For established car companies, new electric vehicles are attracting customers who are not existing owners of their brands, according to data from automotive website Edmunds.com. That means electric cars are bringing “conquering sales” that are always sought after. These are sales that not only bring in revenue, but can also give car manufacturers hope, creating new long-term customers.
If everything goes right.
Of those who bought the new Ford Mustang Mach-E, nearly 70 percent were not Ford customers, according to Edmunds.com. For most Ford models, only 42% are in the business of a non-Ford vehicle. For General Motors’ Chevrolet brand, the trend is similar. Among buyers of Chevrolet Bolt models, 60% are new to the Chevrolet brand. For most Chevrolet models, just under half are not current Chevrolet customers.
At Volkswagen, which sells far fewer cars in the US than Chevrolet or Ford, the difference is smaller but still noticeable. Among buyers of the ID.4 electric SUV, 72 percent are not existing VW customers, compared with 60 percent of VW buyers overall, according to Edmunds.com.
So far, sales figures aren’t huge by the standards of major auto brands. Tesla still outsells any of the automakers’ electric vehicles. In the first nine months of 2021, GM sold about 25,000 Bolt EVs and EUVs. (Due to the battery recall, GM hasn’t sold the Bolt since late August.) Ford sold about 18,000 Mach-Es and VW sold 12,000 ID.4.
The competing brands people are doing business with run in gamut from other mainstream brands like Toyota, especially for Mach-E, luxury brands like BMW and Audi. Toyota is the most commonly traded brand although it still accounts for only about 10%.
Acquiring new customers is good for any automaker. But the ultimate goal is to retain those customers when they’re ready to move on to the next medium. For customers who have purchased one electric vehicle, that could mean another electric vehicle, said Tyson Jominy, vice president of data analytics at JD Power.
“They’re still pretty loyal to electric vehicles in general,” he said, of owners of cars like the Chevrolet Bolt.
However, the “conquer sales” benefits of owning all-new SUVs won’t last forever, says Jominy of J.D. Power. In the end, the new electric cars will just be newer cars, and customers will settle into familiar buying habits that, again, rely on their favorite brands.
And just as an automaker benefits from having customers trade in their old electric vehicles for new ones, that means a lower percentage of new customers. The Nissan Leaf provides a perfect example, according to Edmunds.cpm. In 2012, 80% of new Leaf buyers used Nissan, according to Edmunds.com. In those days, the Leaf was pretty much the only EV most Americans could buy, with Tesla just starting to make the Model S. Today, the Leaf has more competition and only 50% of its buyers. is new to the brand, according to Edmunds.com. That’s in large part because so many Leaf customers are now trading in their old Leafs for a new one, said Ivan Drury, an industry analyst with Edmunds.com. (Nissan argues with Edmunds.com figures, saying that 50% to 60% of Leaf buyers have consistently come from outside the brand since the model’s launch.)
The first challenge, then, is that automakers need to make other electric vehicles available to customers willing to upgrade, such as something larger or more luxurious. Car buyers, whether or not they consider electric vehicles, tend to set what they want, and an automaker that doesn’t have it, says Michelle Krebs, an industry analyst at Autotrader. category, said Michelle Krebs, an industry analyst at Autotrader.
“SUV buyers will be buying SUVs, so is there another SUV EV that’s about to expire?” she speaks.
“GM has committed to introduce more than 30 new EVs through 2025, leveraging our Ultium Platform, so we expect Bolt customers to stay with us as we work through the fix. recall and also continue to find EVs that fit their needs in the future,” GM spokeswoman Kelly Cusinato said in an email.
“You don’t buy a Ford GT [supercar], but you’re buying something that they put a lot of money into to achieve success,” he said.
In addition, customers must have had a positive experience at the dealership, he said, especially customers who may have traded in a luxury car. They will get used to a level of service not typically found at mainstream brand car dealerships.
“It can be jarring to some extent,” he said. “The hope is that the car can make up for any disappointments.”
