[SmartCat]

Going by my -

1) car buying history
2) cars I tend to like across the brand's offerings
3) subconscious fault finding (mostly with respect to looks) in models of other brands
4) "next car" shortlist

- it does look like I'm a Honda/Maruti loyalist.

Yikes, course correction needed!

[discoverwild]

5 from Maruti
2 from Hindustan Motors
1 from Hyundai
1 from Toyota
1 from Ford
6 from Tata

[ajmat]

I am not sure about brand loyalty so much as the overall experience that I would expect. A bad experience would put me off a brand but a good experience would merely add points into consideration next time around. Based on my experience

Peugeot - I would buy again but they cannot replicate the tactical feel that it used to have. I like the way that it has come back though

Tata- Nightmare of picking up bits and grimy workshops - These have changed but the brand perception remains

Maruti - Neutral - good experience but the brand has changed to value on the surface but cheap underneath

Honda - The brand is zilch beyond the engine

Skoda - I still like what the brand offers in terms of high engineering for the value. Dealer experience has been so-so

VW - I like the brand for the engineering and the decent service that I get. Not loyal but a VW might make the list. However as the price point rises, the brand loyalty will diminish

Mercedes - I loved the brand but as good as the cars are, they have become rather common

[procrastinator]

Yes!

I would like to sum the reasons below for the Hyundai i10 and i20
- Product
- Servicing
- Reliability
- Spares availability
- Dealership

Owing them has been good experience and their cars have improved a lot (driving dynamics especially)
The reasons moving to other brand is getting above parameters better (Honda, Toyota, Maruti?)
Secondly, the shut down of dealer who handles sales and services for us.

In a nutshell, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

Only folks whom i have observed to be brand loyal are Toyota owners.

That may not hold good in our country. I would hazard a guess here that most Maruti owners are more likely to be loyal to the brand, than owners of other brands in India. Sample this -

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

We've been loyal to Maruti not because we liked it's products but due to the fact that we never had many options here earlier. Our first Maruti was in 1987/88. The only other brand we tried was Hyundai with Santro. .... Dad was fixated on Maruti and so were we. It's something like, don't change if it ain't broken. Our trust with Maruti has been better than Hyundai.

Of course, there will be other Maruti owners like the following member (but I guess he is rational when it comes to buying, and hence loyalty to the brand takes a back seat), but they are more likely to exception to the overall trend in ownership :

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

I think we (family) were brand loyal when we owned a Maruti Suzuki.

People automatically assume I'm brand loyal ever since I bought a FIAT. The fanboy tag comes ribbon packed along with some brand cars.

However - with this and the next purchase - a Hyundai - it was both the case of best products that suited the requirements and budgets at that point.

I voted NO.

BTW, I am a FIAT owner too; still searching for that elusive car which can replace my present one....

[starter]

I currently have 1 from Toyota, 1 from Honda and 1 from Maruti Suzuki.
Yet, i have voted to say that i am brand loyal.
It just means that i look for cars from certain brands and specifically avoid cars from certain brands.
Err.. does that make me brand loyal?

[jinojohnt]

Brand loyalty is inversely proportional to your knowledge about cars.

[lamborghini]

I think I am quite brand loyal. Not for anything else, but a certain bias that a few brands hold in my mind basis our relationship with those.

For instance - if I had to choose between a Hyundai and a Ford, I'd probably go the Ford way given the way all of their products that we've had the luck to own etched their way into my heart over time (Ikon, Fiesta). Similar case for VWAG, Toyota, and BMW as we've repeatedly bought a lot of their products / would like to buy their products going ahead compared to their competitors.

Part of this is due to the ease of maintenance (Toyota, Ford), reliability (BMW vs other Germans), etc.

The way I see it working is that we first identify what our requirements are, and the first dibs go to those brands who we've had a relatively positive experience owning - though of course we will check out the competition but the probability of going with something we've enjoyed owning is a little higher.

In case it's a tie between two preferred brands then we go with what truly suits the needs better (Corolla over Octavia for mom who is 100% chauffeur driven as an example).

That being said, if a competitor offers a better package to suit our needs, we will consider it (the S-Cross being a perfect example).

[RoadGlide]

I would say No. Though we have had a few TATAs in the house (9 of them), we still try and get ones in the market. We have a Honda, Maruti, TATA. We had a Hyundai, Renault, and so on. Not yet ventured in to the VAG group yet. But again a car was repeated only because it was good and not for brand loyalty. We got a Nexon then we had to buy a hatch and we loved the Tiago so we just got that. No loyalty involved.

[BeantownThinker]

Voted NO.

Reason : When the brand is not loyal to me why should I be loyal to the brand. The end motive of the brand is to make money. All other statements on caring for the customer are just fluff and hype, especially in the Indian automotive sector.

I will continue to use a particluar brand as long as it is convenient to me.

[Hells Bells]

I am not brand loyal but I have bias "against" a few brands which means I may not even evaluate their products simply because of perception in my mind. Case in point - MUL. I carry this image of a car manufacturer who openly declared safety to be optional and has repeatedly tried to make a lower tech as the default tech in our country due to their sheer market share.

I may be wrong but MUL does not do enough to make me think otherwise with their newer products (e.g. Ciaz with their Jurassic era 4 speed automatic, trend of AMTs).

So while I am happy to buy cars and not brands, I am equally eager to NOT buy a brand.

[Santoshbhat]

No, not loyal to any brand going by our last few car purchases. As many have said, it is the car that is important to me. I generally don't get put off by bad service experiences. Almost all of my last five car purchases have been one horse races. My mind or rather heart, gets set on a particular model and I just go ahead and buy it.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by jinojohnt

Brand loyalty is inversely proportional to your knowledge about cars.

Wow. Would like to hear your arguments supporting your statement.

[VineetG]

Have voted "No".

However, many people do have a brand "aversion" and they would avoid that brand at any cost, however good the product. That's why we see many good cars with minimal sales.

So, every company needs to have a strong brand to avoid "brand aversion", even if something like brand loyalty does not exist

[ninjatalli]

Sorry to be direct, but I'd say this is like an standalone NPS scoresheet - just a yes/no question doesn't give any brevity or importance. The saving grace is the reasoning given by a lot of the bhpians on what option and why they selected the option.

Btw I voted No - clearly I see no brand doing anything concrete to retain my vote. Suzuki's efforts in keeping its dealers in check (relatively) might be one reason to give them my vote, but after owning a VW for nearly a decade, I find it very hard to justify purchasing a Suzuki.