The thesis aimed to answer two questions. (1) What distinguishes a luxury car? It has been shown that this is a complex issue involving a multifaceted - subjective and objective factors approach. Hence, there is a need to develop (a) a clarification and definition of luxury cars, and (b) a luxury car price concept/range, to identify customers' profile, and to explore influences on consumer purchase decisions. (2) How do cultural differences between the UK and Thailand explain the difference in purchasing patterns of BMW and Mercedes and provide insights for brand marketing of the two luxury car marques? The research design was based upon a review and synthesis of the academie literature and car data, which helped identify (1) theoretical concepts and hypotheses appropriate for this study, and which also developed (2) a working definition of luxury cars for the selection of samples and research methodology for this study. Methods of qualitative data collection included observation, focus groups, and face-to-face interviews, which was content analysed. The quantitative data collection was by questionnaire survey in the UK and Thailand, which, after elementary statistical analysis, was factor, and discriminant analysed. However, the UK data did not lend ifself to principal component or discriminant analysis, since the questionnaire was modified to facilitate co-operation of British respondents. For the UK, simple statistical analysis and a test of signiflcance for differences in percentage of respondents selecting the key attributes of their own marque were conducted. The findings yielded a comparative study of similarities and differences between UK and Thai customer perceptions of BMW and Mercedes, and insights into brand marketing of their cars in the two countries. The outcomes yielded include: (i) a detailed profile of BMW and Mercedes buyers in the UK and Thailand; (ii) the technical and non-technical attributes of BMW and Mercedes cars as well as dealer and customer perceptions of the two marques in the UK and Thailand; (iii) commonalities between marques and differences in buyer attitude and behaviour in the UK and Thailand; (iv) a consumer decision model that determines the choice of a new BMW or Mercedes car in Thailand, and criteria that determine the choice of a new BMW or Mercedes car in the UK; (v) identification of significant cultural determinants of new luxury car purchasing patterns in the UK and Thailand applicable to countries with similar cultural characteristics and socio-economic structures; (vi) marketing implications on customer acquisition and retention as well as upward brand stretching of both marques in both countries. These findings enable this thesis to conclude that buyer perceptions of new BMW and Mercedes cars in the two countries are different. This thesis proposes a strategy of upward BMW and Mercedes brand stretching for both customer acquisition and retention by both marques and provides guidelines for local and global marketing of BMW and Mercedes luxury cars. The limitations of this thesis are outlined in the conclusion and also avenues for future research were provided.

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, Tongji University (College of Arts & Communications), course: Master in Communication, language: English, abstract: In recent years, China’s Automotive Market has grown tremendously and reached the goal to be the worlds biggest. With the increase of automotive competitors, not only from local but also foreign organizations, a car brand needs to understand its audience well in order to apply its marketing communication strategies. In other words, apply the correct messages and related media to communicate with the targeted Chinese consumers successfully. China has currently 1.3billion individual consumers on the market, out of which over 350 are USD Billionaires and 500 million are below age 30. These two distinctive statistics of the consumer market are specifically pointed out, as they are the key to acknowledging that the consumers in China are changing. Recent studies have shown that the purchasing criteria, decision making process and used communication channels are quite different of the younger consumers than those of the ‘lost generation’ who acquired sudden wealth after the Cultural Revolution. Though, the newly rich, now in their 50’s, are still the main target group of luxury brands in China, a good marketer always has to be able to predict future developments. With the modernization of the Chinese society, the costumers who will inherit the fortunes of the “lost generation” and rise in line with the rise of the countries economy is namely Generation Y. Who are these successors of the post-revolution newly rich consumers and how do we communicate a product to them successfully? On the basis of my unquestionable fascination by China’s Automotive Market and German Luxury car brands, I will pursue to answer the above question in order to give an overview for a marketer as to how successfully communicate a car to Chinese Generation Y consumer. Due to research in this field still being at an embryonic stage I will personally carry out an empirical investigation and outline who this consumer is, how they process information, their usage of mass and personal communication and acknowledge their attitude towards German luxury car brands. Finally, on the basis of the research findings I will define Chinese Generation Y car purchasing behavior and create a marketing communication strategy for a German Luxury car brand in China wishing to engage with the consumer in question.

Master's Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Communications - Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing, Social Media, Tongji University (College of Arts & Communications), course: Master in Communication, language: English, abstract: In recent years, China's Automotive Market has grown tremendously and reached the goal to be the worlds biggest. With the increase of automotive competitors, not only from local but also foreign organizations, a car brand needs to understand its audience well in order to apply its marketing communication strategies. In other words, apply the correct messages and related media to communicate with the targeted Chinese consumers successfully. China has currently 1.3billion individual consumers on the market, out of which over 350 are USD Billionaires and 500 million are below age 30. These two distinctive statistics of the consumer market are specifically pointed out, as they are the key to acknowledging that the consumers in China are changing. Recent studies have shown that the purchasing criteria, decision making process and used communication channels are quite different of the younger consumers than those of the 'lost generation' who acquired sudden wealth after the Cultural Revolution. Though, the newly rich, now in their 50's, are still the main target group of luxury brands in China, a good marketer always has to be able to predict future developments. With the modernization of the Chinese society, the costumers who will inherit the fortunes of the "lost generation" and rise in line with the rise of the countries economy is namely Generation Y. Who are these successors of the post-revolution newly rich consumers and how do we communicate a product to them successfully? On the basis of my unquestionable fascination by China's Automotive Market and German Luxury car brands, I will pursue to answer the above question in order to give an overview for a marketer as to how successfully communicate a car to Chinese Generation

"This study is focused on understanding the concept of "luxury" in the choice of cars in Germany. Therefore it has a closer look at the luxury brands and the luxury customer. The author researches and analyses the concept of "luxury" in the choice of car brands with a closer look at BMW and Mercedes in Germany. The author has chosen these two brands, because they are the most luxurious German brands and represent best the model of luxury brands."--Abstract.

Academic Paper from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: A-, Amity University (Dubai), course: MBA, language: English, abstract: The objective of this study is to find out the factors that influence consumer buying behaviour towards vehicles in the UAE perspective. Purchasing a car is the second most important and expensive investment in everybody’s life after purchasing a house. Consumers have created a strong car brand image of different car brands and will keep on increasing in upcoming years. This dissertation describes and shows the issues or factors which arise when people decide to purchase a car in UAE. Different Industries and services which is linked to car industry segments plays a major role in the economy. Different types of models and technologies have been invented by different car companies which made consumers to afford different choices and make them way luxurious better than before. The financial risks and personal taste and preferences shows the amount of effort the buyers put when buying a new car. This essence of a high involvement purchase decision is often the purchase of a new car Customers attitude is not easy when buying a car, it varies according to high state of social and mental contributions. People settle on their choice by looking every single alternative which is worth their interest and cost. The buying procedure of cars are affected by various factors such as their income, cars taste and preferences, instalment choices, maintenance costs and in addition to fuel costs. The buying behaviour is also affected by many mental factors such as observations, inspiration from loved ones, and trust towards the brand. About different brands, individuals also try to take different information’s from companions and associates. Car manufactures need to consider different financial factors which impacts the buyers like loan costs, income and rise in fuel costs. In such a way all carmakers should make cars according to the needs of the buyers.

Consumer perception has a tremendous impact on the consumer decision process. Whether or not a consumer perceives a product feature as primarily hedonic or primarily functional shapes the way marketers need to communicate with the consumer. While there is several academic research available about the consumer perception towards certain product categories, studies exploring the consumer perception towards product features specifically have not been conducted before. In order to gain insight into the consumer perception towards car features an online questionnaire was distributed amongfriends of the author. The data was then analyzed and showed a general hedonic dominance over a total of eight tested car features. A closer look at the dimension levels of the tested car features showed significant results in four features. While aluminiumrims, metallic paint and sun roofs were perceived to be predominantly hedonic, xenon lights were perceived to be primarily functional. Additional insight was brought to light through correlation analyses, one-way ANOVA testing and multinominal regression analysis, indicating that age is a significant predictor of brand choice for owners of German premium cars. These insights were then brought into connection with marketing strategies and the consumer decision journey, illustrating the importance of hedonic car features over functional features in marketing campaigns. German premium car manufacturers have predominantly promoted their utilitarian attributes in recent years. The reason for this was a general trend in the industry, which focused on technical innovation in its brand building campaigns, instead of conveying an emotional message to the target group. The findings in this thesis suggests a realignment of current strategies, concentrating of hedonic attributes in order to maximize marketing effects.*****Consumer perception has a tremendous impact on the consumer decision process. Whether or not a consumer perceives a product feature as primarily hedonic or primarily functional shapes the way marketers need to communicate with the consumer. While there is several academic research available about the consumer perception towards certain product categories, studies exploring the consumer perception towards product features specifically have not been conducted before. In order to gain insight into the consumer perception towards car features an online questionnaire was distributed amongfriends of the author. The data was then analyzed and showed a general hedonic dominance over a total of eight tested car features. A closer look at the dimension levels of the tested car features showed significant results in four features. While aluminiumrims, metallic paint and sun roofs were perceived to be predominantly hedonic, xenon lights were perceived to be primarily functional. Additional insight was brought to light through correlation analyses, one-way ANOVA testing and multinominal regression analysis, indicating that age is a significant predictor of brand choice for owners of German premium cars. These insights were then brought into connection with marketing strategies and the consumer decision journey, illustrating the importance of hedonic car features over functional features in marketing campaigns. German premium car manufacturers have predominantly promoted their utilitarian attributes in recent years. The reason for this was a general trend in the industry, which focused on technical innovation in its brand building campaigns, instead of conveying an emotional message to the target group. The findings in this thesis suggests a realignment