You can still hug a polar bear if you buy a Nissan Leaf, but ecological sensitivity no longer is required: In a new marketing campaign that marks a decided shift, Nissan now wants you to buy its trailblazing all-electric vehicle if you just want to save some money getting to work and to the supermarket.

Nissan has been disappointed with US sales of Leaf for its first few years on the market; sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids have fallen below expectations across the industry despite a record run of high gasoline prices. American consumers simply haven't proven ready to adopt these vehicles as a practical proposition, mainly because they still can't go very far on a charge.

So after three years of emphasizing the green credentials of the market's first mainstream EV, and how you really can find charging stations scattered across the landscape, Nissan's advertising now will deliberately expand Leaf's appeal beyond environmentally conscious drivers to the legions of Americans who are simply budget conscious.Continue reading...

Since Walmart apparently doesn’t think it has enough shoppers already, it is taking extra steps in 21 states to woo in anybody who is annoyed with the high price of gas by chopping the price of gasoline at its pumps by 15 cents, Reuters reports.

High gas prices are keeping consumers off the road and out of stores, the wire service notes, so Walmart is aiming to bring those consumers back in by giving the 15-cent discount to those paying with a Walmart MoneyCard or credit card until July 7. For those who have Walmart gift cards laying about, this could be the time to use them. Those cards will be worth a 10 cent per gallon discount.

"I am constantly hearing that gas prices are making it tough for our customers to balance their budgets," Gisel Ruiz, COO for Walmart US, told Reuters. "For every cent gas prices climb, consumers have $1 billion less to spend."Continue reading...

Conventional wisdom about American auto buyers is that all they need to do is catch a whiff of a surge in gasoline prices, and they flock to higher-mileage vehicles — or, in a more extreme reaction, despair of buying a new vehicle at all because they're worried. U.S. auto sales for February showed consumers reflexively moving quickly to the former behavior while, to the industry's relief, continuing to power overall sales ahead at a brisk pace.

Small cars including the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Hyundai Elantra, Kia Optima, Toyota's Prius hybrid and even the recently maligned Chevrolet Volt gained significantly in sales, especially as the month went on and media and political chatter about the arrival of $4- and $5-a-gallon gasoline picked up.

"They're more likely to have an effect on [sales] mix within the industry than on the total sales number," Jonathan Browning, CEO of Volkswagen of America, told reporters about rising gas prices. The trend, for example, is boosting sales of short-in-supply diesel versions of VW models such as its mid-size Passat sedan.Continue reading...

Higher gasoline prices are beginning to scratch their way back into the minds of American consumers, and that's not good news for brand marketers. The concern: the more that drivers have to pay at the pump, and the more they worry about their own finances and the U.S. economy as a result, the less interested they'll be in other kinds of spending.

So far, there doesn't appear to be material damage from the glimmers of $5- and even nearly $6-a-gallon gasoline in America.

J.D. Power just reported that new-vehicle retail sales in February have been "strong" month-to-date and are likely to show an overall increase of about 5 percent from year-earlier retail sales. And Nation's Restaurant News surveyed some quick-serve chains and found no damage yet in the form of consumers staying away from drive-throughs because it's too expensive to get there.Continue reading...

Forget new products, social-media marketing and sustainability initiatives – the biggest thing on the plate of many brands today may be how to cope with spiking oil prices.

Brandmeisters know better than most that nothing can play mind and pocketbook games with the American consumer quite as devastatingly as gasoline-price hikes. In 2008, a brief movement up through the $4-a-gallon level stalled auto sales and then led into the global economic meltdown.

“Higher gas prices in general will depress sales no matter what, because people will be worse off,” Sean McAlinden, chief economist of the Center for Automotive Research, told brandchannel.

“And in terms of people collectively feeling happy or unhappy, or measurements of how the American people feel about whether the country is on the right track or wrong track — the biggest measurements of those things are made at the gas pump.”Continue reading...