The connection between quality strategies and sustainable growth in the automotive industry

Increasingly sophisticated consumer requirements, as well as the constraints imposed by environmental policies around the world, are driving car manufacturers to find new ways and adopt various strategies to compete and attract consumers. The car market has grown steadily in recent decades, except in 2020 when it saw dramatic declines. The need for motor vehicles is undeniable in the economy, bringing many benefits (transport of goods and people, jobs, education), but their manufacture, marketing and use also brings a number of environmental problems (pollution, excessive consumption of water and energy, traffic congestion, increasing the number of serious accidents and at the same time increasing the costs of caring for people with temporary incapacity for work). To improve this, manufacturers in the automotive industry need to implement new strategies to help them meet the demands of society and the needs of consumers, but also to meet competition. Although the literature provides information on strategies and measures that have been taken in the automotive industry to improve the quality of products and processes, the authors have not found any studies on the quality strategies implemented. In order to highlight these strategies and how consumers perceive their implementation, the authors conducted an exploratory research and a quantitative marketing research. The results of the research showed that Romanians want to help a sustainable development, but when they choose a car they are guided by the reputation of the brand and price, not by the degree of pollution of the car or the type of engine.