Before the Elantra took its final shape and was launched in April 2004, we had considered various product options for it. In the C+ or D-class segment of cars, we had the option of looking at a four-door sedan or a five-door notchback (characterised by a sharp vertical drop-off from roof to trunk of the automobile).
With all our other products at Hyundai, we had managed to consistently sell whatever we produced. Often, there were month-long waiting lists.
Naturally, we didn't want to go wrong with Elantra. The gut feel was that a five-door notchback was a tad more stylish and would have a greater draw among consumers. But when it came to sitting down and planning it all out, we decided to play it safe and look at what market research had to say.
That is where we made a major error. Our market research failed to define our consumer set "" our target group "" carefully. It is even possible that our questioning and data-collection methods may have been faulty. Or maybe our analyses of the outputs were skewed.
But at the end of the day, the market research clearly pointed towards a four-door sedan. The market research results revealed that people wanted a far more exciting performance-car, so we tried to bring in those issues in the car, the promotions and the marketing.
We went ahead and decided to make the four-door sedan "" perhaps one of the biggest strategic mistakes I have made. We weren't talking to the right target group in the right language!
What's more, with marginal increases in investment, we could have tooled up the manufacturing of both the four-door and five-door variants! So in a way, we compounded the mistake of not having chosen the five-door by not pulling up for both.
The other strategic mistake that we made with the Elantra was to focus on excitement rather than refinement. What we saw after the car was launched was that the consumer was looking at fuel efficiency rather than performance! Then, we focused more on promotions rather than experiential marketing. It is one of the strategic mistakes that I would like to forget.
However, now we have turned around on that and are working more on experiential marketing. People who have driven the Elantra or own it are proving to be the biggest votaries of the car and becoming its best advocates "" the word-of-mouth is exceptional. Most of the Elantras we are selling now are based on the word-of-mouth.
Having said that, however, let me clarfiy that I am not debunking market research. We all know its importance. However, from my own experience, I can tell you that market research is only as good as the way you have worked on data collection and analysis. Doing market research is of no use if it is not done the right way. If you have faulted on that, you put the wrong foot forward.
