Premium Cars Research Articles

Luxury tax perspectives: The evidence of the Republic of Belarus

The study is dedicated to the reasons for luxury tax implementation into the national taxation system. The purpose of the research is to study the emergence and experience of applying the luxury tax in various countries in order to determine the feasibility of introducing such a tax in the Republic of Belarus. Authors’ conclusions and findings have been presented against the background of the analysis of digitized texts on tax and bibliometric and scientometric analysis of the scientific field of taxation. As a testing ground for making our conclusions in terms of lessons learned from past historical experience and real economic background, the Republic of Belarus was chosen. Possible reasons for the introduction of such a tax were considered, as well as an analysis of the market for luxury goods in the Republic of Belarus and the demand for them was conducted. We have drawn some parallels between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation to reach a reasonable conclusion. For this purpose, the Russian luxury goods market (premium car and real estate markets) was analyzed based on available statistics for the years 2020-2022. As the most politically controversial tax that can be not as efficient as income taxes and have unintended consequences, luxury tax was examined from the point of international experience and historical perspective. Examples of luxury goods throughout history and in real life together with historical references to the implementation of this tax were presented. The effectiveness of luxury tax and its impact that depends on a variety of factors (tax rate, types of goods and services being taxed, economic conditions, etc.) together with the modern concept of luxury tax with national specific was evaluated. Considering the situation in the Republic of Belarus, although during recent years there has been a budget deficit and there is a necessity to find new sources of state income, we didn’t find any reasons for the implementation of such a tax into the national taxation system. These types of taxes are mainly imposed in highly developed countries where people can afford “luxurious” goods and the variety of these goods is higher. In the case of the Republic of Belarus, there is a trend of decreasing the number of people whose purchasing power would allow them to buy luxury goods and the real disposable income of Belarusians has also declined, making it less likely that Belarusians will spend money on the consumption of luxury goods.

Tell me what you buy, and I will tell you how you are: Luxurious cars increase perceptions of status, social dominance, and attractiveness

Luxury products impact the physical, emotional, and social well-being. This research investigated the impact of premium products on mating value, social dominance, and social status in a Brazilian sample. Two studies were conducted. The first study examined whether the evaluation of mating value and social dominance is affected by consumption choices. For this purpose, 171 participants assessed the mating value and the social dominance of opposite-sex stimulus subjects who owned cars in the premium or popular categories. The second study examined whether owning premium cars influences self-perception of social status, social dominance, and mating value. In this study, 409 participants with different consumption patterns (no car ownership, non-premium car ownership, and premium car ownership) rated their subjective social status, social dominance orientation, and mating value. The results indicate that stimulus subjects with premium cars were evaluated with higher mating value and dominance. Similarly, participants who owned a premium car exhibited higher levels of mating value and social dominance. The findings suggest that the consumption of luxury products influences social perception that matches with self-perceived characteristics. This information provides insights for the development of consumer decision-making models and enables informing consumers about the consequences of their choices in the social environment.

Competition in the Brazilian premium car market in 2007—2021

The article presents the analysis of the competition development on the Brazilian premium automotive market in 2007-2021. The SV matrix is used as an analytical tool that allows to track changes in different industries. Results of the study show that the premium segment of the automotive market responds to economic shocks better than the mass segment. In the second half of the 2010s the market was finally formed and achieved the high concentration, the dominant group of companies expanded. Competition in the Brazilian auto market today can be characterized as the "Big Five": five equally large companies control almost the entire market. However, considering the competition between automotive holdings, there is a clear dominance of Daimler company. In contrast to the situation in Russia, during crises, the premium segment of the Brazilian car market declines along with the mass segment, which can be explained by the population of the upper middle class being less resistant to external shocks and a smaller share of the wealthiest population.

The Influence of Brand Image: Brand Hate-Brand Love on The Purchase of BMW Luxury Cars

BMW is currently the leader in selling premium class cars in Indonesia. This illustrates that BMW cars can be an indicator that they are still a secondary choice desired by consumers in buying premium cars. The focus of this paper is to analyze the influence of brand image, brand hate and brand love on the decision to buy a car. The respondents of this research will be direct buyers and users of BMW in West Java, with age criteria above 21 years. To measure the decision to buy a BMW car analysis variable including product quality, perceived value, fairness of price and brand image, where brand image is suspected variable with the most dominant variable influencing customer buying decisions. Methods of data analysis to be carried out using reliability tests and validity tests. This paper is the basis of research that will be carried out related to purchasing decisions and brand image where this will help the implementation of research to be more planned and structured.

Perceived Quality Attributes Importance Ranking Methodology in the Automotive Industry: A Case Study on Geometry Appearance Attributes at CEVT.

Implementation of methods for perceived quality evaluation is an integral part of the automotive manufacturers’ strategic development plans. The correct definition of perceived quality requirements is one of the significant factors influencing customer’s purchase intention. This study seeks to understand how customers perceive and prioritize attributes that are associated with the geometrical and materials quality of a premium car market segment. We applied the Perceived Quality Attributes Importance Ranking (PQAIR) methodology to understand the importance of different perceived quality attributes form a customer perspective. Such an understanding can contribute to the effectiveness of the design processes in the early product development phases. This approach is tested on 144 respondents representing customer’s target group and performed in collaboration with China Euro Vehicle Technology (CEVT) technical experts. Our results verify the rationality and feasibility of the applied method and indicate the improvement of engineering practices regarding complex product development.

REVIEW ON PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SURFACE INSPECTION IN AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTION

Abstract. When purchasing a premium car for a substantial sum, first impressions count. Key to that first impression is a flawless exterior appearance, something self-explanatory for the customer, but a far greater challenge for production than one might initially assume. Fortunately, photogrammetric technologies and evaluation methods are enabling an ever greater degree of oversight in the form of comprehensive quality data at different automotive production stages, namely stamping, welding, painting and finishing. A drawback lies in the challenging production environment, which complicates inline integratability of certain technologies. In recent years, machine vision and deep learning have been applied to photogrammetric surface inspection with ever increasing success. Given comprehensive surface quality information throughout the entire production chain, production parameters can be dialed in ever tighter in a data-driven fashion, leading to a sustainable increase in quality. This paper provides a review of current and potential contributions of photogrammetry to this end, discussing several recent advances in research along the way. Particular emphasis will be placed on early production stages, as well as the application of machine vision and deep learning to this challenging task. An outline for further research conducted by the authors will conclude this paper.

МІЖНАРОДНІ БІЗНЕС-СТРАТЕГІЇ ПРОМИСЛОВИХ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ

The article examines the international business strategies of industrial enterprises. The business strategy of an enterprise is a set of activities, plans and management decisions that allow obtaining specific indicators for comparing the position of an enterprise. To develop a business strategy, you need to consider the company's activities in terms of five main elements: market, industry, product, technology and the company's position in the market. Each enterprise follows its own business strategy to gain a better position and benefit from a competitive advantage. A business strategy combines several different strategies and areas of activity. It includes corporate strategy, digital strategy, sales growth strategy, etc. It is investigated that in today's dynamic highly competitive environment no industrial enterprise can exist without its own business strategy. There are many strategic ways to develop companies in the market, proven by experience and considered exemplary. Currently, in the course of such world processes as globalization, urbanization, climate change and the redistribution of forces in the world arena, the business strategies of the behavior of many countries and, as a result, of international companies are changing. It has been established that it is important to adapt the chosen strategy to your company, and not to copy someone else's experience. In order to be competitive in the global economic space, it is necessary to develop new business strategies. It has been determined that the business strategies that businesses can devise and the paths they can identify to implement those strategies are different. It is analyzed that the frequency and depth of changes in the business strategies of industrial enterprises depends on market success or failure, and the duration depends on how suitable the strategy is for market conditions. The article analyzes the features of the business strategy of industrial enterprises using the example of BMW, which is in the premium car sector, occupies a leading position in the world and sets trends and new innovative strategies that all global automotive concerns are listening to. In recent years, the BMW Group has enjoyed positive growth in the company's worldwide revenues.

Three's a Crowd? An Optimal Distinctiveness View on Premium Car Makers' Electrification Strategies

Despite an increasing scholarly effort to integrate institutional theory into strategic management, we still know little about how organizations balance conformity and differentiation when they are pressured to come up with innovation. Drawing on the recently proposed perspective of optimal distinctiveness, we use a comparative case study among German premium car manufacturers to assess how organizations within this group strategically position their electrification strategies in the midst of regulatory and competitive pressures. We identify integrative and compensatory positioning as two strategic levers by which these organizations try to achieve competitive differentiation via their innovation strategies. We also reveal patterns in the relation between these levers and which circumstances predict their use. Our study contributes to the understanding of organizational responses to conflicting demands, the innovation strategies of incumbents, and the role of optimal distinctiveness in this process.

Sensemaking support system (S3) for manufacturing process improvement

Production management teams often face unfamiliar situations where each team member must understand new phenomena individually before the team can make mutually understandable and acceptable decisions. Contradicting subjective judgments can distort the group’s decision-making process because team members understand situations differently and are generally prone to behavioural biases. This paper presents the development of a sensemaking support system (S3,S cube) for selecting improvement projects in a complex,small-volume batch production system of a premium car manufacturer. All phases of the sensemaking process are facilitated by making various sources of information available to a team of managers and experts to reduce conflicts regarding the selection of improvement projects. S3 is based on a lens model which combines judgments of the management team with discrete event simulation and provides visual representations of the differences and misjudgements related to various improvement options. The results – that can easily be generalised to many similar settings – indicate different understanding and lack of coherence within the management team which prevents them from defining mutually acceptable actions. This is countered with the creation of an action proposal,summarising and visualising causal relationships,and connecting them to improvement options to improve performance of the production system.

Design of the top tether component for the premium car market segment: Case study of Volvo Cars

The positive correlation between successful car design and high perceived quality is indisputable. In the highly competitive premium car market segment, the implementation of methods for perceived quality evaluation is an integral part of the strategic development plans of car manufacturers. However, to correctly define the perceived quality requirements and address market opportunities, the car manufacturers need to capture diverse customer demands. This study seeks to understand how customers perceive and prioritize attributes that are associated with the perceived quality of the premium car market segment. During the study, we evaluated the next generation top tether design concepts for Volvo Cars sedan models S60 and S90. The top tether is the part of an ISOFIX system used to connect a forward-facing child seat in a car and is a critical safety component significantly reducing potential injuries. We applied the Perceived Quality Attributes Importance Ranking (PQAIR) methodology to understand the importance of different perceived quality attributes from a customer perspective. In other words, we investigated the meaning of “premiumness” for the customers, applied to the specific car component. This approach was tested on 200 respondents representing the customer target group and was performed in collaboration with Volvo Cars technical experts. Our results verify the rationality of the applied method and indicate the improvement of engineering practices regarding the evaluation of perceived quality.

Mixed-Model Assembly Line Balancing in The Process of Assembling Trimming Area to Minimize Workstation Using RPW-MVM Method

The development of an industry that continues to move forward coupled with global competition and openness demands that the company continues to evolve and always make improvements in improving the performance of its production process. XYZ Corp is an automotive company based in Germany that produces premium cars, the car assembly process groove at XYZ Corp is a trimming line, mechanical line and finishing line, XYZ Corp produces A-model, B-model and C-model cars. At this time XYZ Corp not achieving the production target due to the car assembly cycle time on the trimming Line 1 area exceeds the specified takt time. Assembly line balancing is required in the trimming area using Mixed-Model Assembly Line Balancing Problem (MALBP) approach to minimize the number of workstation, in the Trimming area assembly line balancing study using the Ranked Positional Weighted with Moving Target (RPW-MVM) method. Alocation constraint should be added due to machine restrictions that cannot be moved. After assembly line balancing, there was a decrease in the number of workstations to 14 workstations with a line efficiency of 86% and balancing efficiency of 97%.

Premium factor – Analyzing usage of premium cars compared to conventional cars

Car use is affected by various factors (e.g. spatial structures). As a result, the potential for new mobility services and propulsion technologies is perceived to be different depending on these factors. For this purpose, it is necessary to holistically observe the use of cars by all occupants. This comparative study investigates an important factor that can differentiate car use: the premium factor. To address this issue, a sensor data based sample of premium car usage in Germany and California in May 2018 was used. This was compared with a car usage model form survey data to generate detailed car trip profiles from conventional cars in Germany and California over the course of one year. Premium cars are produced by premium Original Equipment Manufacturer (Audi, BMW, Mercedes or Tesla). Conventional cars include all vehicles independent from the brand in a representative population. Specific premium characteristics were identified, such as more frequent long-distance travel, the higher frequency of car use and a very broad car usage with no link to specific purposes. New mobility services and propulsion technologies, premium provider should offer their cars with an extended radius and extended electric range. Furthermore, a universal usability of premium cars should be guaranteed.

Test Your Self-Driving Algorithm: An Overview of Publicly Available Driving Datasets and Virtual Testing Environments

Many companies aim for delivering systems for autonomous driving reaching out for SAE Level 5. As these systems run much more complex software than typical premium cars of today, a thorough testing strategy is needed. Early prototyping of such systems can be supported using recorded data from onboard and surrounding sensors as long as open-loop testing is applicable; later, though, closed-loop testing is necessary-either by testing on the real vehicle or by using a virtual testing environment. This paper is a substantial extension of our work presented at the 2017 IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSC) that was surveying the area of publicly available driving datasets. Our previous results are extended by additional datasets and complemented with a summary of publicly available virtual testing environments to support closed-loop testing. As such, a steadily growing number of 37 datasets for open-loop testing and 22 virtual testing environments for closed-loop testing have been surveyed in detailed. Thus, conducting research toward autonomous driving is significantly supported from complementary community efforts: A growing number of publicly accessible datasets allow for experiments with perception approaches or training and testing machine-learning-based algorithms, while virtual testing environments enable end-to-end simulations.

Тенденції розвитку автотранспортного ринку та його вплив на екологізацію України.

The article investigated the level of air pollution by vehicles. Using mathematical modeling, the relationship between the growth trend in the number of vehicles and an increase in harmful emissions is revealed. It was revealed that the production and sale of electric vehicles have a significant impact on greening. This is due to the efficiency, environmental friendliness and ease of use of electric vehicles. However, at the moment there are problems with the presence of an extensive network of electric power stations and the complexity of their maintenance. State support to eliminate these shortcomings and the popularization of electric vehicles in Ukraine will soon make this type of transport affordable and convenient to use. In today's realities of increasing the effectiveness of the automotive industry functioning, it is possible due to the creation of a competitive automobile industry in Ukraine, expanding the assortment, developing and introducing the concept of new high-quality domestic premium cars, using world experience in the development of the automotive industry. This applies primarily to eco-vehicles to ensure domestic demand and the future realization of the export prospects.

Country of ownership change in the premium segment: consequences for brand image

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how the ownership transfer from a highly industrialised country to less industrialised countries influences consumers’ brand perceptions.Design/methodology/approachThree acquisition cases of premium car brands (Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo) are investigated using qualitative data from online brand communities.FindingsWhen country of ownership (COOW) for brands changes, it leads to different effects on consumers’ brand perception. Consumers are disoriented as to which cue to apply when evaluating the brand. They also see that brand values, and how these are communicated, are in conflict, as are sustainability images.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper focuses on the perspective of brand community members in Europe and the USA and studies only the car industry and acquisitions by two countries (China and India) using data from the time of ownership transfers. The authors discuss theoretical implications and suggest further research to gain more insights and address limitations.Practical implicationsFollowing a transfer of ownership, communication campaigns are required for addressing the original brand’s heritage and promoting the new brand owner’s image. Managers need to take advantage of loyal brand fans by turning them into brand ambassadors, spreading information to convince consumers that are more sceptical.Originality/valueThis study fills the knowledge gap regarding change of COOW to developing countries as new owners, and its consequences for consumer perception. The authors also introduce an innovative type of data collection through brand communities, which is less commonly used in international marketing research.

Individual Influences on the Evaluation of Vehicle Sounds: A Typology of Premium Car Drivers with Regard to Their Attitude Towards Cars and Sounds

Individual Influences on the Evaluation of Vehicle Sounds: A Typology of Premium Car Drivers with Regard to Their Attitude Towards Cars and Sounds

IDENTIFIKASI PERBEDAAN ELEMEN DESAIN PADA MOBIL PREMIUM DAN NON-PREMIUM Objek Studi : Mobil Toyota

A design product is designed to satisfy the spesific goals of a problem –the functional and aesthethic ones. Along the design process, several elements of design that designer use to satistfy these goals. However, the design is also about meaning. Significance, as a concept in design, explains how forms assume meaning in the ways they are used, or the role and meaning assigned them. Through this paper, it will be shown that the design elements are used to express the premium label that attached to a car. This paper explains about the characteristic of design elements of premium cars and their potential as concept resources for interior design. As the definition of premium car as the upper-range products, this study using cars under brand Toyota that sold in Indonesia. As thereare types of car in several categories, the study can identify the differences of design elements among each type of car in each category. This comparison will identify design elements that differentiate the upper-range car with another in one category. The result of this study shows there are differences in design elements quantity and quality of exploration of design elements attached to premium cars.

Assessing social risks of global supply chains: A quantitative analytical approach and its application to supplier selection in the German automotive industry

Risk management in Supply Chains has gained increasing attention over the last years. At the same time the pressure to consider social issues in global and interconnected supply chains has risen as well. These issues pose risk to supply chains since their occurrence may cause adverse stakeholder reaction through e.g. reputational losses. Despite the growing importance of supplier management as a key process within supply chains and the frequently articulated demand for a quantitative assessment of associated risks, such approaches are missing so far. Thus, the aim of this paper is to develop a model to efficiently estimate and assess social risks along global supply chains. For this purpose, Leontief’s Input Output model is combined with country risks and sector specific labour intensities. In addition, a fuzzy analytical hierarchy process is used to weigh the various considered social risks. Thereby the focus is on the upstream supply chain of actors in a supply chain. The approach is developed generally, opening the possibility of adaption to different types of input-output data bases and using different social risks discussed in social life cycle assessment. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process facilitates the operational application in companies, where different people with differing preferences are involved, e.g. in procurement decisions. The model is applied to a case study of a German premium car manufacturer to demonstrate and validate the approach. It is shown, how – based on the developed model – the assessment of supply chains risks can be carried out. The approach allows an assessment of the supply chain as a whole, i.e. considering all upstream tiers, and of specific tiers. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis with regard to the obtained weights is conducted to verify the final aggregative risk values. The results show that there are huge differences in the social risks associated with different suppliers as well as different risk structures along the n-tier chain. This helps prioritizing any projects with the aim to improve the living and working conditions. In summary the model has a great benefit for practitioners in purchasing functions of focal companies and can be a helpful tool to support the efficient handling of social issues along supply chains. At the same time, its academic contributions lie in extending the life cycle sustainability analysis through a (multi-regional) socially extended input output model (SEIO) for social risk assessment in sustainable supply chain management.

“Seeing is being”: Consumer culture and the positioning of premium cars in China

Researchers recognize the indispensable role of inwardly vs. outwardly-focused social identities as predictors of consumers' attitudes toward local vs. global brand positioning. Extant studies typically report symmetric assimilative identity effects, meaning that consumers high on national/ethnic identity favor brands with a local (vs. global) consumer culture positioning, and vice-versa for consumers high on an outward (e.g., cosmopolitan) identity disposition. Such identity outcomes may not be generalizable, but rather, be affected by the specific consumption context as well as the individual trait of consumer need for uniqueness (NFU). Focusing on the Chinese premium car market, our experimental study consistently supported assimilative effects for the role played by ethnic identity. For cosmopolitanism however, such effects only held for low NFU consumers, whereas contrastive identity effects emerged for high NFU consumers. These results challenge some findings reported in the literature. Implications of these asymmetric identity effects for marketing theory and practice are discussed.

New premium cars sales promotion based on the system of pre-owned cars sales to loyal customers

The decline in sales of new cars in Russia leads to the necessity for a more complicated procedure connected with the sale of pre-owned cars. Creating a sequence of premium brand pre-owned cars purchasing and selling will lead to an increase in new car sales and increase customers' loyalty. A mathematical model of the formation of car purchase and transaction chains is proposed. The developed program module allows to create the required number of transaction chains based on customers' requirements. A numerical example demonstrating the effectiveness of the module for the regional car dealerships is provided.