Gaining insights on changing customer attitudes will help you streamline communication and drive growth in a challenging market.
The automotive industry is facing a difficult moment. As tariffs and trade policies begin to reshape the cost and availability of vehicles, brands must re-evaluate how they guide customers through increasingly complex purchase decisions.
Historically, car buying followed a familiar path: choose a brand, pick a model, decide on a fuel type. Today, the path to purchase is anything but linear. A growing array of models, propulsion technologies, and pricing structures — now further complicated by new tariffs — has left many customers overwhelmed.
Tariffs will upend the trade-offs customers will make when purchasing a vehicle.
As tariffs raise prices on imported vehicles and components, brands must anticipate a shift in consumer behavior. Price-sensitive segments may reevaluate hybrid or electric options if upfront costs increase, while others may delay purchases altogether. In this climate, brands need a more precise understanding of what customers truly want and what they’re willing to compromise.
Will buyers prioritize fuel efficiency over performance? Is sustainability still a motivator when affordability becomes strained? What features are seen as essential versus optional? These are questions brands must be able to answer with clarity.
Know what customers need, and help them make the right choice.
Too many options, across fuel type, size, brand, and tech, often lead to decision fatigue. Add economic uncertainty to the mix, and the risk of consumer paralysis increases. Brands that thrive in this environment will be those that simplify the decision process by taking two critical steps:
- Update segments and targets. Granular targeting strategies based on attitudes, behaviors, and values will help pinpoint which buyers are open to EVs despite rising costs, which remain loyal to combustion engines, and which might be swayed with the right incentive or assurance.
- Revise communications. Once the target is clear, messaging must follow suit. The days of one-size-fits-all communications are over. A consumer weighing the cost of charging infrastructure needs different messaging than one who’s debating range anxiety. Brands must align messaging and programs with the concerns and priorities of each segment — and deliver that message at the right moment along the purchase journey while remaining sensitive to the pressure customers are feeling right now.
Become a partner in your customers’ journey.
The shift toward EVs, compounded by tariff-driven cost changes, requires a renewed focus on consumer education. Brands can no longer assume shoppers are familiar with the practical realities of new technologies. From ownership costs to service plans to government incentives, brands must proactively close the knowledge gap to build trust.
As the market becomes more volatile and choice more complex, the strongest brands will be those that view this moment not as a disruption, but as an opportunity. With the right insights, brands can identify unmet needs, design more relevant offers, and support customers in ways that build long-term loyalty.
This requires more than just marketing; it demands a strategy rooted in real consumer understanding, flexible product planning, and thoughtful communications that resonate with customers.
Need help understanding how your customers are feeling about car purchases?
