DriveBlog

No hurrying please, we're Indians

Almost 40% of prospective car-buying Indians consider atleast 2 models before making up their minds, finds JD Power APAC's India Escaped(?) Shopper Study 2005. Price, financing options and fuel economy are their chief concerns and Maruti and Hyundai are the brands that are most often evaluated.

Also see:
India Online Auto User Trends 2004
Car-buying from the heart

FAQs

How many times have you wondered...

• ...just how safe your car is?
• ...why your car costs so much more in India than it would have abroad?
• ...just what the heck Maruti keeps doing right every year, year after year?

Got good driving scents?

They're saying now that how good a driver you are could be linked to the kind of smells you encounter while you're driving. Peppermint, cinnamon, lemon, coffee and the smell of the sea help you relax and are therefore good for you - and for everyone else on the road! But smells of food, camomile, jasmine or lavender have the potential of turning you into a mobile messenger of death.

I kid you not.

Click, click, vroom!

The most preferred auto brand among India's Internet-using community is Hyundai.

And more such interesting stuff from AC Nielsen's global online consumer survey on car ownership.

Car buying gets emotional

An interesting study by market research specialist, TNS, seeks to uncover the triggers that determine brand preference among Indian car buyers. And this time, they've found that these key determinants are becoming increasingly 'softer' - more a function of what the car owner would like to convey to the external world - rather than the 'touch-and-feel', more rational parameters like say, fuel economy and engine displacement.

Hyundai, Maruti, Toyota and Honda were the 4 auto companies included in the survey to assess the 'real' needs of car buyers. Based on the study, car customers are categorised into potency, utility, adventure, liberation, prestige and status buyers. Which one of these is you?

High on Appeal

The Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout, or APEAL Study, conducted by JD Power identifies the features that consumers find most appealing about their new vehicles, usually during the first 2 to 6 months of ownership.

And again, it's a couple of Maruti cars that find favour with their owners. The new Wagon R MUV moves to the head of the class in the premium compact category while the unputdownable Esteem is once again the crowd-pleaser in the entry midsize segment, closely followed by the Ikon and the Indigo.

This year, the Wagon R has done a commendable job of nudging 4-time champ Santro out of the top spot in the compact car segment. The Zen comes in at number three.

Ninety day wonders

JD Power Asia Pacific's Initial Quality Study (IQS) seeks to provide in-depth diagnostic information on new-vehicle quality after 90 days of ownership. Owners are surveyed regarding problems with their new vehicles. Well, the results of the 2004 India study are out and it's the Maruti Alto and the Maruti Esteem that come out on top of the Premium Compact Car and Entry Midsize Car segments respectively.

Rising fuel prices coupled with unkept fuel efficiency related promises have been the main thorns in the sides of consumers of late.

Continuing it's run of recent surprises, the Fiat Palio with an improvement score of a whopping 52% is the most improved model in the industry in terms of initial vehicle quality. Looks like some of the initiatives that Fiat India is taking are working.

India Online Auto User Trends 2004

Rediff.com and Mumbai-based Chetana's Insititute of Management & Research have put up the India Online Auto User Trends for 2004. Based on feedback from existing Internet users who own cars, the report has some pretty interesting data on how the average Indian Netizen buys and uses his 4-wheeler.

Maruti marches on

In India's largest syndicated automotive study, the 2004 Total Customer Satisfaction (TCS) study conducted by TNS Automotive, Maruti and Toyota top 3 segments each in the ten 4-wheeler segments included in the survey.

The Top 10 in each segment are as follows:

Entry Compact: Maruti 800
Premium Compact: Maruti Zen Petrol
Small Car (Diesel): Tata Indica Diesel
Entry Midsize: Maruti Esteem Petrol
Midsize: Mitsubishi Lancer Petrol
Premium Midsize: Toyota Corolla
Midsize (Diesel): Mitsubishi Lancer Diesel
Entry Luxury: Toyota Camry
SUV: Toyota Qualis
Premium SUV: Ford Endeavour

Maruti tops JD Power study...again!

After coming out on top in the JD Power Sales Satisfaction Study earlier this year, Maruti has blown away the competition again in the 2004 India Customer Satisfaction Index. Grabbing the honours for the fifth year in a row, Maruti is the only company to post a score higher than the industry average.

The official report is here.

Guess who's bringing up rear guard action this time. :-(