Many of the most useful automotive websites share a common thread—they consistently integrate access to social media platforms throughout their pages, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study(SM) (MWES) – Wave 1 released recently.

The semiannual study, now in its 13th year, measures the usefulness of automotive manufacturer websites during the new-vehicle shopping process by examining four key measures: speed, appearance, navigation and information/content.

All automotive brand websites provide users with the ability to access various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to connect with the brand’s social media presence or share information about a brand or model under consideration. However, there is wide variation among websites in the pervasiveness of social media access—for example, whether it’s available from only the site’s home page, or from a variety of pages.

The study finds websites that are the most useful tend to provide users with social media access from a variety of pages, including the home page, model pages, configurator tool and photo gallery. Brands that do not perform well in usefulness tend to have limited social media availability throughout their sites, such as access only from the home page and model pages.

“The widespread usage of social media has created an expectation of constant availability,” said Arianne Walker, senior director of media and marketing solutions at J.D. Power and Associates. “By integrating links to social media platforms throughout several site features, automotive brand websites enhance convenience for users and also increase the possibility that website users will promote the brand within their social networks.”

Overall satisfaction with the usefulness of automotive brand websites has decreased significantly to an average of 772 on a 1,000-point scale in Wave 1 of the 2012 study from 784 in Wave 2 of the 2011 study, which was released in August 2011. Much of this decline is due to decreased satisfaction with navigation and information/content. These declines may be attributable to the challenges that automotive brand websites are facing in designing sites that are usable on both tablets and desktop computers.

While only 20 percent of new-vehicle shoppers say they own a tablet, among those who do, 47 percent say they have used their tablet to access automotive information. Tablet ownership is expected to increase during the next several years, which makes it particularly important for brand websites to be able to accommodate both tablets and desktop computers without sacrificing usability on either type of device.

“As automotive brand websites attempt to accommodate the dimensions, resolution and layout best suited for tablet use, some have changed their design in ways that inhibit usage on desktop computers,” said Walker. “For example, pages that require scrolling to view all of the content on a particular page may be preferred by tablet users, but they are quite frustrating for desktop computer users, who are used to clicking to access content directly, rather than finding it on the page by scrolling.”

In addition to differing levels of tolerance for scrolling, following are two key differences in navigation conventions between tablets and desktop computers:

• For tablet devices, big button links are preferable to text links, while text links work well for website navigation on desktop computers.
• Users of tablet devices often utilize finger swiping to access website content, while desktop computer users click and drag their mouse cursors. Effective websites should allow for navigation both ways.

Acura’s website ranks highest with a score of 808 on a 1,000-point scale, and performs particularly well in the navigation and speed measures. Rounding out the five highest-performing automotive websites are Honda (806), Hyundai (803) and Infiniti and Lincoln, in a tie (802 each).

The 2012 Manufacturer Website Evaluation Study—Wave 1 is based on evaluations from more than 9,400 new-vehicle shoppers who indicate they will be in the market for a new vehicle within the next 24 months. The study was fielded in November 2011.

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Since Japan saw March’s devastating earthquake hit, the island nation has been focusing on securing its energy supply with a focus on electric vehicles. With the Fukushima nuclear plant knocked out and many other plants affected by what has been called the worst earthquake in 300 years, widespread blackouts became common throughout the country. In response, off-the-grid electricity sources have become increasingly favored to prevent future failures.

According to the National Police Agency of Japan, the 8.9 Richter scale earthquake and tsunami that hit the Pacific coast of Tohoku severely affected five of the country’s top companies. Toyota Motor Corp., Sony Corp., Honda Motor Co.,  Nissan Motor Co. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. were the top five which suffered setbacks.

Nissan, the creator of the all-electric Leaf, has taken action by developing a solar charging system which stores its power in the Leaf’s lithium-ion battery. The automaker has installed 488 solar panels so far at its Japan headquarters which will provide enough power for 1,800 Leafs for a year.

Nissan suspended its operations at six plants immediately following the earthquake. Due to damages and small fires which broke out at the Tochigi and Iwaki Plant, restorations took place lasting longer only at the Iwaki engine plant which was in the quake zone. Production restarted March 24 with almost 1,300 Infiniti models lost due to damages during the quake.

While the company’s shares lost 10.1% following the wake of the earthquake, it has regained strength in shares as well as in the development. In a joint venture with Sumitomo Corp, Nissan plans to reconstruct its electric car batteries when they are traded then resold as power storage units. Plans to implement this project are estimated to begin in 2016.

“These batteries can be useful as back-up power for homes when there’s an outage,” said Takashi Sakagami, head of the joint venture, 4R Energy Corp.

In addition to helping household energy security, a second life for old car batteries is also made possible. The batteries are high capacity and composed of various heavy, precious and rare metals which would be problematic to dispose.

Increasing technology of electric cars provides an advantage that is not only beneficial to the environment but also to Japan’s energy security. With electric vehicles, each household could potentially have its own mobile power source in the event of another disaster which disables access to mass produced power.

Big power consumers on the eastern side of the island are now required to cut power use by 15 percent and households have been directed to do the same.

Other automakers in Japan are developing their own methods of bringing energy security from the car to the home. Mitsubishi Motors is developing a portable converter which will allow electric vehicles to power household electronics. Toyota is developing batteries for direct home use to power a project known as the “Toyota Home.”

These model homes will manage power usage, tap into solar power and store excess power in the batteries for night-time use. It is estimated by Toyota’s project manager, Hiroshi Okajima, to be available by the end of 2013.

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March 31 ends the fiscal year for Japan and the pressure is building on Prime Minster Naoto Kan and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as they prepare to press their budget plan for the next year through the Diet – the Japanese parliament.

Japan is facing multiple economic challenges that each threatens to hamper the countries national economy as well as trade. Politically, the situation is equally unsettling as the government is up against a phenomenon known as a ‘twisted Diet’ – a term describing the situation where the Upper and Lower houses are controlled by opposing sides. The ruling coalition headed by PM Kan lost its Upper House majority in July’s election and since the Upper House cannot be dissolved, Mr. Kan will have a difficult time passing bills for the upcoming budgetary plan.

Among the financial concerns of the nation is trade. After a surprisingly stable trading market during the last two years, the Japanese Ministry of Finance revealed a gloomy trade deficit this February. Paradoxically, large cooperations such as Toyota, Honda and Nintendo were actually recovering quickly on top of the global financial crises but what threatens to derail the process is now the unusually strong yen. Toyota reported a drop of 39% in profits from the last quarter, Honda had an equal drop of 40% while Nintendo, which generates up to 80% of its revenue abroad, claim to have a 75% decrease in profits between April and December 2010. Much of the blame is directed at the record high exchange rate for the Yen, currently at its highest in fifteen years.

This has put a damper on the country’s export as the expensive yen on one hand stifle the price-competitiveness of Japanese product and on the other, eats up the profit in the process of converting from foreign currency into Japan’s national monetary standard. Larger cooperations are responding to the situation by moving capital and production out of Japan – Toyota has already started to produce their popular hybrid car Prius in Thailand.

Another grave concern is the public debt burden which is estimated to be about twice the size of gross domestic product. Mr. Kan is planning to reduce the debt by reorganizing the national finances, raise taxes and scrap the DPJ’s pledge of doubling childcare handouts to household. But the Kan administration’s budget is being met with strong opposition by economists. “The government barely scraped by getting revenue to match spending” said Hiroshi Miyazaki, chief economist at Tokyo-based Shinkin Asset Management, to Bloomberg. The budget “doesn’t work to improve the state of public finances but it doesn’t do anything to spur the economy either.” A strategist at Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co. also said to Bloomberg “What’s most problematic is that there is almost no visible clue to how Japan will consolidate its finances”.

Several commentators predict that the biggest focus in the coming time will be not on the content of the budget, but how the DPJ expect to get it through the Diet. PM Kan has seen his popularity dwindle in the last six months but is resisting claims that he will join his four predecessors of the last four years in what is called the ‘revolving door’ of Japanese politics. He wants to bring reform but it is uncertain if his goals will be fulfilled – and if so, if it will be on the expense of Mr. Kan’s position. The end of the fiscal year will show if this is the beginning of the end for the DPJ or the start of a fundamental restructuring of the Japanese market and political climate.

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