The trend for SUVs began around 2010 and since then they keep taking over more and more of the car market share. In 2021 over 35 million SUVs were sold, which means this segment took over more than 45% of the global car market. In this article, we will take a deeper look at this potent car category and its future.

2. What’s an SUV:

Although there is no commonly agreed definition of SUV, cars of this segment have some common features. The abbreviation SUV derives from Sports Utility Vehicle and this car category is recognized as a road-going passenger car with all-wheel drive and raised ground clearance. Cars of this segment can be categorized based on size: Mini, Compact, Mid-size, Full-size or Extended-length SUV. Another subcategory of SUVs worth mentioning is Crossover SUV. They stand oud by unibody construction (usually the platform is shared with passengers cars) rather than body-on-frame construction.

3. Change in the market

In 2019 the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic brought an economic slowdown and losses in almost all markets, including the automotive industry. In 2019, around 75 million cars were sold and SUVs accounted for almost 40% of them. The crisis cut car sales globally to the level of about 64 million units in 2020. Although the automotive industry as a whole lost almost 15% of sales y/y, the pandemic only slow down the sales growth of SUVs and over 30 million of them were sold in 2020. Additionally, they came back ever stronger in 2021 accounting for over 45% of the auto market and SUV sales are predicted to grow in the following years. To realize the scale of the SUV phenomenon, it’s worth noticing that by 2022 the global fleet of SUVs grows to approximately 320 million vehicles, in comparison to 50 million in 2010.

Best-selling SUV models worldwide in 2021 (in 1000 units):

Luxury SUVs

The SUV trend rocked even the relatively stable market of luxury cars. From one of the first luxury SUVs, the Porsche Cayenne introduced in 2003, through presented in the 2010 Maserati Levante to the latest Lamborghini Urus from 2018, the SUVs broke into the range of models of luxury manufacturers. Today even the most expensive brands like Rolls-Royce and Bentley offer SUV models. The change turned out to be very beneficial as SUVs not only filled the gap in luxury brands’ offer but in some cases they multiplied the amount of sold units, far exceeding sales of the classic models. The two best-selling Porsche models are currently SUVs, Macan and Cayenne, and one can see the scale of the phenomenon by comparing the number of 88,362 Macan’s sold in 2021 with sales of the iconic 911 sales at a level of 38,464. The same goes for the Lamborghini as sales of the Urus SUV in 2021 were higher by almost 50% than sales of the two other Lamborghini models combined.

4. Perks of SUVs

What makes SUVs so popular? Well, this category of cars is usually associated with comfort that comes from bigger seating and cargo capacity. Higher sitting position makes them easier to get in and out but also offers a better view on the road. As part of SUV’s character is a utility they stand out by all-wheel drive, raised ground clearance and drivetrain options, entailing some off-roading capabilities and better handling in difficult conditions e.g. during winter. These features explain why most people perceive SUVs as safer vehicles than regular cars. Research also indicates that SUVs are in fact safer in case of a crash. According to Michelin “SUV driver or passenger is at least 50 per cent more likely to survive a car crash without suffering serious injuries than an individual riding in a saloon.” SUVs’ popularity might derive also from introducing a new wide range of different SUVs variations in recent years. The segment has lately been expanded to new sizes, from mini SUVs to extend-length off-road limousines. Additionally, new ways of the drive have been implemented in this category e.g. electric SUVs and a new generation of more economical internal combustion engines.

5. Everything has its pros and cons.

What are the drawbacks? To begin with, SUVs are perceived as safer in comparison to regular cars but in some cases, it can be the other way around. Of course, during the crash SUVs’ passengers are safer due to the size of the vehicle, however, the construction is also associated with a higher center of gravity, therefore there are much more likely to roll over. This flaw depends on SUV type as they vary in size and platform they are based on. The flaw can be reduced by e.g. applying the unibody construction mentioned above. Many of typical SUVs’ problems are being addressed in new models. For example, the innovative electric Tesla model Y has a lower center of gravity due to the cleaver montage of batteries on the floor of the car. The ‘designed for safety’ model Y was also equipped with construction solutions like impact protection and rigid structure, resulting in 5-star safety ratings and the IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award.

Visibility

Another problem SUVs face is that size bringing comfort causes also less visibility around the car. It leads us to the fact that although new constructions solutions can make SUVs safer for its passenger, some of their features can make them more dangerous for other road users. Other features increasing risk include the height of the headlamps on SUVs, which can blind other roads users and longer braking distance. Again Tesla proves that SUVs ills can be resolved. Although model Y can carry up to 7 passengers, it offers improved visibility with an elevated seating position and low dash. Additionally, the driver is supported by 360°cameras and Tesla Vision system helping to prevent collisions.

Costs

SUVs are also more expensive to buy. On average it costs about $5000 more to buy an SUV than a sedan. Maintenance costs tend to be higher as well. Due to the weight and size of vehicles many consumable parts wear out faster. And costs don’t finish there, on average SUVs consume about 20% more energy than mid-sized cars, which means higher cost of fuel and combustion charges. Additionally, due to exhaust emissions and SUVs being perceived as dangerous in city centers, in 2019 protests with participation of Greenpeace took place in Berlin and Frankfurt. Some of the postulates werte banning large engine vehicles, including SUVs from city centers and lowering their sales.

6. Future of SUVs

Many governments are planning to prohibit the sales or registration of new vehicles powered by fossil fuels to force the decarbonization of the automotive industry. European Commission proposed that by 2035, CO2 emissions of new passenger cars and vans would have to be reduced by 100 %, i.e. all new vehicles would have zero emissions. The Netherlands proposes a ban on gas & diesel vehicles by 2025. In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the Government was bringing forward the ICE ban on new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. With all the low-emission zones (LEZs)/zero-emission zones (ZEZs) present in European cities for years and plans of phasing out of fossil fuel vehicles, the future clearly seems to be electric. Or hydrogen-powered, but this is a topic for a separate article. Happily, the plans go beyond the prohibition of vehicles powered by fossil fuels. The plan presuppose that legislative changes will contribute to the development of cars powered by electricity and other alternative fuels. We can also observe the dynamic development of electric vehicle infrastructure. Currently, Tesla with 30,000+ ‘Superchargers’ owns the largest global fast-charging network in the world. Hopefully, the popularization of vehicles with alternative drives will make them accessible to the general audience. Some government efforts are visible on this issue as well e.g. low-emission vehicles are eligible for a plug-in grant.

Change for better

Considering recurring crises in the fuel market in recent years looking for other solutions seems resonable. Even today we observe rise of petroleum fuels price, therefore moving toward alternative fuels might be a good idea not only because of environmental reasons. Technology is developing rapidly too. Electric cars nowadays often offer performance much better than their ICE-powered competitors. Also their millage has increased by hundreds of per cent in recent years and charging time has decreased significantly. An example to look up to is Tesla model Y which accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, has a range of over 300 miles and can be recharged to 160 miles in 15 minutes.

7. Conclusion

SUVs are the most potent car category today. Presented features of Sport Utility Vehicles like safety, versatility and comfort explain why they got so popular. Mentioned regulations regarding phasing out of fossil fuel in near future might actually solve one of the biggest remaining problems in this car category – high fuel consumption polluting the environment and increasing the cost of use. Therefore forcing the change can turn out to be good. After all, necessity is the mother of invention, isn’t it?

Careful readers could notice that Tesla model Y, the best-selling luxury compact SUV, is also in the top 10 best-selling SUVs worldwide. Therefore even in the light of upcoming changes, SUVs can thrive into the future and the pioneer of electric SUVs, the model Y seems to be a foretaste of days to come for the automotive industry. Take a peak at the future here.

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Introduction

‘Sponsor a Gambian Girl’ foundation strives to fulfil its mission through two goals. The first one is linking schoolgirls in The Gambia with sponsors. The second goal is to raise awareness about the difficult situation of the Gambian girls and gain charity champions who would help the SaGG mission reach a new wider audience and increase the incentive to provide support. The foundation uses digital marketing tools and practices to grow its online presence and awareness.

Social media presence

The SaGG’s presence in the digital world consists of its website and social media profiles. The foundation in question has its profiles on the most popular social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. The largest number of users follows the Facebook account (about 3000 followers), the second place in terms of audience size has an Instagram profile (about 1662 followers), then LinkedIn (526 followers) and Twitter (167 followers). All the social media pages mentioned link to the foundation website and introduce viewers to the SaGG with a short description located in the bio. The Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles have a unified cover which is the foundation logo. Twitter page cover differs from the ones on other platforms but also refers to the website. Additionally, the foundation has a YouTube channel, however, unlike the other social media profiles, it is not linked to the SaGG website, which might be one of the reasons for its poor popularity of only 8 subscribers. Content of the SaGG social media posts is mostly informational, concerning either the situation in the Gambia (mostly focusing on gender inequalities and problems with education) or referring to the foundation activity, often telling a story of specific cases of its charges. Posts appear fairly regularly, sometimes there are few posts a day, another time there is a week gap between posts, but generally, content is published every 2 or 3 days. Content usually takes the form of written posts supplemented with pictures or short videos. The short video format comes up quite often but it is mostly around a 5-second length motion graphic with no sound, therefore it is not highly engaging. Additionally, the majority of content is posted without any changes throughout all social media platforms and occasionally original content is interspersed with reposts from other users’ profiles.

Social media voice

Content is generally the same on all platforms, therefore social voice is very stable. The social voice of the SaGG foundation can be described as friendly, due to the difficulties the Gambian girls face it is rather serious and as an organization relining on trust it leans toward a formal voice. Examples of hashtags often used by the foundation are #genderequality #breakthebias and #educategirls.

Social media audit

The lack of varied content tailored to different audiences and forms of posting on individual platforms reduces the potential for full involvement of users. Analyzing the last 10 posts the engagement rate was calculated as presented below:

According to the Hootsuite blog, a good engagement rate is between 1% to 5%. One may notice that the engagement rate from the highest to the lowest in chronological order on the following platforms is as follows: Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. What is interesting is that Facebook which gathers the biggest audience has the smallest engagement rate and Twitter with the smallest audience brings in the highest engagement rate. This phenomenon might be explained by the facts also mentioned in the above linked Hootsuite blog, namely, the bigger the audience is, the harder it is to achieve a good engagement rate. Therefore Twitter is not necessarily the best platform to focus on for the SaGG foundation, especially in the further part of the report, one can find out that this platform is not the most popular among the foundation’s target market.

Qualitative research indicated that recently two types of posts stood out by obtaining engagement about 2 to 3 times higher than the average post. The first type of post was a repost which example can be seen below:

The high number of reactions under the reposted real-life story of a Gambian girl implies that this type of content might have potential that is yet untapped by the SaGG. The second type of post represents the SaGG champion advocating the foundation’s mission:

The audience

The primary target audience of the SaGG foundation is defined as women in the age range 21-40 years, students or educated to University, level pursuing a career as a manager. She is interested in gender equality, women in leadership, education, activism. Motivated by seeing women and girls overcoming challenges and women making a great stride in male-dominated sectors. Their pain points are discrimination, abuse, exploitation, violence, gender biases and stereotypes. The results of the social media audit indicate that the primary target audience has not been sufficiently engaged, therefore the foundation’s strategy should still focus on reaching it. According to data collected from Statista (appendix) to get the best results, the foundation should focus primarily on creating content for the lower age range of the target market, with the greatest emphasis on primary Instagram, then respectively Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.

Social trends

From among the 8 content marketing trends in 2022 listed by SemRush author selected the most important in the context of the foundation’s activity. The first two trends are focusing on ‘humanized’ content and empathy, research and storytelling. Another trend is ‘content audits take the centre stage’ and as this report implies, the foundation is already following this trend. As a vital element of a successful social media strategy, SemRush also lists video content, especially in short form. Research of topics related to the foundation’s activities, conducted with the use of the Google Trends tool, shows that topics related to the SaGG foundation activities such as: education in Africa, charity, volunteering, gender inequality, women in leadership, discrimination have currently high scores in terms of ‘interest over time’ all exceeding the threshold of 70 points.

Recommendations:

The research results mentioned above indicate that one of the key trends is moving toward video content. The reasons for that are numbers presented below (Dirwai, 2022):

• The average person spends 100 minutes watching videos per day
• Online videos are set to make up more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic
• 84% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video
• Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in the text
• Social videos get 12 times more shares than text and images combined

Drawing conclusions from the conducted audit of the SaGG foundation, the author would especially recommend developing video content. The foundation has a YouTube channel but it is very neglected and does not use all of its potential. Additionally, data acquired from Statista (appendix) shows that the SaGG foundation should reach its target audience through the TikTok platform, not only because of the video format used but also due to the gender distribution of users where women are the vast majority compared to other platforms (appendix).  The author would recommend changing the usage of motion graphic format for using the above-mentioned perks of video format to create regular video content alternately presenting the foundation’s charges and its champions, as this content has the potential to engage the foundation’s audience more. The author believes that applying this strategy will be beneficial as the video format is proven to increase engagement and the content itself would be a form of testimony that can increase the conversion rate. The suggested KPIs would then be the engagement rate with the setup goal of increasing by 30% in 3 months from implementation of the new strategy and the conversion rate which is planned to increase in this same period would be 5%.

Video:

Appendix:

Acquired from Statista

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