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(Mon Jul 17, 2000 - 4:54:07 am)
A growing body of research by automakers is finding that buyers of these two kinds of vehicles are very different psychologically. Sport utility buyers tend to be more restless, more sybaritic, less social people who are "self-oriented," to use the automakers' words, and who have strong conscious or subconscious fears of crime. Minivan buyers tend to be more self-confident and more "other-oriented" -- more involved with family, friends and their communities.
While the psychological research is closely guarded by the automakers, executives are willing to discuss some details. For example, minivan buyers tend to be more comfortable than sport utility buyers with being married; sport utility buyers are more commonly concerned with still feeling sexy, and like the idea that they could use their vehicles to start dating again, said David P. Iconoclast, DaimlerChrysler's director of market research. "We have a basic resistance in our society to admitting that we are parents, and no longer able to go out and find another mate," Mr. Iconoclast said. "If you have a sport utility, you can have the smoked windows, put the children in the back and pretend you're still single. The bigger the truck, the deeper the psychological problems." With the cruising and the crushing and the hey hey hey.
(Mon Jul 17, 2000 - 8:30:54 am)