The question was similar to,"Why is it that even though Mercedes E-class is now used as taxi, but it doesn't seem to affect its positioning as a premium car brand? Also, it seemed to have little effects on its sales... why is this so?"
So, naturally, I approached my dear friend chris for some of his opinion. (It's about cars... who's a better person to approach? heh)
But first, I would like to say that (this is input from chris) having the E class as a cab in Singapore did affect the sales of it in a way. There are people who bought E classes but changed to other brands, such as BMW, when they realized that it was used as a cab. Also, you do realize that people in Singapore will rarely buy a white E class... because they don't want to be mistaken for a cab :p
Anyway, here are some of the points consolidated from Chris and also some of my classmates. It's an interesting topic if you think about it :)
- Here in Singapore, the Mercedes cab stands for the luxury segment and they are more expensive than the ordinary ones. Considering this fact, the brand positioning of Mercedes cabs in Singapore is consistent with the created premium brand image.
- Moreover, cabs are considered to be a luxury product in Singapore. Incorporating Mercedes cab is very much in line with the luxury positioning of the brand itself and will not harm the brand image.
- Besides that, it can be seen that when Singapore wants to introduce luxury cabs, they have chosen Mercedes brand to do so, which says something about Mercedes being a prototypical brand in the luxury car market, which furthers confirms its brand status in the minds of the cab companies.
- Also, with more Mercedes vehicles being seen on the road, repeated exposure to the brand results in "recirculation", increases brand recall, salience and accessibility such that it becomes the top-of-mind brand in the product category. This will help in brand building even more, especially when there are so many brands of luxury cars these days that consumers may have information (brand) overload. Thus, there may be easier retrieval of the Mercedes brand as a result.
- If a car is chosen as a cab, it says a lot about the car. Firstly, when evaluating a taxi, factors such as reliability and economical feasibility will have to be considered since taxis go about a lot. So from these factors, people who have high effort in interpreting the underlying meaning would understand the rationale of the E class being a cab.
Of course, this list if not exhaustive. Comment if you have more points to add! :)
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