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nothing first-time bet, as Apple did with its Newton or Hewlett-Packard did with its Kittyhawk. I needto conserve resources to get it right on the second or third try.These three concepts would constitute the foundation of my marketing strategy.Potential Markets: Some SpeculationWhat might emerge as the initial value network for electric vehicles? Again, though it is impossible topredict, it almost surely will be one in which the weaknesses of the electric vehicle will be seen asstrengths. One of my students has suggested that the parents of high school students, who buy theirchildren cars for basic transportation to and from school, friends’ homes, and school events, mightconstitute a fertile market for electric vehicles. 10 Given the option, these parents might see the productsimplicity, slow acceleration, and limited driving range of electric vehicles as very desirable attributesfor their teenagers’ cars—especially if they were styled with teenagers in mind. Given the rightmarketing approach, who knows what might happen? An earlier generation met a lot of nice people ontheir Hondas.Another possible early market might be taxis or small-parcel delivery vehicles destined for thegrowing, crowded, noisy, polluted cities of Southeast Asia. Vehicles can sit on Bangkok’s roads allday, mostly idling in traffic jams and never accelerating above 30 miles per hour. Electric motorswould not need to run and hence would not drain the battery while idling. The maneuverability andease of parking of these small vehicles would be additional attractions.These or similar market ideas, whether or not they ultimately prove viable, are at least consistent withthe way disruptive technologies develop and emerge.How Are Today’s Automobile Companies Marketing Electric Vehicles?The strategy proposed here for finding and defining the initial market for electric vehicles stands instark contrast to the marketing approaches being used by today’s major automakers, each of which isstruggling to sell electric vehicles into its mainstream market in the time-honored tradition ofestablished firms mishandling disruptive technologies. Consider this statement made in 1995 byWilliam Glaub, Chrysler general sales manager, discussing his company’s planned offering for 1998. 11Chrysler Corporation is preparing to provide an electric powered version of our slick new minivan intime for the 1998 model year. After an in-depth study of the option between a purpose-built vehicle andmodification of an existing platform, the choice of the minivan to use as an electric powered platform,in retrospect, is an obvious best choice for us. Our experience shows that fleets will likely be the bestopportunity to move any number of these vehicles . . . . The problem that we face is not in creating anattractive package. The new minivan is an attractive package. The problem is that sufficient energystorage capacity is not available on board the vehicle. 12To position its offering in the mainstream market, Chrysler has had to pack its minivan with 1,600pounds of batteries. This, of course, makes its acceleration much slower, its driving range shorter, and163