It seems likely there will be great demand for the Volt when it arrives. Those of us who are hoping to be among the first drivers are what GM calls the early adopters.
As GM VP Jon Lauckner has previously said, “there will be a lot of people who want to be part of that first group and have a Chevroelt Volt.” The supply is limited though, and more recently GMs chief of EVs and hybrids Micky Bly said,“I feel strongly the early-adopter movement is done in North America.”
Jim Campbell is the chief of Chevrolet and thus oversees all of the brand’s marketing including Volt. I had a discussion with him recently about who he thinks the early Volt adopters are and how or whether they will develop a special relationship with them (us).
I know there’s a large body of early Volt adopters out there with over 51,000 people on my symbolic list. How will you capture those people and will you reach out specifically to the early adopters?
There’s no doubt there’s early adopters, and I think the early adopters have an amazing appreciation for technology combined with a green or eco-imperative in their lives.
So its really the two together that we think has the most potential particularly in the early stages. People that really appreciate new technology combined with the green benefits that we’ll provide with the Chevrolet Volt. That will be the initial target and then we’ll work very hard to look for ways to accelerate the adoption rate and adoption curve. That’s really the task at hand for us.
There seems to big a large group of people that are mostly concerned with the energy independence. They’re not necessarily technophiles or are concerned about emissions, but they don’t want to depend on foreign oil. How big do you think that group is and do you have a way to market to them?
All those groups that we just talked about will be important and we’re going to need to reach out to them and show the benefits of this product as it relates to the things that are important to them in their lives.
So in some cases there is an intersection between those two or three groups we talked about. In other cases there are not.
Some people just focus on the technology and its all about being an early adopter and the green benefits are nice to have. I think there is a pretty large group in which there is an intersection between tech and green priorities and how they lives their lives at home, work, and other places. So that going to be our opportunity particularly in the early stages. I’m excited about it and coming back to Chevrolet. Its an opportunity of a lifetime as a member of the Chevy team and as a marketer and somebody who cares very deeply about the Chevrolet brand.
Its rolling the company. We have a big job to do. I think Volt can be a catalyst to help change the way people view Chevrolet broadly.
Source: gm-volt.com