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Lotus on pole in our Most Influential Car Manufacturers list

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Time 7:33 am, October 24, 2013

8a529b05-7671-43e7-9efc-e6d0ce66b7a8CAR Dealer Magazine can today reveal the most influential car firm in the UK on Twitter is Lotus.

Our exclusive survey found the niche British sports car maker beat the likes of Britain’s biggest selling makers, such as Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen, to the number one spot.

Our research, which rated manufacturers on their ‘influence’ using trusted analyst Klout.com, placed another British icon, Aston Martin, second and Vauxhall third.


‘We are delighted with the result – we have a small team within PR and communications who work hard building up our followers on our social media platforms,’ said a spokesman for Lotus, who have built up more than 80,000 followers and a Klout score of 83.

‘We use Twitter as a quick and simple distribution conversation channel to push out selected stories and messages. We try to steer away from marketing to our followers as we believe Twitter should have more of a conversational nature.’ Aston Martin – who have more than 178,000 followers and a Klout score of 81 – was equally delighted at the news. The firm’s digital marketing communications manager Pete Norwood said: ‘It’s great to hear that the brand’s presence on Twitter is so well-regarded. This platform is a fundamental part of our wider digital and social strategy to amplify our global content.’

EXPERT

photo-1We spoke to Southampton Solent University’s programme leader for advertising and communications about our poll and he wasn’t surprised at the firms in the top five.


Richard Berry (pictured right) said: ‘These car companies communicate their brand image through different mediums – with Lotus it’s Formula 1, Aston Martin is James Bond and Vauxhall sponsors Home Nations football.

‘Mercedes-Benz meanwhile has been doing some interesting things with treasure-hunt marketing while Bentley and it’s association with Breitling watches gives off a luxury image.’

Berry added that car makers are trying to use Twitter to push consumers into their dealers’ showrooms, but he feels that the social media site is not powerful enough on its own to do that.

‘Twitter is great at growing attention to a car brand and for directing customers towards a richer experience,’ Berry added. ‘But for it to really work, it needs to be part of an integrated marketing communication programme. For raising awareness, Twitter does a great job, but for leading customers into a showroom it has the danger of losing steam.

‘However, if car manufacturers get it right as part of a bigger marketing plan, it can tempt customers into their local showroom where dealers can then tailor their presentation of the car to that customer.’

You can read the UK’s Most Influential Car Manufacturers on Twitter list here and let us know what you think by commenting in the new Car Dealer Forum. Simply click on the comment button below and sign up.

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Car Dealer has been covering the motor trade since 2008 as both a print and digital publication. In 2020 the title went fully digital and now provides daily motoring updates on this website for the car industry. A digital magazine is published once a month.



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