Ford C-Max Success Not Dependent on Prius Conquests, Marketer Says

DEARBORN, MI – Ford is well aware of the Toyota Prius’ heavy-hitter status in the hybrid segment, boasting a rabid customer base similar to that of tech giant Apple, a top marketer says.

So although the auto maker hopes Prius owners will take a look at its ’13 C-Max hybrid, it believes there are other opportunities for the new model to succeed, says Amy Machesney, C-Max marketing manager.

“It doesn’t matter if we conquest Prius,” she tells WardsAuto at a backgrounder here. “Until now there hasn’t been another choice in the market, and we think C-Max offers a smarter hybrid choice.”

Ford data shows one in three new-vehicle shoppers are considering a hybrid for their next purchase, indicating potential future growth in the segment, Machesney says. It is that group of buyers Ford is targeting, along with Prius owners.

The C-Max, which has been on sale nearly a month, has been strong out of the gate, racking up 1,000 sales. Trade-ins for the hybrid have run the gamut of foreign and domestic brands, Ford says, with conquest rates expected to be in the 50% range.

Dealers are clamoring for more inventory, Machesney says.

“This demand and interest is a bit more than we anticipated,” she admits, declining to provide a sales forecast for the model.

But it doesn’t matter whether C-Max attains Prius-like volumes, Machesney contends. Through September, Prius sales total 183,340 units, according to WardsAuto data.

“We’re happy with much less volume than what Prius is selling now with this vehicle,” she says. “We don’t have to get all conquests from Prius, but from those people considering the hybrid segment.”

Ford this week launched C-Max advertising, centered on a popular Italian cartoon from the 1970s and 80s called “La Linea.”

La Linea, Italian for “the line,” follows the adventures of a nameless and speechless character traversing a never-ending line and encountering a number of trying obstacles. Trapped in a two-dimensional world, the character has little option but to appeal to an unseen, off-screen animator who, armed with a grease pencil, draws ways out of the tight spots.

In the initial TV spot, the character, arms full with packages, becomes frustrated when he can’t open his vehicle’s liftgate. The animator comes in and draws a sensor under the rear bumper, meant to represent Ford’s hands-free liftgate option that automatically opens the hatch via a kicking motion under the car.

The character is shown in the same situation with a Prius, and, with no hands-free liftgate feature available, he drops his packages on the ground.

The ad also highlights the C-Max’s 47 mpg (5.0 L/100 km) highway fuel-economy rating, which is 7 mpg (3 km/L) better than the Prius V’s.

Matt VanDyke, director-U.S. marketing communications, says the auto maker decided to take a light approach to the ads to avoid angering Prius owners.

“It’s whimsical, optimistic adverting,” he says. “The ads are done with just the right tonality of competitiveness versus a strong competitor. It clearly positions our product in a fun way.”

VanDyke says Ford will not abandon the C-Max following the initial ad run. Plans call for about 15 months of marketing support, including a campaign to be launched following the introduction of the C-Max plug-in hybrid later this year.

“Nobody is waiting for the next ad message for any brand, so we have to be hardcore talking about the nameplate and make a serious commitment to it,” he says. “For us it’s not just 60 days and (onto) the next launch.”

In addition to TV and print ads, Ford launched a digital campaign called The Hybrid Games, which is a series of head-to-head challenges with two announcers calling a competition between the C-Max and Prius in a play-by-play sports format.

The digital campaign aims to demonstrate C-Max Hybrid customers experiencing the vehicle’s advantages compared to Prius in a “fun and entertaining” manner, Ford says.

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