This paper presents a market analysis from the viewpoint of both demand and supply with a view to understanding how the availability and price of privately licensed vehicles for people with disabilities can be improved. The focus is on North America, although globalization of automobile manufacturing and trade permits broader application of the findings. Because of the dearth of previous work, the paper is necessarily preliminary, and in part speculative, raising questions as well as attempting to resolve them. The authors believe however that a strong likelihood of radical deficiencies in market structure is exposed along with steps to redress them. The following section provides some brief background on the nature of the market. Section 3 examines the question of demand and niche market potential while section 4 addresses industry structure and efficiency. Section 5 examines the range of measures implied in the analysis for achieving a market structure that operates more effectively for consumers and manufacturers alike. Brief conclusions are presented in section 6. These are: (1) in spite of large potential demand, automobile markets are not operating in the best interests of either the disabled customer or the automobile industry; (2) strategic initiatives aimed at various dimensions of supply and demand are needed; (3) further study is needed to confirm the validity of the strategic and policy presumptions implied in analysis and presented in section 5.
Samenvatting