Environmentally friendly cars- Who are the buyers and what affects them?

Abstract: The last decade’s discussions concerning the climate changes have started different counter measurements in order to save the environment. One of these is to reduce the carbon discharges by pushing the car industry towards an introduction of environmental friendly cars. The increased sales of environmental friendly cars in Sweden made us want to investigate the concept and its users. The main purpose with this dissertation was to identify the most typical buyer of environmentally friendly cars and study which factors affect them in the purchase of one. This was done by emphasizing on peoples environmental attitude, behavior and demographic factors. Further the marketing mix together with political/economical stimuli stood for the affecting factors towards a purchase of an environmental friendly car. To answer our research questions we chose to collect our primary data through the research strategy of a self administered questionnaire. The sample consisted of 90 respondents. The findings of our dissertation showed that elder women born in Sweden, parents of children and with a high social status are the most typical buyers of environmental friendly cars. Safety was the most important factor to base a car purchase on among the respondents. TV was seen as the most affecting information source concerning gained information about the eco friendly cars.