[rdeivan]

I have voted 'no', but I think I am both. If it is a bike, there is an inherent sentiment attached to the bike and that was the first vehicle I ever owned, it continues to run amazingly even in its 13th year. So yeah, I would still love to buy a Bajaj.

Cars - although I like German cars and own a Polo myself, I won't probably be shopping only from VW and my decisions would mostly be based objectives and needs. So, no, I won't be loyal in the cars!

[landcruiser123]

I'll admit that my family is not brand loyal in a buying decision, but we have repeated a brand once, and recently- twice. We've also taken a risk with an unpopular car.

Risk: Hyundai Getz. Hyundai was new territory for my dad in 2006 when he wanted to replace our 1998 Maruti 800. It was a great car, only let down by average FE. Served us well till 2018, when we traded 2 cars for a Ciaz AT.

Loyalty 1: Toyota Innova in 2007. Replacing a Qualis is difficult. Tavera, Scorpio etc were just bad cars compared to the Innova. Innova crysta has decent competition in form of the XUV 500 and Hexa- the first gen Innova had no competition a decade ago. But hey- it has made me biased to a Toyota.

Loyalty 2: Maybe not exactly loyalty- After 18 years of Toyota and 20 years since our Maruti 800- we went for a Ciaz AT.
Reason: Need for a comfortable AT car- something big, but not too expensive to buy and run. And since it was going to replace 2 cars, it had to be a good 5 seater.

On an other note:
I'm heavily biased towards Toyota. Case in point: Two car rentals in the USA- I've picked a Corolla and Camry. I just find the ergonomics beautiful- everything falls in place easily.

I found it difficult to adjust the AC in the Ford Focus- partly because I'm was a new driver in the USA. So, stayed with cars with known config of ergonomics- Toyota.

[CarNerd]

While most of TBhpians have said No, In my opinion most Indians are loyal to Maruti Suzuki since their market share has been almost 50% for many years. Whatever Maruti releases, most of the time they go on top the sales charts & continue for decades. If product matters, I have no idea how an Omni or WagonR with the same old design can sell for decades. If Maruti didn't offer facelifts of Alto, Swift, etc the older generation of the same models would have continued to top the sales charts. Some don't even think of other brands while buying. It's the same for Hero Motors, their Splendor is the highest selling motor cycle despite no significant changes to it. That's how it is in India.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by CarNerd

While most of TBhpians have said No, In my opinion most Indians are loyal to Maruti Suzuki since their market share has been almost 50% for many years. Whatever Maruti releases, most of the time they go on top the sales charts & continue for decades. If product matters, I have no idea how an Omni or WagonR with the same old design can sell for decades. If Maruti didn't offer facelifts of Alto, Swift, etc the older generation of the same models would have continued to top the sales charts. Some don't even think of other brands while buying. It's the same for Hero Motors, their Splendor is the highest selling motor cycle despite no significant changes to it. That's how it is in India.

Maruti Suzuki has always been a No.1 seller in India. However a lot of buyers are commercial owners as well (taxi, tourist) because of various reasons like average, cheap spares etc. Besides this every home in India know needs a car.

So even those who can't afford a car, stretch their budget by taking car loans and go only for a Maruti because that's the best in their affordable price range. Besides this resale value is also good. So according to me its the various factors which attract buyers to Maruti and not the loyalty towards the brand.

[AKTRACK]

I think there are two things at work when we choose a brand repeatedly.

Choice supportive bias - Psychologically it is hard to find fault with what one has bought. Now the brand you have bought may have issues but rarely do they take you to the brink of hating it, remember it is your first love and when you love something you start ignoring things - sometimes small, sometimes big. Your mind will be hell bent on proving you how your choice is better than the others. You made that choice for some reason and that is where the personality of the brand comes into picture.

Personality - Brands have personalities which they acquire overtime. Sometimes these personalities are thrust upon us by advertisers and sometimes we subconsciously acquire them and we look for cars that have the same personality usually within the same brand and sometimes outside.

I for one am hooked onto a serious image, toughness, driving dynamics, power etc. Now as long as my brand keeps building cars that provide these personalities I will not look outside or may look at competition that has similar personality. AFAIK I am hooked on Ford. May be it is the choice supportive bias or the inclination of a well informed mind, I think the products in each of the segments they are in has the personality I am seeking in my car or brand.

[pratyush6]

I have voted No.

Brand managers would be kicking themselves if they saw the results of this poll. Lets first acknowledge that we all have bias, in general to prove that what we chose was the right decision. This is also a bit counter intuitive as the next time we are in the market for a product, our needs would have changed (generally), hence we would choose a different car.

If you flip the sector to a food product, I am pretty sure the numbers would flip too. If you change to favorite online shopping portal (Amazon Vs FK), the numbers would change again.

What it shows is that, in different scenarios we would take different decisions, but everything in the hope, that we make a right decision.

Again, in context of a car - I chose Ford Figo as my first car, but, now that I have to buy another a bigger car, which suits a growing family, the Ford just does not cut it. Hence I'd look to different brands.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

Voted yes


Looking at the cars my family has owned

Fiat 1100 (don't know whether it was Padmini or not... I never saw it with badges ) 1982
Premier Padmini 1991 #toatled
Premier Padmini 1993
HM ambassador 1994 (there was no other upgrade to the Padmini)
Maruti 800 1996
Tata Indica 2004 (my first car handed over in 2010)
Tata Manza 2010
VW GT TSI 2013(my drive)
Maruti Ciaz 2016

We were big fans of Tata. When we were evaluating the Ciaz the Storme came a verrrry close second. I love their backseats and so does mia familia. However being in Mumbai the Storme didn't make any sense and we went for the Ciaz

Had Tata come up with a better Manza am pretty sure we would have taken that over the Ciaz. No complains about Ciaz... But after Manza it still doesn't feel the best

[Thilak29]

No
I have cars from Honda and Ford stable - both companies have not given me enough reasons to stay loyal to them. Loyalty is not a one-way love.

[TorqMaster]

Voted : Yes
Brand : Tata
Many reasons -
1. Customer relationship-Ease of having the service done due to the contacts over the years with dealerships
2. Value for money
3. Quality is arguably getting better with the recent models
4. We have had three tatas so far, manza is still going strong
5. No desire to spend on other brands when we get what we use the most for lesser money

[Slowjet]

I have selected 'No'. But somehow or the other always bought Tata (3 cars)
1. Space - First thing when you enter the car. Maruti cars are terrible when it comes to space. No offense meant
2. Value for money - Reasonably priced as compared to others
3. Sitting height. Other brands have seats close to the floor
4. Sturdier as compared to others (my opinion)

5. Indica Turbo driven for 1.2 lac kms over a period of more than 10 years. The car was driven on all types of roads. Not a single issue faced. So I don't think reliability is an issue.

6. Most of my requirements are met by Tata cars

[meetgds]

Voted NO.

If I'm in the market for a new car, I'll carefully examine my options and make a decision after evaluating all the factors such as safety, features, engine etc. and brand is only one of the factors. In the current time when there is good competition in the market across segments, sticking to a brand out of loyalty could actually possibility result in a bad decision.

[pahwa]

Voted No.

Except Amazon, I am not loyal to any of the brands I use. Reason is pretty straight - none of the brands around me have been loyal enough customers. Especially automobile brands. Atleast in India, there is no customer 'care' or loyality that the brands want to earn. Market is cut throat. Brands take advantage of customers and therefore customers too have all the right to look for the best in the moment of decision.

[harry10]

Voted NO.
The good questions- Are the brand loyal to us? Do they always have our best interests at heart? Obviously not. They do what increases their profit margin. So why will I be loyal to them.
Though I have preferences. Like a Honda or Toyota may sound more reliable to me than a Skoda or Nissan etc. At the end it's the product which matters, not the manufacturer. That's why I have both cars, a Honda which is regarded pretty good in reliability and A.S.S and a Tata who is still trying to do better in that regard.

[YashD]

My Vote Yes!

We are loyal to certain manufacturers, depending on the segment of the vehicle. The reason is simple. In the specific budget, the particular brand meets all our requirements hence we prefer sticking to them which further helps us in the after sales service as over the years, we have developed a healthy relationship with them.

For e.g in the hatchback segment, we are loyal to Hyundai. They make comfortable, feature loaded, spacious cabins with pretty reliable engines and has never troubled us. We have been driving a Hyundai hatchback since 2001. It all began with the Santro Zip Plus, followed by Santro Xing XS, then came the i20 1.2 Asta followed by the i10 1.2 Sportz, we again bought the i-gen i10 1.2 but in Magna trim for office runs and our last buy was a 1.1 Grand i10 CRDi Asta.

The next comes Honda for 8 - 14 Lakh range, we have owned a 1.3 Honda City Type 2, followed by a 2010 Honda City 1.5 V along with the 8th Generation Honda Civic 1.8 VAT.
The latter is turning 11 this December clocking 1.13 Lakhs kms on the odo and is still reliable making us feel that it might just run for 10 years more to come if maintained properly.
Building a relationship with Honda was due to a simple reason, there engines, quality of materials and reliability.

In the 15 - 20 Lakh range, we prefer Toyota. It all began with the 1st generation Innova which served us beautifully for an extremely long time clocking more than 2 Lakh kms followed by the 2013 Corolla Altis 1.8 GL. Though thanks to Toyota's over priced product now, seems like the stint will be soon over also, they don't make cars the way they used to a few years back.

In the premium segment, it's Mercedes Benz for us.
Driving a 2012 C200 CGI with 61k on the odo has absolutely been a bliss everytime I take it out.
Fantastic engine, no reliability issues till date, great handling and the absolutely brilliant built quality. I have no complaints with the car.

Though saying the above statement, things might change soon as I'm planning to soon add another hatchback in my garage for the everyday hustle and no Hyundai fits my budget. I obviously don't want to end up driving another Grand i10 and the i20 has become ridiculously expensive over time making me look at the Tiago NRG and Ford Freestyle. The same goes in the premium segments as well. The City isn't what it used nor the Altis is hence I'm planning to move to the Koreans & the Germans (Verna & Octavia). Seems like except Mercedes Benz, we won't be able to stay loyal to any other brands in the near future.

[SRM]

Voted No. With so many choices available in each segment today, it will be really difficult for me to be loyal to a brand, just because its a brand that probably gave me good experience earlier.

Though this might have been possible earlier when the market had not opened up and almost everyone had to choose either Maruti or Fiat. But given the range in today's world, I guess each product determines its customer.

Also, for me to be brand loyal, it should atleast have some standardisation across the segments in terms of features, safety and engine for that particular segment. Clearly, thats not the case in our market. We don't even get standardisation within a segment by different manufacturers. While I would prefer a Swift for hatchback, Verna for sedan, Dzire is better for mid-sedan and XUV 500 for an SUV. Three different brands as none of them have their best offering existing in each segment.