Purchase consideration in China for models from European manufacturers has increased notably while consideration for Japanese models and Chinese domestic models has decreased, according to the latest survey about the world’s largest vehicle market. Buick and Chevrolet also have strong images.
The study finds that the proportion of new-vehicle intenders who say they would consider purchasing a model from a European automaker has increased to 32% in 2011 from 25% in 2009.
Consideration rates for Japanese models have declined to 27% in 2011 from 32% in 2009. An increasing proportion of intenders are citing concerns about quality and reliability and concerns about dealer service for Japanese models. They also cite a lack of recommendations from family and friends, according to the J.D. Power consultancy.
However, new-vehicle intenders have positive perceptions of vehicle safety and improvements in engine and transmission technology for European models, and recall receiving strong recommendations for European models from family and friends.
Consideration rates for Chinese domestic brands have also decreased—to 20% in 2011 from 26% in 2009. The primary reasons for lower consideration rates for Chinese vehicle models include concerns about poor quality, negative consumer reviews and ratings and a lack of recommendations from family and friends.
The study, now in its third year, examines pre-purchase perceptions and considerations among consumers in China who intend to purchase a new vehicle within the next 12 months (so called as new-vehicle intenders.) The study is designed to look at brand awareness, purchase considerations, rejection reasons, media usage, as well as consumer perceptions of various automotive models among new-vehicle intenders. In total, 65 vehicle brands and 161 models in nine segments are included in the 2011 study.
Consumers having concerns about product quality and reliability in the upper portion of the funnel are unlikely to be swayed by lower price in the lower portion of the funnel,” said Jacob George, managing director of J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Shanghai.
The top three considerations overall among new-vehicle intenders are vehicle comfort, whether the vehicle is easy to handle and exterior styling. Other key considerations include gas mileage, engine size, maintenance costs, expertise and service of the dealer and whether the brand has a broad dealer network.
Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz each achieve particularly high brand influence among new-vehicle intenders in 2011.
“Brand awareness does depend on location; for example, in the South region, Japanese brands have particularly high brand influence due to their long tenure there,” said Dr. Mei Songlin, general manager of research at J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Shanghai.
A dynamic official website is a key primary marketing platform for informing and influencing vehicle intenders. Nearly seven in 10 intenders visit the manufacturer’s website to collect or verify vehicle information. Appearance of the website and ease of navigating through the website are the two most important features for vehicle intenders, followed by usefulness of website information/content and speed of pages loading on the website.
Nine in 10 vehicle intenders search online for vehicle information. The types of websites visited most often by intenders for vehicle information are general portal sites, search engines and video sites. Social media also plays an active role in vehicle marketing, as online forums, social network sites and blogs attract a significant portion of intenders.
Models with the highest levels of consideration in each segment include:
- Compact segment: BYD F0 and Chery QQ3
- Premium compact segment: Chevrolet Sail
- Entry midsize segment: Volkswagen Polo
- Midsize segment: Chevrolet Cruze
- Lower premium midsize segment: BYD F6
- Upper premium midsize segment: Honda Accord
- Luxury segment: Audi A4L
- SUV segment: Volkswagen Tiguan
- MPV segment: Buick GL8
The J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2011 China New Vehicle Intender Study (NVIS) is based on responses from 4,979 new-vehicle purchase intenders in 53 cities. The study was fielded in March 2011.
