Hyundai’s Assurance Program Born out of Focus Groups
Posted on Fri, Jan 22, 2010
Recently the president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America, John Krafkic, was interviewed on the NPR program "All Things Considered" about their popular Hyundai Assurance program. The program, which began in January 2009, allows anyone who purchases a new Hyundai and loses their source of income within 12 months to return the vehicle with no penalty. It has been a huge success, with less than 100 cars returned out of over 400,000 sold.
When asked how they came up with the idea for this program, Mr. Krafkic said it came straight from their marketing research. Hyundai had noticed that new car sales were slumping, so they conducted a series of focus groups in October 2008 among potential car buyers. The goal was to simply understand why consumers weren't buying new cars. They discovered that potential car buyers knew that there were some excellent deals they could take advantage of, but at the same time they were worried about the economy. With unemployment on the rise, people were simply too nervous about buying a new car when they didn't know if they would have a job in a few months.
Hyundai proved that in a year when the automotive industry was hurting, they could come out ahead by listening to their customers. By investing in marketing research, they came up with an innovative idea that brought customers back into their showrooms and purchasing vehicles once again.
NPR Interview Transcript