Global: What’s influencing future vehicle buyers’ purchase decisions?

YouGov
October 26, 2021, 11:08 AM GMT+0

Data from YouGov’s International Automotive Report 2021 shows that global consumers note price as the most important factor in determining where they would consider buying their future vehicle (59%). Experiencing a vehicle in-person and test driving it appeals to half of global consumers (51%). The ability to customise (31%) or trade-in a vehicle (30%) and receive post-purchase customer service (29%) rank third, fourth and fifth on the list of factors influencing future car-buyers to choose where they would buy their next vehicle. A quarter of the respondents, also, tell us that they would value the opportunity to interact with a sales associate (24%).

Looking at the data by market, it shows key differences in how consumers decide where to buy their future vehicles. Price as a factor, for instance, has a greater role among consumers in Indonesia (68%), Great Britain (67%), Australia (65%) and Singapore (64%). Consumers in the US are slightly more likely than global consumers to say that finding the best price would determine where they would buy their future vehicles (63% vs 59%). Of all the markets in our survey, it is consumers in Germany (50%), urban India (50%) and Hong Kong (48%) who are less likely to care about price.

Experiencing the vehicle in-person matters most to consumers in Denmark (61%), Great Britain (60%) and Sweden (58%). This attitude is also prevalent among consumers in the US (56%), Australia (55%) and Germany (53%).

Customisation appeals to about three in five consumers in Indonesia (59%) and is less attractive to customers in the US (24%), France (17%) and Great Britain (16%).

The ability to trade-in present vehicles for the new ones motivates more future car buyers in Europe, than any other region in our survey. This is most prevalent among consumers in Great Britain (44%) and France (40%). Consumers in these markets, also, lead in saying they would be influenced by first-rate customer service following their future vehicle purchase (Great Britain: 39% and France: 39%).

Respondents in Denmark (46%) and Germany (41%) are more likely to prefer interacting with a sales person when purchasing their future vehicles. Avoiding such an interaction is most common for consumers in urban India where only 19% wish to interact with the sales person.

Adults in the US are more likely to say they would prefer buying their future vehicle from a place where they can avoid negotiations over price (27%).

Getting vehicles delivered appeals to more than one in ten consumers globally (12%). Data by market shows that consumers in Spain (25%), urban India (25%), Indonesia (23%), urban Mexico (19%), the UAE (15%), Hong Kong (15%) and Singapore (14%) are ahead of the global average in prioritising this factor when purchasing future vehicles.

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Methodology: The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 250 and 1488 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in May 2021. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.

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