota tells him that 1qt/1000 miles is normal and acceptable and that "all Toyotas burn oil" (real quote from a Toyota Service Tech). Our endlessly faithful, gracious and merciful customer is not troubled in the least, because for him if a Toyota has these problems, imagine how much worse everything else must be!
Years pass and our friend makes sure to drive his long distances and keep adding a quart at every other fill up. "This car has been flawless!" he says. "After all of the recalls were taken care of, all I need to do is fill it with gas and oil and she just goes. Super-legendary bulletproof performance" he praises. At 250K his rad tank cracks and a problematic stalling, hard-start issue takes a few months to pin-point, but "that's okay just look at those miles of 'trouble free' performance" our customer continues. At long last he makes it to 300K, after replaceing struts and mounts and some front end compnents, water pump, VVT actuator as well as all related wear and tear items. He's just doing his PM he says and starts telling all of his friends how amazing and reliable his Camry is to have made it to 300K.
In this scenario, the preconditioning of the customer to "stick it out and remain insanely gracious" through the issues because he's "got a 300K vehicle" made the constant oil top offs (and the cost of quarts across 300K) seem like nothing but 'due dilligence' to our good customer. "Of course one must stay on top of maintenance if they want to make it to 300K" he says.
In the end, this customer insensibly fulfilled his own prophecy all because of brand psychology that has been inculcated.
On the other side of town, we have a teen delivering pizza in his Mitsubishi Lancer. His Lancer doesn't burn oil, and good thing too because our delivery man never checks his oil level. He doesn't care much what kind of car he's driving but it doesn't have any ECM/brake/engine recalls and so the issue never arises. At 250K his Lancer decides to crack a rad tank, lose all coolant, overheat and pop a head gasket. Never mind being 12K deep in his bulk conventional OCI. Our pizza delivery friend get's stranded during a delivery and loses his car and job. He hasn't the money to repair it, and "it's probably not worth it anyway" so he cuts his losses and off to the junk yards goes the Lancer. Our delivery friend tells all his friends how much Mitsubishi sucks "just look at their ratings on [ranking publication X]". His parents arent happy his car took a [censored] and will never buy a Mitsubishi again. Luckily they heard from a guy with a 300K Camry how reliable and legendary Toyotas are. His parents tell our delivery friend that they'll only sign on a better, more reliable car for him. And so they sign on a new Camry, but it just needs a few TSBs and recalls taken care of. No problem, 'it's a 400K mile car'.... and the cycle continues.
In this second instance, we can see how the self-fulfilling prophecy works inversely, yet still results in a favorable outcome for our heavily-publicized car company, due to nothing but brand psychology. The power of the mind is incredible, is it not? It's no wonder why so many entities spend billions to 'dominate' it. (Fun Fact: 'Domination' is the actual terminology of choice used in marketing to identify a successful influence campaign resulting in the control of the customer's behavior)
Thoughts?