Hierarchical Needs in U.S. Automotive Customer Feedback and the Sentiment–Function Nexus

This paper analyzes a non-experimental declarative framework for interpreting changes in the U.S. automotive market, including chip shortages, accelerated car adoption, and the continued dominance of SUVs and trucks. It proposes an in-depth analysis of a four-layered demand hierarchy, focusing on the following layers: basic needs, functional/performance needs, experience/service needs, and identity/value needs. Furthermore, through a complementary emotional-functional ontology, it covers factors related to safety/ADAS, powertrain, and charging, and infotainment/human-machine interaction. It outlines measurement blueprints (co-occurrence enhancement, conditional share, journey slicing) and management tools (importance matrix, demand hierarchy scorecard), and verifies that electric vehicle anxiety is more strongly influenced by charging reliability than by rated range; trust depends on service transparency and OTA stability. Finally, it prioritizes related services and user experience, while establishing a clear path for future empirical verification.