´A Car as Guardian Angel´: An exploratory study on how BMW can be meaningful in the Indian market for women´s empowerment & safety

Master thesis (2022)

Authors

A. Baan Industrial Design Engineering

Contributors

G. Calabretta Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior (mentor)
G.H. Berghuis Responsible Marketing and Consumer Behavior (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Industrial Design Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering
Copyright: © 2022 Alisha Baan
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Published Date

04-11-2022

Language

English

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Faculty

Industrial Design Engineering

Abstract

This graduation project
focuses on creating a meaningful connection between BMW and Indian consumers.
The goal is to increase 



understanding
of the Indian market, as a means to strengthen BMW´s market 



presence
in India as well as emerge as the most preferred luxury car brand. 



An
extensive research has been conducted, including a field trip to India, to get
an understanding of what ´makes Indians tick´. The insights generated by this
study can help BMW substantially in catering in a more efficient and Indian
market if desired by the brand.



 



As
India has currently the second largest population in the world, with 1.41
billion people (India Population (2022) - Worldometer, n.d.), and a
proportionately growing economy, many leading global players, such as BMW, are
competing for prominence in the Indian automotive market (Chhibber & Gupta,
2021). 



This
explains the tremendous acceleration of the luxury automobile market in India,
which finds itself racing to keep pace and cope with the increasing demand for
premium models. The Indian luxury car market was valued at more than USD 1
billion in 2020, and it is expected to reach a value of USD 1.54 billion by
2027 (India Luxury Car Market Size, Share, Report (2022 - 27), n.d.). Thus,
although Indian may not be one of BMW´s high-volume single markets today, the
potential for growth is high.



 



To
flourish in a culture-sensitive country such as India, luxury companies must
tread carefully and understand the Indian consumer, their values and needs.
With the aim to fulfil this purpose and portray how this consumer understanding
may translate into design, this graduation project seeks to find answer(s) for
the following research question:



 



How to
create a meaningful connection 



between
BMW and Indian consumers in terms of values and what kind of experience fuels
that value?