A recent Paris motor show highlighted the growing trend among car manufactures to produce electric cars (i.e., cars that run purely on electric batteries). One example of this trend is the new model Nissan LEAF.

Some of the new Nissan Leaf's attributes and benefits are:

Twice the battery capacity of the previous model (i.e., a range of 400km between rechargers).

The capacity to enable owners to feel that they are contributing to a more sustainable future by lowering carbon emissions.

Automated parking technology that can navigate the car into any parking spot.

A range of safety features including intelligent lane intervention, lane departure warning, autonomous emergency braking, blind spot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, and rear cross-traffic alert.

The new model LEAF will cost between AU$49,890 and AU$55,522.

The Nissan marketing team is concerned about Australians' attitudes towards its electric vehicles. The original LEAF resulted in only 635 car sales between 2011and 2016. The Nissan marketing team wants the new LEAF to generate more sales. They are therefore seeking your assistance in the following areas.

a) Research suggests five types of product characteristics account for much of the dynamic nature in the rate at which consumers adopt a product. Discuss how the marketing team could leverage two (2) of these characteristics to encourage consumers to adopt this product. Use examples to illustrate your answer.

b) Explain the term cognitive dissonance. Next, discuss two (2) different ways that the Nissan marketing team could resolve or prevent post-purchase dissonance among Nissan LEAF purchasers. Use examples to illustrate your answer.

c) What would the adoption decision process look like for the new Nissan Leaf? List the main stages in the Hierarchy of effects, in the appropriate order.