July 24, 2013
Do. Smith
Thorr Motorcycles: Perceptual Maps Marketing Simulation Producing more than 200,000 motorcycles a year, Thorr Motorcycles, Inc. is a successful manufacturing company. Thorr also offers services such as dealer training, packaged software, rider training, and rentals. Thorr’s holds a highly respected brand image, and holds 40% of the market. CruiserThorr has an image of “masculinity, mobility, and freedom.” Thorr has had a decline in sales. Thorr will use feedback from their customer’s views on their line of motorcycles. To increase sales, Thorr will develop a plant to change the perception of their motorcycle line with their target market.
Phase I CruiserThorr recognizes the decline in sales. “The motorcycle industry is growing annually, but sales of Thorr Motorcycle’s existing product CruiserThorr (a 1500cc power cruiser priced at $25,800) are deceasing” (University of Phoenix, 2013). Thorr recognized that this is a result of the age of the target market. The older age of the targeted consumers does not care about the lifestyle a CruiserThorr portrays. The younger consumers who generally have less spending money would like to see a line of less expensive motorcycles. Thorr needs a new marketing strategy to turn the declining sales into the opposite direction. The simulation asked students to obtain the market position of CruiserThorr using a perceptual map. Students had to select four fundamental parameters relevant to the industry and that rewarded the highest potential for CruiserThorr. The four fundamental parameters selected were Lifestyle Image, Price, Quality Engineering, and Service Offerings. Lifestyle Image, easily considered the most important role in the production of motorcycles, and is the best selection for the perceptual map. This is a very dominant attribute because the image will sway consumers into purchasing the product rather than the other