Volvo ranks #1 but not by much. I was kinda surprised that Jag ranked #3. Chevrolet, Lincoln and Buick had the least tech-savvy consumers.

Audi doesn't rank in the top 10 for Socialite brands. I'm relieved to see that ;-)

More info in the link below...
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Volvo tops lists for social, tech-savvy consumers

Top 10 TechSavvy OEM Brands.
Volvo 43%
Audi 41%
Jaguar 38%
BMW 34%
Suzuki 34%
Nissan 33%
Lexus 33%
Subaru 32%
Mitsubishi 31%
Isuzu 31%

Top 10 Socialite OEM Brands.
Volvo 39%
Jaguar 33%
Saab 32%
Acura 30%
BMW 27%
Lexus 26%
Cadillac 22%
Lincoln 21%
Isuzu 20%
Mitsubishi 19%

By Gail Kachadourian
Automotive News / December 08, 2004

Consumers say a feature that improves fuel economy is the advanced technology they would most likely pay extra for when they purchase their next vehicle, according to a Harris Interactive survey .

Harris, an Internet market research firm based in Rochester, N.Y., last month conducted the Internet-based AutoTechCast survey with more than 14,000 drivers. They were asked questions about 50 new-vehicle technologies in 13 categories, ranging from ride and handling to telematics, audio and entertainment.

"The fuel economy issue is at the forefront, and we're close to a tipping point with some of these consumers," says Scott Upham, senior vice president of Harris Interactive's automotive and transportation research group.

"There is very intense consumer demand for enhanced fuel economy technologies, such as hybrid vehicles, clean diesel technologies, and eventually the fuel cell option," he says. For example, consumers are willing to pay $1,674 above the purchase price of the vehicle for hybrid electric technology, the survey showed. They said they would pay $1,260 over purchase price for a fuel cell vehicle.

High-performance halogen and xenon lighting ranked number two on the list of technologies consumers would most likely purchase on their next vehicle.

Safety technologies, such as rollover control and protection, ranked highest on the list of technologies that would influence a purchase decision if they were standard on one vehicle and not another.

"Safety of the family is at the forefront," Upham says. "They (consumers) feel it should be on the vehicle, and they feel the carmaker should include it as standard equipments."

Pre-crash sensing technology, which readies the vehicles' safety systems for an expected crash, also ranked high in influencing purchases. Those surveyed said they would be willing to pay $626 over a vehicle purchase price for a pre-crash sensing system.

Of the 50 technologies mentioned, consumers said they would be willing to pay the least, $137, for a wireless hands-free cell phone, which also was the technology they said was most familiar to them. Satellite radio was the second most familiar technology to the survey participants.

Harris also studied which vehicle brands had the highest concentration of tech-savvy consumers by measuring people's knowledge of new technologies and their interest in learning more about them. Volvo topped this list, with Audi and Jaguar in second and third place respectively. Chevrolet, Lincoln and Buick had the least tech-savvy consumers.

Volvo also placed number one in the survey's measurement of which brand had the highest concentration of customers that Harris calls socialites, based on their social and civic participation and their communication with coworkers and others. Jaguar consumers were in second place. Saab consumers ranked third. Kia, Plymouth and Pontiac consumers were the least social.

Car buyers who are tech-savvy and socialites are key for automotive marketers who want to use viral marketing, Upham says.

Says Upham: "Car makers are looking at this for the next frontier of marketing."

You may e-mail Gail Kachadourian at gkachadourian@crain.com<ul><li><a href="http://www.autonews.com/news.cms?newsId=10859">Regist

 

You would think MB would be the top of socialite.

One thing nice about Audi. Very nice solid, safe, German luxury car, but doesn't draw tons of attention.

I'm not a rappa!

Funny thing around here. People get a benz or bmw, and they spend most of their driving time looking around to see who is watching them looking pretty in their cars...lol.

 

MB would be there in the Socialite rankings. Definitely not on the Tech savy though. No offense to those that have a Merc but the large majority of MB owners aren't nowhere as near tech savy as the Audi owners I know. Of course Audi owners do tend to lean towards the nerd side ;-)

 

nerdy Audi owners lol.... 8 ^ )

Modding, discussing the merits of quattro, and beating up on service advisors for stating the not so truth truths!

Now where did I put my duct tape for my glasses.

 

(you can only get a black Merceddes, no other color works for a MB!!), than knowing that the car had 8 cylinders. When she told me they got the E500, I said "Cool, and you're gonna really love the V8". She looks at me funny, and said it has a V6, and she doesn't need an 8 cylinder car. I offered to trade my A6 4.2 with her (she didn't know I drove one), and she said she really wanted an Audi, but her hubby wanted the MB more. Then she went outside to drool over my A6. Funny.

 

lol...on your sig ;-)

 

I guarantee Audi is trying to "up" the socialite ranking, and doesn't care that much about tech.

 

Of course, they'll take it through the local car wash as needed.

 

Can you say "massive swirl marks"?

I thought you could.

 

BMW #2
Lexus #3
Audi #4
Jaguar #5

Volvo is mainly driven by suburban housewives.