Marketing research of trends in the development of the world automobile market

The article researches the development trends of the world automobile market in the post-covid period and formulates a strategic vision in the field of using marketing tools on this market. The presence of tendencies towards intensifying competition is outlined, which undermines the existing marketing strategies of brands and creates new opportunities for both existing car manufacturers and new brands. It was determined that the process of promoting brands on the automobile market is connected with the formation of consumer preferences, a change in the perception of the product, its attributes and communications. It has been established that the volume of production of passenger cars by regions of the world has slightly decreased due to the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. auto plants produced about 6.3 million passenger cars in 2021, up 3.1% from 2020, despite persistent semiconductor shortages. China's passenger car production rises 7.1% to 20.7 million units in 2021 despite supply problems and power outages. The Top-10 car manufacturers as of 2021 have been analyzed. The World Car Group ranking in 2022 is dominated by Toyota, which is significantly ahead of its competitor Volkswagen Group. The third place is occupied by Hyundai-Kia with 4.9 million units sales (-10.5%) due to the loss of a certain market volume in Asia (-4.9%), North America (-11.9%) and Latin America (-23.6%), but with growth in Europe (+1 ,9). A modern approach to the segmentation of "luxury" class cars is considered. It was found that luxury sales margins doubled from 2016 to 2021, while mass market sales margins remained low over the same period. The changes in sales volume, income and operating profit of the leaders of the luxury car production market were studied. The usual five leaders in automotive "luxury", Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche, demonstrated another record financial result in terms of car sales. It is concluded that the balanced scorecard of brand sustainability is the best way to track all the above changes in the global automotive market and should be applied on a continuous basis to companies that manufacture cars.