[Stribog]

Am surprised by one key factor missing here,

Reliability, be it real or perceived.

Another would be variant spread.

A Maruti sells because,

1) They are exceedingly reliable,
2) Have a service network even in jungles and deserts and mountains,
3) Cheap to maintain
4) In the price range from 4-12 Lakhs, they simply overwhelm buyers with choice and variants.

As GTO has said before and this has stuck with me, if a brand is not afraid to cannibalize itself, its competition will enter that space.

Look at how incongruous the line up of some famed OEM's are,

Toyota - Till the tie up with Maruti it had the built to cost Etios and then jumped 15 lakhs and hit Innova (the Corolla was too overpriced and barely sold) levels and then another jump to Fortuner levels.

Imagine someone with a budget of 9 lakhs went into a Maruti, Hyundai and Toyota showroom, the poor SA in Toyota is a one trick pony, if the prospects don't like the Etios, they walk out.

In Maruti and to a lesser extent Hyundai they have a plethora of options.

Reliability be it real or perceived is an equally big motivating factor. The average 1 car household will not touch a VAG car with a 100 feet barge pole but will blindly close their eyes and buy Maruti. Now we can dismiss it as 'le tin can car bad hahahaha' or accept that Maruti has got the art of designing new products, positioning, selling and servicing to the Indian market down to a science.

Take for instance their much derided 'face lifts', while the Enthusiasts might pooh pooh them, fact is, the market likes its Chrome and minor changes and buy in droves.

Other OEM's better take note, and some are, Hyundai / Kia chief amongst those and they do well. Some like SAIC are charting their own path but tuned to the market and doing well again.

The writing on the wall is clear, the Indian market (like most markets) has its own unique requirements, and cookie cutter 1 size fits all solutions like the kind Honda or VAG offer simply don't work.

[J4J]

Originally Posted by arunramaswamy

Relevant to this thread,why should one get influenced by what relatives or neighbours think? Should our ownership be defined by the someone else's preferences?

If we are to buy based others preferences, wouldn't we end up regretting our purchase in the due course?

A very valid point. This is because car buying involves a lot of money and is also a long term commitment.
Most of the people want to keep the car for 5-10 years. So this is a long term investment.

Our country doesn't have strong lemon laws or laws that would strongly defend the buyer if the car turns out to be a lemon, the only resort people have is to look for long term reviews of the brand & car. We do have some cases where people have won but it took almost a decade before the final verdict was out.

Currently, if any problem comes up in between the ownership period, the owner is completely under the mercy of the company.

But I've seen people freely accepting foreign brands. This again is due to the support our own companies gave in their initial years. Ask anyone who owned and Indica/Indigo. Very less will actually recommend buying Tata.

Due to the above reasons, brand reputation matters.

If we have strong laws to defend the buyer, I think people will have more freedom to select vehicle of their choice.

[aravind.anand]

One strange reason - Not willing to buy a new car with same name as existing car.

I know at least three Gen-3 Honda City owners who wanted to upgrade to a newer sedan, and while the all new 5th-Gen City ticks all their boxes, they are hesitant to buy a car with the same name again. I presume it is because their friends and relatives would not recognize their new 15 lakh investment

So invariably they are skipping one of the best options in that segment and are either going to compromise with a different sedan or switch to SUVs, like most Indians are.

[ValarMorghulis]

Topic aside, I think a number of BHPians squirmed in their seats when you labelled Creta, Seltos and Harrier as Compact-SUVs!

Back to the topic:
I think a very important factor for a car purchase is: Reliability.
For an average Joe, reliability and hassle free ownership is a big big pull.
Maruti Suzuki/ Hyundai have this perception in the market.

[Simhi]

Based on my experience of buying Yaris and then seeing fellow members comment in our forum, when people were looking to buy a sedan, I would short-list the following reasons

1. Price - We Indians seeks value for money product.

2. Sales figures - Obviously, we don't want to buy a product which doesn't set the sales figures on fire. We give lot of emphasis on resale value instead of enjoying the ownership while we own the vehicle.

3. Listening to others - We give lot of weightage to what others say and think. I am sure many people rejected Yaris without even doing a test drive because there were lot of negative review comments like rear space is inadequate.

[Turbohead]

Everybody missed out on this one!

Wants/ Emotions:
Admit it! Your family has refused a car of your choice because it does not have sunroof.

Also, for the average Joe, it should not be called brand perception. The right word is status! A lot of people just can't been seen in a Tata because it's a taxi brand!

VW/ Skoda cars are not only hated for reliability and service costs alone. They're avoided because people might think they're fools to spend so much on service and parts.

[jigar1791@gmail]

Impatience, maybe? The very thought for anybody to own a vehicle, especially if this is the first purchase, may force the buyer to become impatient and go with a brand his/her heart already has decided for.
Back in 2016, I remember what a cousin had done - they decide to book a car (after the need and budget criteria is figured), without test drives of competitors, he just went ahead and booked a Swift ZDi.
Not exploring other cars in the same segment/budget, he made an impulsive decision and went ahead with the Swift. Though he's happy with the decision, I always ensure to TD atleast multiple cars from the segment my next purchase will be.

Another reason - exchange value of old car. Buy back schemes from the same brand are tempting enough for anyone to overlook other brands.

[arindambasu13]

Recently I was told by my better half that she did not find the Freestyle interiors to be appealing enough to be a suitable upgrade to her Honda Brio. I was not sure I agreed, but that proved to be the clincher for her to reject the Freestyle, and instead picking up the top end Ecosport.

Not that I am complaining, the Ecosport is in a totally different price segment and much superior to the Freestyle on all counts, but I personally loved the Freestyle as well for what it offers at its price point. I guess enthusiasts look at products with a very different set of parameters than other car buyers, who are much more interested in the overall look and feel of the product much more than engine specs and transmission quality and so on.

[88_TANK_88]

It can all be accumulated to one word Perception

1. Brand perception
Maruti has always been looked at as budget brand at best. Their higher cost models were all sales duds. Good cars, but sales duds, as people were not digesting the fact that Maruti cars can cost 15 lakh plus. Kizashi, Vitara, and to some extent Baleno (old). It was like if you want to spend 10 lakh plus, buy a Honda.

2. Perception of Cost of ownership.
Ford had to go through extended marketing campaigns to advertise their low cost of ownership regarding general service and maintenance cost. Itni mehengi gaadi, fir servicing bhi mehengi, was quite an addage.

3. Perception of Status Symbol.
Mention Volvo as a potential buy and people would say 'the one which makes buses'.

I have seen poeple opt for a car because their neighbours or relatives had bought one, diverging from their core requirements. My friend picked up Ecosport over City because his brother in law (elder to him) told his family so.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by arunramaswamy

Relevant to this thread,why should one get influenced by what relatives or neighbours think? Should our ownership be defined by the someone else's preferences?

If we are to buy based others preferences, wouldn't we end up regretting our purchase in the due course?

Look at it this way - as per a 2017 data, 75% of new car buyers (not first time) used internet for research before finalizing their vehicles.

Considering how much of internet content is sponsored \ promoted etc, what good is a buyer`s personal research anyways! Internet right now may appear to be full of Tata Fans but Maruti says ~50% of their customers nowadays are first time car buyers. Maruti`s range is very well equipped to enable a first time car buyer to stay in the same show room and choose a different car for every additional 50K INR their budget permits.

This is no fluke, Maruti knows their customer. It took them a good while to come up with Baleno against i20, look at where things are now. i20 is having to go even more upmarket, leaving the lower end of premium hatch market as well as hatch market itself entirely to Maruti attracting a large amount of first time car buyers.

Before I digress from the topic too much - When in doubt - Ask, absolutely nothing wrong with it.

It is wise to ask advice from someone who have had plenty of cars from all kinds of brands over several decades, our forum too enables the same. You could get a different perspective than your own, very useful.

[sv97]

I think the most important reasons for overlooking some cars are:

Resale Value: Most of the Indian car buyers have this as the primary criteria when buying a new car and hence overlook some cars.

Service Centre and Dealership Availability Not every manufacturer is a Maruti or Hyundai and do not have presence in the Tier 3 or 4 or rural areas which makes people overlook cars from other brands which are not present.

Herd Mentality We Indians have herd mentality in most cases and cars are no different hence people skip certain cars or brands.

Maintenance Costs and A.S.S Horror Stories Many people including some BHPians won't be touching the Germans with a barge pole even if there are models in the particular segment and would be overlooking them just because of the maintenance costs and A.S.S horror stories.

[Sran]

Acoording to feedback that I get, Mileage seems to be the most important criteria. No 2. is hassle free service and repair.

Maruti wins in both those and people reward them handsomely.

[naru80]

I love driving, but I don't like my car in the workshop. Some would say the real petrolhead has as much fun behind the wheels as under the hood. But that's not me. I want the thrills with minimum spills.

So while I never miss a chance to drive a friend's "enthusiasts car", I would steer clear of most of them when it comes to actually buying.

There are especially two brands I never consider:

1 Nissan (Bro-in-law had a horrible experience: the dealer took his money, shut the showroom and ran away, resulting in a long legal battle with Nissan. Now nothing that Nissan launches can bring me to their showroom).

2 Skoda (My onetime boss, an extremely influential person, had his Superb spend so much time in the workshop he would complain to journalists seeking some intervention . If he had so much problems, me an aad aadmi cannot even bear the thought of such punishment).

No offense to Nissan and Skoda owners, it is just a personal opinion.

[landcruiser123]

A strange reason: Got a higher segment car at significant discounts!

I know a gentleman who test drove everything from the Ertiga to the Corolla and loved the Duster. When his wife and he went to the showroom to book the car, the salesman offered them a test drive of the Fluence. They loved it and the dealer sweetened the deal (possibly to clear stocks). Needless to say, he had a Fluence in his garage 6 days later.

Other reasons why people stay away from brands:
1. Fords are expensive to maintain: I've commonly heard the general opinion that Fords are expensive to maintain. However, from whatever I hear from friends, this was only true in the early & mid 2000s
2. Tatas have too many niggles: True to this day, but their QC has significantly improved from the days of the Indica & Indigo

[M.Dua]

Originally Posted by GTO

There are so many cases where the average Ramesh really liked car model A, but his inner circle dissuaded him from it. Because of the above three points, it is promptly dropped. That's why the smart automakers invest a lot on their "image".

Can not relate more, there was a time i was in the awe of Mahindra Scorpio but all my close knit circle dissed me alot on my choice, they were like we will not sit in the car and many other irks, eventually bought the Verna Crdi and regretted almost every day with very bad back ache due to low sitting profile and a heavy clutch.

Even now the new Thar attracts my attention a lot, but the sheer circle and society yells it does not suit your profession and the new Creta instead seems to be the obvious choice.