Chinese car buyers rank safety above fuel price

A survey by The Nielsen Company suggests that 60 percent of Chinese consumers said that they ranked safety as their top consideration when making a car buying decision. Price was the second-most important factor (52 percent) followed by quality (49 percent). But the age of the consumer makes a difference when it comes to purchase priorities.

The survey found that nearly 94 percent of Chinese consumers say that they intend to buy a car in either the short- or long term. More than a quarter (27 percent) said that plan to buy a car within a year while 39 percent say they expect to buy a car in 1-2 years.

In this study, Nielsen found some important variances in purchase intention and considerations based on prospective car buyers’ ages. For example, in the short-term, 74 percent of consumers born in the 1960s said that they plan on buying a car in the next year or two. Nearly two-thirds (66 percent) of consumers born in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s say they plan on buying a car in that timeframe, while 60 percent of consumers born in the 1990s said the same.

Higher prices for petrol make a strong case for alternative energy cars such as hybrids and electric vehicles (EVs), and indeed, 27 percent said that they would look at new energy cars due to higher fuel prices. While familiarity with oil/electric hybrids is reasonable (44.6 percent), consumers are less familiar with electric vehicles (38.4 percent), due to the greater number of hybrids on the road. One key factor holding back the EV segment, however, is a much higher price than for hybrids and standard cars. This has held down purchase intention for EVs to 40.8 percent as against 67.9 percent for oil/electric hybrids. The survey also found that different generations of consumers have different needs and priorities. Therefore, car makers needed to understand these differences to capture the wave of growth expected in the coming years. While just 18 percent of the 90s generation planning to buy a car in the next year, they already have definite ideas of what they want when the time comes to buy a car, the survey suggested.

Therefore, now is a good time for car companies to begin a dialogue with this generation, better determine their needs and understand their motivations. The first mover has the opportunity to get ahead of would-be followers. As far as EVs go, and given that would-be car buyers are open to alternative energy vehicles, makers of such cars have some work to do with respect to familiarizing consumers with the benefits that their products offer.