Refer back to Marketing Research Insight 5. 4 . Would Jacksonville, Florida, actually meets the criterion to be a test market. Cite the information on which you base your decision.

MARKETING RESEARCH INSIGHT 5. 4

The purpose of this exercise is to introduce the American Community Survey (ACS) and the American Factfinder, which is the tool used for searching data collected by the ACS.
Global Motors is considering adding a car model to its product mix that will be totally electric. Buyers will never have to buy gasoline. The cost to operate this vehicle will be about \($0.02\) per mile versus about \($0.12\) per mile for a gasoline vehicle.
Global knows some manufacturers have an all-electric car, such as the Nissan Leaf. However, designers and managers at Global Motors believe they can gain a competitive advantage over these vehicles by building a car surface made of solar panels.
Unlike other competitive vehicles that charge only when plugged into an electrical outlet, a car with a solar panel “skin” can absorb additional energy as long as the sun is out. This innovation is significant for another reason: If electric car owners charge their vehicles with electricity from a coal-powered electric plant (which powers the dominant percentage of U.S. power plants), the greenhouse gas emissions are still 0.8 pound per mile driven. While this is better than the 1 pound per mile for gasoline-powered emissions, it means the gas-free vehicles are far from “emission free.” 18 A solar panel skin would help reduce the gas emissions, and the Global car would not only have greater range but also come closer to being a truly emission free vehicle. However, the range of electric cars is still a major concern even with the ability of a constant charge using the solar panels. While the solar panels will help, they cannot keep up with the energy needed to propel the car even on a very sunny day. It is estimated that the range of this new car will be 125 miles, an improvement over other purely electric cars with a range of 60 to 100 miles.
Before proceeding with design, Global managers want to know if this car can be used for the bulk of commuter travel to and from work each day and still have sufficient range to run errands. If the majority of workers commute under 30 minutes each way, then the new car would have adequate range to get owners to and from work and run a few errands. Before going further with the concept of the new vehicle, secondary data may be assessed to answer the question, “What is the mean travel time, one way, for Americans to travel to work?” By retrieving ACS data via American Factfinder, managers quickly learn that the average time, in minutes, driven by Americans to work is 25.3. This is sufficient for them to continue with development plans for the new car.
After several months of concept testing using focus groups, a prototype vehicle is developed. The prototype meets all engineering and design expectations. Cost estimates for full-scale production put the cost of the car above a typical compact sedan, but the major selling point is that this price tag would be offset by reduced operating costs. Global would like to test-market 20 vehicles in a metropolitan statistical area (MSA)
selected based, in part, on the percentage of the MSA’s population that commutes less than 30 minutes. You can conduct this research yourself by using the following steps to access ACS data to evaluate the MSA of Jacksonville, Florida, on this criterion.

1. Go to www.census.gov and select the “Data” menu.

2. From the “Data Tools and Apps” menu, select American Factfinder and then “Advanced Search.”

3. Select “Show Me All” and then “Topics.”

4. In the dialog box that appears, select “People,” then “Employment,” and then “Commuting (journey to work).” It should appear as one of “Your Selections.”

5. To select the Jacksonville, Florida, MSA, go to “Geographies” and select Metro/Micro statistical areas and scroll down until you find Jacksonville, Florida. Select “Jacksonville” and then “Add to Your Selection.” Once you add this geography, close the dialog box and view the tables. Again, you will notice that you have several available to you.

6. Select the top table and find information about the “Travel Time to Work.” Does Jacksonville, Florida, qualify for the test market based on this criterion?