A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF TRENDS IN PERCEIVED QUALITY DESIGN ATTRIBUTES IN THE AUTOMOTIVE LUXURY MARKET SEGMENT
DS 84: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2016 14th International Design Conference
Year: 2016
Editor: Marjanovic Dorian, Storga Mario, Pavkovic Neven, Bojcetic Nenad, Skec Stanko
Author: Stylidis, K.; Burnap, A.; Rossi, M.; Wickman, C.; Söderberg, R.; Papalambros, P. Y.
Series: DESIGN
Section: INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
Page(s): 2189-2196
Abstract
The premium vehicle segment has focused on excellent manufacturing quality, while in contrast the luxury segment has focused on emotional and personalized appeal. We perform qualitative analysis of interviews with Italian, Swedish, and American premium and luxury vehicle manufacturers. Results indicate customers of luxury vehicles now consider quality attributes previously considered only by customers of the premium segment. We quantitatively model this design communication process, and show luxury vehicle manufacturers that neglect benchmarking against the premium segment risk low perceived quality.
Keywords: automotive, design communication, perceived quality, emotional design, modelling