India's car buyer is tech-hungry, brand-agnostic, and willing to pay for software before the car has moved an inch. A market running a very familiar playbook — just not one that originated here.
19 Feb 2026 | 48 Views | By Anurag Chaturvedi
Seven in ten Indian car owners plan to switch brands the next time they buy a vehicle. According to the 2026 Deloitte Global Automotive Consumer Study led by Rajat Mahajan, Partner and Automotive Sector Leader at Deloitte India, it remains the highest figure of any market surveyed globally. That number ...
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Seven in ten Indian car owners plan to switch brands the next time they buy a vehicle. According to the 2026 Deloitte Global Automotive Consumer Study led by Rajat Mahajan, Partner and Automotive Sector Leader at Deloitte India, it remains the highest figure of any market surveyed globally. That number is the entry point.
More interestingly, Indian consumers are willing to pay 6% or more above a vehicle's list price for over-the-air software update capabilities. More than 60% rate their vehicles' in-car ecosystem as more important than their smartphone, leading every global market surveyed. 95% are willing to pay extra for software-defined vehicle features. These are not the numbers of a market climbing toward digital adoption. They are the numbers of a market that has already decided.
There is a country that looked like this not long ago. "We are broadly mimicking what China was doing about two years ago," says Mahajan.
The brand-switching figure surprised even the researchers. Mahajan expected China, with its wide field of competing manufacturers, to rank first. Instead, Chinese consumers have settled into their choices. Indian consumers have not. "In India, in the last two to three years, we've seen a plethora of variants from various players at a very fast pace — the product development cycle has shortened," he says. "Indian customers are out there to explore new features, new performance, and new technology. They don't mind switching brands for that."
Product quality, vehicle performance, and features and technology are the top three factors driving brand choice, cited by 58%, 57%, and 50% of respondents, respectively. Among those who intend to switch, 35% say simply that the new brand has technology or features they want.
The search for that technology begins well before the showroom. 59% of Indian consumers rely on online video platforms and social media influencer reviews as their primary research source, followed by manufacturer websites and online auto portals. Dealer visits rank fifth. In Germany, South Korea, China, the UK, and the US, in-person interaction still leads. In India, the first impression is made in a video.
The preference within brands is also shifting. 50% of consumers want a domestic manufacturer, and 24% a foreign one. Whereas Japan has 78% preferring domestic brands and only 6% open to foreign ones. India is a more open market than its Asian peers, which means the product, more than the badge, is doing the work.
ICE remains the dominant powertrain preference at 50%, down from 54% the previous year. Hybrids have risen to 25%. Battery electric vehicles sit at 10%, up from 8%. Consumer interest is moving, but steadily.
EV market share in passenger vehicles was 3.95% in calendar year 2025, up from 2.45% in 2024, according to the FADA annual report. The government's target is 30% electrification for four-wheelers. "That's a very steep ask," says Mahajan. "Some manufacturers may inch up to 9–10% of their total volume in EVs, but at an industry level, we are still at 4%. It's a tough ask."
More than 80% of EV owners and intenders plan to have the certainty of a fixed charger, either at home or at work. "Unfortunately, only 42% have that access, which indicates that many people do not have access to chargers at their known and close-by locations," says Mahajan.
The structural gap in India is partly architectural. "New buildings in big cities are coming up with charging options, but it is difficult to retrofit old buildings," Mahajan explains. "In a vertical city like Mumbai, parking is in the second basement or on the upper floors. How do you draw the line to a parking spot?"
The 20% who prefer on-street public charging present a different problem. Utilisation of existing public chargers is low, discouraging new installations, which keeps implementation low. "If you don't install more chargers, people won't get the peace of mind," Mahajan says. "This data should be read directionally."
More than 50% of buyers intend to spend under Rs 15 lakh on their next vehicle. The Rs 15 lakh to 25 lakh segment is growing fastest, up five percentage points from the previous year to 29% of the market.
Other than the price brackets, 76% of potential buyers are interested in purchasing directly from the manufacturer online, the highest globally, followed by China at 74%. But Mahajan resists the direct-to-consumer reading. "It's more about pricing transparency. All OEMs now publish showroom prices and specific offers on their websites. Indian consumers used to shop around and pick one dealer against another to get a better deal — but that's fading. So I wouldn't conclude that 76% want D2C. It's more that they're interested in purchasing from the manufacturer or OEM for greater transparency in the system."
The same instinct drives the insurance finding. 79% of Indian consumers prefer to buy insurance directly from the manufacturer, again the highest globally. Insurance penetration in India is growing, average distances travelled are increasing, and the authorised service relationship makes OEM-backed insurance feel lower friction. "At the point of purchase, dealers always position their insurance as being smoother and easier," Mahajan notes.
Once the vehicle is owned, 30% of consumers are willing to spend between INR 10,000 and 20,000 per month on bundled services, including connected features, roadside assistance, and subscriptions. The proportion willing to spend under INR 30,000 total has grown from 68% last year to 72% this year. What sits inside those bundles matters. The top priority for Indian car buyers for which they are willing to pay extra bucks is features like emergency collision detection, anti-theft tracking, vehicle health reporting and maintenance forecasting. Even autonomous parking drew 75% amongst other options. "They want more features, more technology, insights that can help them understand and change the way they drive," Mahajan says. "We are growing as a country and as consumers."
84% of Indian consumers use authorised dealers for servicing, the highest of any market in the study, far ahead of Germany, the UK and the US. Only 13% use independent or aftermarket facilities. Vehicle owners say their most trusted relationship is with their service dealership, ahead of their trust in the manufacturer and their finance provider.
However, that trust has a clock on it. The average age of a vehicle brought into an authorised dealer for service is 3.6 years. 57% of authorised dealer customers arrive within the first three years. Among those who use independent facilities, 48% arrive in the first three years, but 28% stick with the aftermarket for six years or more. The gap holds across pricing fairness, staff professionalism, and clarity of explanation.
The three-to-four year window before a customer begins drifting is the window OEMs have to build a relationship that outlasts the warranty. 95% of consumers are willing to pay for SDV features, plus, 84% will extend vehicle ownership if they receive regular OTA updates, with a median extension of up to three years. A consumer kept in the software subscription layer is more likely to return for the next vehicle. One who migrates to the aftermarket at year four is already looking at other brands.
The most important factor in service trust, cited by 22% of respondents, is transparency of pricing and work performed. It ranks above speed, cost, customer service, and work explanation. It is, on paper, the easiest thing to deliver. The data suggests it is not being delivered consistently enough.
India has the highest concern globally about sharing connected vehicle data. More than a seventh of respondents are uncomfortable sharing data synced from connected devices, vehicle location data, in-cabin camera footage, and biometric data from cockpit sensors.
Set that against the same consumers who are willing to pay for emergency detection, anti-theft tracking, and AI-enabled personalisation. 85% will pay for the features. About 75% are uncomfortable with the data that those features require. Both are true at once, and neither number is shrinking.
India leads all surveyed markets on this concern, well ahead of the US, UK, Germany, and Japan. The expectation for privacy controls has grown in step with digital adoption, not in opposition to it. For OEMs, this is not a legal consideration to be managed. It is a product question to be answered.
One more detail from the study that gives all of these numbers additional weight. Of the 1,501 Indian consumers surveyed, 892 were from urban areas and 609 from suburban and rural ones. That 40% share matters. The brand-switching appetite, the willingness to pay for software, the preference for home charging — none of these is simply urban instincts. They are spread across a much wider geography. Which means the charging infrastructure gap that Mahajan describes in Mumbai's second basements is, if anything, understated. The consumer in a Tier 2 or rural market who wants an EV is not navigating a retrofit problem. In many cases, they are navigating the absence of infrastructure altogether.
The Indian car buyer that emerges from this study is unlike the archetypes the global industry built its assumptions on. Not the brand-loyal Japanese consumer. Not the deal-hunting American. Not even the app-native Chinese buyer, though that is the closest comparison. India is running that playbook now. The question the data leaves open is the same one Mahajan points to with the charger — whether the infrastructure, the institutions, and the industry will get there at the same pace as the consumer already has.