Branded USB Flash Drives are Called upon to Save the UK Motor Industry

With evidence that the UK car industry is slowly falling due to the announcement four days ago that car sales have fallen for the 13^th consecutive month, car manufacturers are turning to branded USB sticks in all areas in an attempt to improve business.

It was announced on Thursday last week that new car registrations last month fell by 3.5% at 131,634.  This is the 13^th consecutive month that sales have fallen in the UK and when it is considered that many car manufacturers usually have dealers register cars that aren’t even sold yet to boost their figures and make business look better that it is this, the news can seem even more serious.

Car Manufaturer Promotional USB Flash Drives

UK Car sales were slowly but consistently recovering after the effects of the credit crunch due to government boosts such as the ‘scrappage scheme’.  Now that the government schemes have finished, combined with higher insurance costs and low consumer confidence car buyers are thought to be deferring their new car purchase or buying used cars instead.  Global car manufacturers aren’t so worried about the drop in UK sales as most can offset this fall by the growth in eastern markets.

The rise of demand in countries like China for western cars means that fewer cars are given to the UK markets to sell because they can be so easily sold in eastern countries.  But what does this mean for the domestic dealer markets who don’t benefit from foreign sales?  Many dealers are having to improve their marketing strategies and tactics and get creative to maintain sales.  We have certainly seen this with some of the logo USB memory stick jobs that we have done for major car manufacturers.

Recently we have seen car dealerships change traditional CD based content and even some printed brochures onto a branded USB flash drive.  Although we have done many jobs for big car manufacturers in the past, the change from traditional CDs and print shows the adoption of new technology and devices to raise their profile and make more of an impact.

It is also interesting to note that luxury car manufacturers merchandise is desirable to aspiring young individuals and more established professionals because it can be perceived as achievement and displays a person’s status.  This can be seen on the episodes of Top Gear as it nears Christmas and they show some…put nicely, quite ‘niche’ car branded merchandise that can be bought.  Riding on the back of this, some car companies are offering branded USB memory sticks as a prize in competitions.

Another, quite impactful way that USBs are muscling in on the motor industry is having USB ports fitted instead of CD players.  A previous article two weeks ago reported about how Ford are now including them as standard in their new Focus in replace of a CD player.  Wouldn’t it be a great addition for Ford to include a 16BG Ford branded USB memory stick, or even a Ford custom promotional USB flash drive as an option or even given away with each purchase of a Focus as a little added bonus with the car.

For some inspiration on how you can use USBs to improve business and raise your profile visit our logo USB product range and promotional USB services.