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Toronto Star
Enterprise & Society, 11
Cyclecar Age (1914)
Give the public what it wantsCyclecar Age, 3
M. Wilde, S. Strasser (1992)
Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass MarketTechnology and Culture, 33
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 4
The Brooklands Gazette
Wall Street Journal
Karee Dunn, Sean Mulvenon (2009)
A Critical Review of Research on Formative Assessment: The Limited Scientific Evidence of the Impact of Formative Assessment in EducationPractical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 14
Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 14
Marketing Theory, 11
The Glasgow Herald (1915)
Light car and cyclecarThe Glasgow Herald
(1915)
War loansNew York Times
R. Church (1995)
The rise and decline of the British motor industry
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 2
Light Car and Cyclecar (1914)
A Canoe-built body
The Cyclecar
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 4
Road & Track
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 5
Biometrics, 33
Motorsport
Business History, 5
Motor Sport
J. Foreman-Peck, S. Bowden, A. Mckinlay (1995)
The British Motor Industry
The Cyclecar (1913)
An Amateur on advertisingThe Cyclecar
Journal of Consumer Research, 4
The Journal of Transport History, 3
Business History, 50
The aim of this study is to explore the attempts by early twentieth century cyclecar manufacturers in the UK and USA to segment the personal transportation market and to position early cyclecars through the development of unique product attributes and advertising. More specifically, the authors speculate about early twentieth century British cyclecar marketing strategies that implicitly recognized a sports car segment and positioned cyclecar brands to meet the needs of that segment.Design/methodology/approachThe primary source material for this research is a sample of 205 print ads and articles from the early twentieth century (1912-1921) specialty magazines devoted to cyclecars in the UK and USA. We combine the content analysis of the sample of ads with a critical reading and interpretation of a sub-sample of those same ads.FindingsBetween 1910 and 1921, a new form of personal transportation was developed that combined the technology of motorcycles with the utility of automobiles. Known as “cyclecars”, these vehicles were typically constructed from off-the-shelf motorcycle parts and assembled in small batches by a myriad of manufacturers. Current scholarship suggests that the cyclecar craze of the 1910s ended with the introduction of low cost “real” automobiles such as the Ford Model T, Austin 7 and Morris Oxford. We use the content analysis of cyclecar advertisements to construct a brand-positioning map of this emerging segment of the transportation market. We argue that while the core cyclecar positioning was in direct competition with small economically positioned cars such as the Ford Model T, a significant part of the market, primarily centered in the UK, could be considered as for sports cars. That segment of the cyclecar market, along with the development of cyclecars into urban delivery vehicles, continued over time and has re-emerged today in a range of three-wheeled sports cars, including the updating and continuation of the British Morgan 3 Wheeler model which was launched during the heyday of cyclecars.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors can only speculate about the impact of the Ford Model T in this study. Further research on that issue is needed.Originality/valueThis is the first historical study of cyclecar marketing. Most of what little has been published about cyclecars focuses on their design and technology.
Journal of Historical Research in Marketing – Emerald Publishing
Published: Nov 20, 2017
Keywords: Marketing history; Branding history; Cyclecars; Retromarketing; Segmentation and positioning history; Sports car marketing
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