Bangalore: Women car buyers no longer go by the colour of the body, trims or even the matching upholstery, though overall style does count.

They are becoming more technology savvy about what is under the bonnet and also the ease of driving. Not to forget the question of parking in a city such as Bangalore.

Women consider several models before taking their final purchase, according to the JD Power Asia pacific 2006, Escaped Shopper Study, which has been just released.

Reasons

The study analyses the reasons why vehicle shoppers consider, but ultimately reject, certain models in favour of others.

They study found that 50 per cent of women car shoppers consider more than one model before buying a car.

While price and finance-related issues were the main reason why men shoppers rejected a particular car model for another, the study found women were more concerned about the vehicle style.

When two or more models were being considered, they usually selected the less expensive one.

The study analysed the responses of 2,150 car shoppers over eight months across 15 cities and it found that Maruti Suzuki did well in persuading potential buyers with nearly 45 per cent of car shoppers eventually purchasing a Maruti Suzuki model.

A large proportion of buyers of Hyundai, Tata and Toyota models tended to shop around before buying and fewer Skoda, Mahindra and Chevrolet buyers shopped around and looked at other models, the study has found.

"The introduction of new competitively priced models in the small car segment partly explains the surge in car shopping activity among women," Mohit Arora, India Director at J.D Power Asia Pacific, said.

The company conducts customer satisfaction research and provides consulting services in the automotive, information technology and finance industries.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail