Figure of the month – February

50 percent of customers’ calls for a test drive go unanswered

This is the result of a just-published survey carried out by Marketing Partner, a corporate consultancy company. The consultant examined the ten best-selling car brands in Germany regarding how they deal with potential customers’ wishes for test drives. The sobering finding: one half of all inquiries submitted by drivers for a test drive are not even processed – and this although in the 400 calls for a test drive the customers had indicated that they were contemplating buying a new car within the next three months. The only light on the horizon was Toyota: this car manufacturer managed to respond to 90 percent of all inquiries and arranged appointments for a test drive. Coming in a distant second place was Mercedes (77.5%), followed by Skoda (67.5%), BMW (62.5%), and Peugeot (57.5 %). Potential customers were given even scantier attention by Opel (42.5%), Ford (40%), and Renault (37.5%), while Audi and VW responded to a mere 35 percent of the calls for a test drive. Absurd: in 2007 alone, car manufacturers invested a total of 1.5 billion euros in classic advertising with the aim of enhancing sales.