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Old 29th August 2017, 07:37   #1
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A survey on automotive preferences of Indian women

This report in TOI caught my attention because of its novelty and uniqueness. It talks about the Women Automotive Buyer Survey-2017 conducted by a firm named PremonAsia. The survey brings to fore some interesting trends about car ownership, new car purchase and consumer satisfaction among Indian women.

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...female car buyers of India are as enamored of the SUV/Crossover segment as men and this preference for bigger vehicles is at the cost of the earlier overwhelming obsession with compact hatchbacks. The survey, which spoke to current women car owners across 28 cities in India found that hatchbacks rule the current ownership stats with 61% women car owners boasting one in their garage but the figure is down to 49.2% among those intending to buy a new car in the next 6-12 months. Similarly, 18.4% of current women car owners have sedans but 22.4% plan to buy a sedan in the near future. In the MPV/MUV segment, the stats are flat-7.3% currently own them and 7.7% want to possess them in future. The biggest jump in purchase plan is in the case of SUV/Crossovers- from 13.3% present ownership to 20.7% future possession.

Said Rajeev Lochan, founder & CEO, PrimonAsia: “The shift between owners to future owners is strongest in the SUV segment and the drop is strongest in hatchbacks which shows that the SUV craze is not just a male obsession, it is also very much a female phenomenon. Also there are enough women buyers who attach importance to engine power and performance which is another myth buster.“

The study also threw up interesting trends about the average age for women to start learning how to drive and acquire a licence.

“In metro towns, 42% of women start learning to drive before they are 23 but this number goes to 60-62% in other cities which are nonmetro and non-state capitals,“ said Lochan.

“In average to average terms there is a 2 year gap between metros (23-24 years) and other cities (21-22 onAsia 2017 Women Automotive Buyer Survey years).“ The reason, he says, could be attributed to the rising popularity of scooters among women. “Scooter penetration has a be aring on women driving and moving from two wheelers to cars,“ added Lochan. “In metros, relatively affluent families are not encouraged to drive two wheelers because of safety issues.“

In terms of favourite brands/models, it is Honda City, Volkswagen Polo and Nissan Micra that emerged as top models favoured by women car owners and the study found that women gi ve maximum weightage to product performance (30%) and brand (29%). “When men buy for women, they are led by practical reasons like cost of ownership and ease of handling/parking,“ said Lochan. “When women buy for themselves they are led by emotive triggers like brand, styling. Women are not ignorant of practical issues, but the first connect is emotive.“
More here.

Last edited by Rehaan : 29th August 2017 at 15:23. Reason: Fixing minor formatting issues
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Old 29th August 2017, 08:06   #2
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re: A survey on Indian women & their automotive preferences

Very interesting. Sign of the times and a good one on that. The generation of women who are now entering their earning years are the first ones born after liberalization started and after India's economic story finally started. Their basic assumptions of themselves and life are very different from say women who are 45 and above. These fundamental assumptions of themselves are also pushing the patriarchy in other aspects of life.
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Old 29th August 2017, 11:07   #3
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re: A survey on automotive preferences of Indian women

I'm always up to talking about cars, including with women (much to the annoyance of some of them). From my observations, women:

- Love SUVs. They prefer the monocoque SUVs to drive themselves (e.g. EcoSport, Vitara Brezza), and would like their men to own the big, burly ones (e.g. Fortuner). The new Compass is a super duper hit with the gals.

- Place a lot of importance on features, more so than men.

- Styling is incredibly important. As is the brand.

- None of them think too much of brands like Tata, Nissan etc. At least the ones I've interacted with. Honda & Hyundai are hot favourites, more so than Toyota. Somehow, they think highly of Skoda.

- They love experimenting with colours. Also big fans of the Vitara Brezza's dual-tone shades.

- Not seen them to be as price sensitive or calculative when it comes to cars as men are.

- Ease of driving is a must-have. They hate heavy controls (steering & clutch especially).

- Further on the previous point, they take to automatics like fish to water. Once they're exposed to ATs, there is no going back to MTs.

- Most of them switch cars earlier than men. They don't like holding onto cars beyond 3 to 4 years. Freshness & newness are very important to them.

- Engine size isn't a priority. They'll pick a smaller engine with more features than a big engine with lesser features.

- They detest parking. Especially parallel parking.

- Don't mind feather-light builds as much as we do.

- They HATE noisy cars.

Of course, I'm not painting all of them with the same brush, but this feedback has been consistent with most women I've talked cars with.

Last edited by GTO : 29th August 2017 at 12:11.
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Old 3rd February 2018, 16:59   #4
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Re: A survey on automotive preferences of Indian women

“Women and machines do not mix” this well known statement from the block buster movie “Titanic”, perhaps needs a correction.

The Article is indeed interesting and busts out various myths surrounding women’s preferences towards the automotive industry. The findings show that women are more inclined towards products that are more functional than mere packaging.
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