Auto India, Car India

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In a period of upcoming months, many Indian and Chinese brands are about to make their debut in US market but a recent study has shown that Americans are not very keen on buying cars from Tata, Mahindra or BYD.

A research study by a market research firm GfK Automotive’s Barometer of Automotive Awareness and Imagery Study found that both these Asian countries could face almost a similar purchase consideration curve like that of Korean vehicles when they got launched in the US.

In that case, it took almost above 15 years for the consumers to notice and consider purchasing Korean vehicles in the US market.

The study said that a chunk of US people are not ready to buy Indian or Chinese manufactured car. Such auto-makers who are willing to enter US market face challenges in case of acceptance of their brand and brand awareness.

The study also stated that out of the US population, only 38 percent of the respondents may consider buying a Chinese brand car and 30 percent will consider going for an Indian brand.

Contrast to it, 95 percent are happy to buy cars from an American car company, 76 percent from a German automaker, 75 percent from a Japanese manufacturer and 49 percent from a Korean model.

Gen Y consumers were the open to buying Chinese or Indian vehicles mostly with the statistics of 52 percent saying that they would consider a car from China and 41 percent open to have a car from India.

Probably, baby Boomers were the last interested in purchasing car from these Asian brands. Supporting its report, GfK cited the challenge of Hyundai initially and enjoying the US market acceptance stating that, “Chinese and Indian automakers could face a similar purchase consideration curve. However, we would add that the quality, performance, safety and reliability of the models make all the difference. And Hyundai initially trailed in all those regards. Perception took years to change, because the company itself took over 15 years to offer competitive products.”

Companies like BYD (China), Chery (China) and Mahindra (India) have recently and even from past few years declared their interest openly to launch its products in USA, only to repeatedly delay their introduction.

GfK Automotive, in its report said, “Clearly, the time will come when cars arrive on our shores directly from such manufacturers. For some, arguably, the time is now, as the current parent company for Land Rover and Jaguar, Tata, is an India-based corporation. And Volvo is owned by China-based Geely.”