Following the Paris Motor Show 2012, Peugeot was the most discussed manufacturer around the event, overtaking Volkswagen, which held the top position at the Geneva Motor Show in March this year.
The study from Kantar media found that Peugeot was referenced in 6 percent of social media and 6.3 percent of online news, compared to Volkswagen, which scored 4.9 percent in social media and 6.1 percent in online news.
Peugeot discussions centred round its Le Mans-inspired Onyx Concept, its new 208 GTI/XY Concept and its fluorescent yellow 2008 Concept.
However, the unveiling of the VW Golf MkVII and GTI Concept made the Golf the single most talked-about vehicle at the show across all online sources.
Other key research findings include:
• McLaren’s P1 Concept was the second most discussed show vehicle overall, with the Jaguar F-Type taking third place. The Paris Motor Show marked the first time that McLaren Automotive had exhibited its products at a major motor show.
• Sports cars, or variations of them, occupied six of the top ten places in the vehicle ranking while half of the top ten cars offered hybrid or alternative power. This resulted in an overlap between performance-focused hybrids such as McLaren’s P1 (ranked second overall) and Peugeot’s Onyx Concept (fourth), and the more environmentally oriented Lexus LF-CC Concept (seventh), Nissan TeRRA Concept (ninth) and BMW ActiveTourer Concept (tenth).
• Nissan’s hydrogen fuel cell TeRRA Concept was the only zero emissions vehicle in the top ten, ranking eighth in social media and ninth in online news.
• The VW Golf appealed most to bloggers, forum contributors and online editorial journalists, indicating the ‘real world’ nature of many conversations on such sites. The McLaren P1 was most popular on Twitter and Facebook, thereby demonstrating its ‘fantasy car’ appeal to younger online users, while the Jaguar F-Type attracted the highest number of comments on YouTube, reflecting the manufacturer’s aim to reach aspirational consumers through its Lana Del Ray tie-in.
• Only 0.1 percent separated Audi and BMW in social media rankings, placing them second and third respectively. In online news Audi ranked fourth behind Peugeot, VW and Renault, while BMW was seventh, following Ford (fifth) and Mercedes-Benz (sixth).
• Ford ranked eighth overall, with the new Fiesta in 21st position and the new Mondeo in 36th. These relatively low placings were due to the unveiling of many of the manufacturer’s new vehicles at an invitation only ‘One-Ford’ event in the run-up to the Paris show.
“Exhibiting at the major motor shows is only one part of the equation,” explains Simon Hughes, Head of Automotive Insight at Kantar Media Intelligence UK. “How brands communicate their offerings is also critical. They need to know how well their message has been received by consumers, which requires almost real-time monitoring of social media, consumer discussion groups, online news sites and other media that influence consumer opinion. It’s interesting to see Peugeot taking the lead from Volkswagen, potentially benefiting from a ‘home’ event. At the same time, the VW Golf proved its enduring appeal.”
Kantar Media analysed 80,000 online news articles about the show between 5th September and 10th October. Its social media analysis monitored 190,000 discussions and blog posts on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Research was across English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian websites and looked for references to the Paris Motor Show in the text to ensure the results were show-specific.
www.kantarmedia.co.uk