Guerrilla Marketing for EVs In and Around the New York International Auto Show

Where there were once two packed press days this year there was only one and it was padded with minor players Much of the news was off the show floor but piggybacking on it so alert journalists could still be kept busy though it required Ubers and subway rides Taken together the overwhelming impression appropriate for Earth Month is that environmental issues have taken center stage in the auto industry and that electric vehicle EV introductions are no longer a feelgood sideshow they39re the whole show And they need some innovative marketing to reach the market saturation that39s predictedFor at least the last 10 years automakers have carefully stagemanaged shows like NYIAS to make sure that EVs did not upstage the main event gasguzzling supercars SUVs and trucks That39s no longer a viable strategy because even the Hummers are being electrified Gasengine platforms are experiencing death throes So how do automakers market these new green carsCall it guerrilla marketing but increasingly they39re eschewing auto shows and taking their EVs on the road often to the highend quotspacesquot they don39t like calling them showrooms that are showing up in urban enclaves A little TV exposure doesn39t hurt eitherI made an attempt to see VW39s muchvaunted ID Buzz a reincarnated and retro electric Microbus that is so cute it squeaks I was met with quotIt39s at Live with Kelly and Ryanquot On the show the stars climbed into the car and called it quotan episode of ScoobyDooquot Well it is certainly a star car Kelly and Ryan may not have fully understood they were looking at an EV but they gave it about two minutes of highrated TV time with enthusiastic presenter Emme HallVW chose to introduce the family friendly Buzz not at NYIAS but via an international live stream March 9 The company is still tweaking the car but it will eventually be available with one motor yielding 201 horsepower and 220 poundfeet of torque and an 82kilowatthour battery pack A dualmotor version will appear later with more than 300 horsepowerVW is certainly out and about for Earth Day as the presenting partner of Earth Day 2022 at New York39s Hudson Yards April 2224 According to VW spokesman Cameron Batten quotWe aim to be a role model for managing the environmental impacts of our mobility solutions and are pleased to align with another organization working for a better tomorrowquot Families are quite likely to attend those events and it39s likely the ID Buzz will again be borrowed from the show floor for a display Until now EVs in the minivan and truck segments were thin on the ground but now they39re in almost every segmentJeep doesn39t have a long green track record but it39s been building one since Jeep became part of the global Stellantis automaker headed by exNissan Frenchborn brand CEO Christian Meunier Nissan was an EV pioneer with the Leaf battery car and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares was then charged with selling it to AmericansJust before NYIAS Meunier took Jeep39s electrification push on the road all the way to Moab Utah for the nineday 56th Easter Jeep Safari It39s not an official Jeep event but a meeting of up to 20000 diedinthewool Jeep fanatics with a chance to go deep offroad To excite the faithful Jeep brought no less than 10 concept cars to Utah Only three of them had been previously seenSafari goers met the Wrangler Magneto 20 a second concept version of the battery electric with 625 horsepower and 850 poundfeet of torque and zero to 60 in under three seconds Also there was a Trailhawk version of the Grand Cherokee 4xe plugin hybrid that Jeep showed at NYIAS and two concept versions of the Wrangler 4xe built for offroadingMeunier was fresh from Moab when he met the press at a New York hotel just before NYIAS and he39d clearly embraced the growing truism that EV skeptics become true believers when they actually drive themquotOn the offroad course the Magneto 20 had people convinced in secondsquot Meunier said quotThere were no compromises It was climbing boulders and everyone wanted to drive it We39re selling all the Wrangler 4xes we can build and it39s the bestselling plugin hybrid I have zero doubts the Grand Cherokee 4xe will also be a success For Jeep it39s full speed ahead on electrificationquot A production battery Jeep is coming soon and the company expects to be 50 percent EV in the US by 2030 when it will be 100 percent EV in EuropeOne of Meunier39s jobs is simplifying Jeep39s lineup He said that three years ago there were 6000 commercial combinations of the Grand Cherokee now there are less than 100 quotAnd 30 to 40 is about rightquot he saidThere was a whole floor of electric ebikes in NYIAS39 basement It was fun to see that Radio Flyer maker of those iconic red wagons is now in the game with family oriented bikes But one of the more stylish electric motorcycles from Italy39s intriguing Energica was showcased not at the show but at NASDAQ for the quotEvolving the Road Aheadquot Analyst Day April 11 The company39s whole line was on exhibit and up on the display screensI talked to Ideanomics CEO Alf Poor and Chairman Shane McMahon also offsite They have recently bought a controlling share in Energica The company39s fast and stylish bikes will cost 20000 here but Poor said the company doesn39t buy components off the shelf instead it developed all its own proprietary hardware and DC fast charging and has become a consultant to other companies In that way it resembles Croatiabased Rimac which has an outsize influence in the industry well beyond the ultraexpensive hypercars it produces in tiny numbersClearly Energica decided a splashy event at NASDAQ would attract more attention than a press conference in the Javits subfloor And Polestar which still has strong ties to Volvo but is spun off from it showcased its Precept electric concept not at NYIAS it doesn39t have a stand there though Volvo has a small one but at its Scandinavian modern space on Amsterdam Avenue in midtown ManhattanDonny Nordlicht Polestar39s PR manager led a walkaround He said the space is a hybrid fusing an oldschool showroom you can buy the car there with the kind of loungehangouts that other automakers are introducing Polestar is moving fast with these spaces and the Precept pictured at top has already been shown in Marin County and Laguna Beach in California the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and in Boston and Minneapolis The reception was warm and it convinced Polestar to actually produce the new sedan The onsale date will be announced in 2024The Precept is a big 16 feet long futuristic fourdoor sedan which Nordlicht compared to a more capable Porsche Panamera There39s plenty of green content including seats made of woven nylon from recycled PET bottles What looks like carbon fiber lower body trim is in fact made of flax The Precept will sit on a bonded allaluminum chassis via its team in the UK The most striking aspect of the design is the total absence of a rear window occupants get their views from cameras rather than through glassEven some of the important new model introductions were away from the Javits Center including BMW39s i7 electric and Genesis39 X Speedium CoupeMaybe auto shows are doomed but it won39t be electrification that kills them The appeal was already waning To electrify America marketers are looking to get creativeClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Guerrilla Marketing for EVs In and Around the New York International Auto Show

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Jim Motavalli

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Guerrilla Marketing for EVs In and Around the New York International Auto Show

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