Indians going for more expensive cars

A survey by JD Power Asia-Pacific has revealed that an increasing number of Indians are opting for more expensive cars, buoyed by increasing incomes. According to the Sales Satisfaction Index survey it takes an average of 10 months of income for a person to buy a small car, a figure that has been unchanged for the last five years. Thus what has changed is the money spent on cars. Also customers in the highly competitive small car market segment who have a lot of best-value-for-money deals offered by auto makers have been opting for the best value offerings. An indicator of this trend is the fact that the Swift, from Maruti Suzuki, a premium offering in the Rs 4.5-6.8 lakh range, is the second best selling car after the Alto. Comparatively last year, the Maruti’s WagonR in the Rs 3.5-5.5 lakh range was the second most popular car. Seven factors that contributed to the overall satisfaction of customers with vehicle sales were the delivery process, delivery timing, salesperson, sales initiation, dealer facility, paperwork and the deal itself.