Presentation: Indian car buyers put rationality over brand

The buyer today looks to buy a car for the family and subsequently looks at the quality of dealership for service, vehicle reliability and re-sale value while short listing brands.

Contrary to a popular notion that car buying is an emotional decision, rationality has come out as a strong aspect amongst Indian buyers. Throwing light on the purchase behaviour and patterns of consumers buying automobiles, Deloitte in India has released a report titled "Driving through the consumer's mind - Considerations for Car Purchase".

While the brand itself and the perceptions around it are important, the buyer today looks to buy a car for the family and subsequently looks at the quality of the dealership for service, vehicle reliability and re-sale value while short listing brands, thereby ensuring that several brands get into the consideration set of a buyer, says the report.

The findings of the report are based on a survey conducted by Deloitte covering 1,813 respondents in India, of which 1,066 respondents comprising 59 per cent of the survey population belong to Gen Y (19-36 years), while 22 per cent belong to Gen X (37-48 years) and 16 per cent belong to the Baby Boomers (49-67 years) segment.

Speaking about the report, Kumar Kandaswami, senior director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, says, "Once primary reasons to buy a car such as space, family requirements or need to upgrade are fulfilled, buyers look for quality of service, product reliability and re-sale value. Fuel efficiency is no longer a unique differentiator to attract consumers; presumably, it is a table-stake matter. Given these factors, it becomes extremely important for the OEMs to manage the expectations of the consumers appropriately through the life cycle of the product to be considered favourably for the next purchase."

Read the entire report below: