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Article on Model S fans vs. Prius fans

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lorih

lorih

Member
May 12, 2013
711
46
#1
I just found this article today in an auto blog. It tries to characterize fans of Model S vs. Toyota Prius. This quote below I find very surprising:

"When you take a look at the data, you see that the nearly million Prius fans somehow polled showed an above-average interest in things like yoga, sustainability, Apple and reading The Atlantic. We're as shocked as you are. As for the approximately 200,000 Model S fans? They seemed big on economics, Jim Beam, strip clubs and weed. Additionally, "Environmentalism is not a substantial area of interest... this may indicate that Tesla interest is driven by the technological or aspirational aspects of the brand rather than its environmental benefits."

Toyota Prius, Tesla Model S fans apparently like very different things

Not sure where they got their data from. The people I spoke to at TESLIVE were environmentalists, Techies or both. Anyone out there actually feels this article represents you?

:confused:

 
#2
Very cool stuff, Lori! This is definitely me:

Compared with the global set, Tesla fans are:

- 2.5 times more likely to be wired on coffee
- 90% more likely to be interested in social issues
- 4.1 times more likely to like magazines
- 41.8 times more likely to be interested in SpaceX
- 3.8 times more likely to like Evernote
Click to expand...
 
#3
The source data is oddly self selective: "In this case, a minimal level of interest in a specific automobile model was used to define a set of users across the Gravity personalization network. A total of 900,000 Prius fans and 183,000 Tesla Model S aficionados met our selection criteria." from the original article at What Your Electric Car Says About You | Blog

Whatever 'gravity.com' is. (cranky old man mode here) :wink:

And then the article you highlighted derived some awful conclusions from the already awful data set. Here's the gravity.com conclusions from their data set:
Let’s take it home with some Tesla versus Prius comparisons.

Prius fans are 28.1 times more likely to be interested in wearable computers than Tesla fans.
Prius fans are 3.3 times more likely to be interested in cannabis than the general population, but Tesla fans are 44% more likely than Prius folks to enjoy.
Prius fans are 1.62 times more likely to be interested in sustainable transportations than Tesla fans.
Tesla and Prius fans are both more than twice as likely to be into music than the general population.
Click to expand...

Unsure why the gravity.com folks consider cannabis such a differentiating factor... could prolly compare Ford vs Chevy and get equally odd numbers for many of the some factors in the < 5x difference categories.
 
#6
Thanks for finding the link to the original article. Still odd, but perhaps not as jarring.

- - - Updated - - -

So their so called 'data' comes from: "Their individual Interest Graphs had previously been created for the purposes of personalization of content; every click on content or advertising within the network is analyzed semantically and augments the nodes and edge weights for the engaged user."

So they didn't actually poll people, they just looked to see if they clicked on an advertisement for Eggo's waffles?!? Hard to draw good conclusions from that. (Which probably explains the comment that Brianmann pointed out about movies, though doesn't actually explain bad first dates.)
 
Last edited:
#7
When you realize they are looking at fans, not owners it makes a lot of sense.
A very high percentage of Prius fans are very concerned about the environment. As that is the primary 'plus' of the Prius. There are a few people very focused on national security/fiscal health, but for most the environment is the big issue. The Prius lacks performance, and has a 'style' all its own but not the typical definition of style.

The Model S appeals on many levels, including a more common definition of style, performance, cutting edge tech (which the Prius did have at one time) and for most people, environment. In addition, the electric drive has a huge advantage in quality of drive and convenience of fueling at home.

I would guess that if you took a survey of actual owners, basically early adopters, the environment would score higher than it does from 'fans', but still not as high as fans of the Prius (I'm in both camps).

The Model S has a MUCH wider market, the Prius is very focused.
 
#8
Hussain said:
That's really interesting, as I tell my wife, I would likely still have purchased the Model S even if it was gas powered. I love the tech in the car, and the fact that it doesn't require any gas is just a bonus.
Click to expand...

I'm the same in that I'm much more interested in the tech than any environmental impact. I'm still not sure how good the car is for the environment with all those batteries. But the electric drive is part of the cool tech in the car I think. If it were gasoline, it would basically be another gasoline car but with a giant touchscreen in it. The silent thrust and the immediate acceleration that comes from not having a transmission are some of the coolest things about it in my opinion. :) Oh, and never having to stop at a gas station again is pretty cool too!
 
#9
Zythryn said:
The Prius lacks performance, and has a 'style' all its own but not the typical definition of style.

The Model S appeals on many levels, including a more common definition of style, performance, cutting edge tech (which the Prius did have at one time) and for most people, environment. In addition, the electric drive has a huge advantage in quality of drive and convenience of fueling at home...The Model S has a MUCH wider market, the Prius is very focused.
Click to expand...

I am a fan, and I totally agree with you! The way I said it to a friend after TESLIVE: this car is so cool that it brings together the environmentalists, the sports car lovers, the luxury car drivers, and the practical car buyer that 'gets a Toyota or a Honda and drives it 10-15 years' because a car is just a way to get from A to B. All these type of people like the Model S, afterall Elon has said he didn't just set out to build a good electric car, he set out to build the BEST car, electric or not. And anyone with first hand knowledge of the car would agree. He hit it on style, performance, technology, comfort, safety, AND no gas, and free long distance travel once Super Chargers are up...

so basically, we should expect a diverse group of fans, and I am happy about that.
 
#10
lorih said:
They seemed big on economics, Jim Beam, strip clubs and weed.
Click to expand...

Yeah right. Economics is interesting but I'm much more interested in science. I had to Google Jim Beam to find out it was whiskey. Strip clubs, seriously??? :confused: I don't smoke weed or anything else for that matter.

Sounds like they polled in an alternate universe, you know, the one where Spock has a beard.
 
#11
Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. Thanks for restoring my faith. No one else here commented on the wiskey, weed smoking and strip clubbing, which was why I started this thread, I thought, WTF? (maybe the author of that article was smoking weed?)

Even at TESLIVE closest I saw was cookies and beer (after 11 pm) in the hot tub while wearing bathing suits..and even then the conversation was pretty much about car features, software updates, and investments.

Doug_G said:
Yeah right. Economics is interesting but I'm much more interested in science. I had to Google Jim Beam to find out it was whiskey. Strip clubs, seriously??? :confused: I don't smoke weed or anything else for that matter.

Sounds like they polled in an alternate universe, you know, the one where Spock has a beard.
Click to expand...
 
#12
lorih said:
I just found this article today in an auto blog. It tries to characterize fans of Model S vs. Toyota Prius. This quote below I find very surprising:

"When you take a look at the data, you see that the nearly million Prius fans somehow polled showed an above-average interest in things like yoga, sustainability, Apple and reading The Atlantic. We're as shocked as you are. As for the approximately 200,000 Model S fans? They seemed big on economics, Jim Beam, strip clubs and weed. Additionally, "Environmentalism is not a substantial area of interest... this may indicate that Tesla interest is driven by the technological or aspirational aspects of the brand rather than its environmental benefits."

Toyota Prius, Tesla Model S fans apparently like very different things

Not sure where they got their data from.

Click to expand...

They have no data. Their so called research is garbage. It's total BS.
 
#14
lorih said:
Yeah, that's exactly what I thought. Thanks for restoring my faith. No one else here commented on the wiskey, weed smoking and strip clubbing, which was why I started this thread, I thought, WTF? (maybe the author of that article was smoking weed?)
Click to expand...

(coughing on my weed, spitting out my whiskey) Uh . . . wut? Sorry, dude, I just got back from the strip club. Missed all the excitement, wuzzup? ;-)
 
#18
lorih said:
"When you take a look at the data, you see that the nearly million Prius fans somehow polled showed an above-average interest in things like yoga, sustainability, Apple and reading The Atlantic. We're as shocked as you are. As for the approximately 200,000 Model S fans? They seemed big on economics, Jim Beam, strip clubs and weed. Additionally, "Environmentalism is not a substantial area of interest... this may indicate that Tesla interest is driven by the technological or aspirational aspects of the brand rather than its environmental benefits."

Toyota Prius, Tesla Model S fans apparently like very different things
Click to expand...

Well, I'm into yoga, sustainability and Apple and my first car will be a Tesla.
 
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