Car shopping behavior in India.

Last week, Kunal, a friend of mine in India, shared me a photo with his new car on Facebook. His photo was on his timeline. His other friends commented on his photo, saying, "Kunal, that is a cool car, you bought."or "Which brand is it?".



In India, more people are buying cars. Here are some facts from the interview with Kunal.

■Car Brands in India.
1. In 1970s, there were only2 or 3 brands in India. (Hidustan, Fiat, TATA in heavy automobile)
2.There came to Maruti-Suzuki with the help of Indian government.( Maruti-Suzuki being an Indian company and having Japanese quality introduced 800cc small size cars made in India. )
3.Mahindra in Jeeps.
4.In 1991, the government opened automobile industry as one of economic liberalization.
5.Now, most of global car manufactures have dealers in India. (Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Muruti-Suzuki, Škoda Auto, Mitsubishi, Daewoo, Hyundai, Fiat, TATA, GM, BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz), no Chinese now.
6. Muruti Suzuki is dominant in India, because they produce small family cars. The 70% of car owners have small family cars.

■Market share.
1. Muruti-Suzuki has 40%.
2. In India, different cars for different economic segments. When a car manufacture launches a vehicle, they decide a price and the target egment for it.

■How people choose a car to buy?
Based on how much is the budeget, people do comparative analysis.
1. Lots of readings. review websites, blogs on the internet and magazines. If they can own a car they have internet as well.
2. Commenting on reviews and asking questions online.
3. They of course, visit show-rooms and do test driving.

■How Kunal bought a car?
1.Discussed with friends about budget and features he wanted to have.
2.Did readings and watched Youtube videos!
3.Visited showrooms many times. Had a couple of test drives.
4. Spoke with a sales guy. Kunal was interested in two cars, one from Hyundai and the other from Maruti-Suzuki. Kunal did not like Hyundai because the sales guy was biased. The sales guy at Maruti Suzuki was not biased gave him honest responses about the car Kunal was interested in.
5. Went back to home and did readings again!
6. Went back to the Maruti Suzuki dealer and bought the car!
7. Posted a photograph with his new car on Facebook!
8. Kunal keep looking for people who have the same car online and on the street.

■Why you were going over all these things to buy a car?
"A car is expensive. I want to have trust in the brand and car I am buying. Reading lots of reviews, exchanging feedbacks, watching YouTube videos helped me to establish it.

■Do you want Maruti Suzuki to send you emails or invitations for events in the future?
Yes I do. I want tailored information by manufacture for especially my car. I am interested in gadgets and options for my car. If there are owners community and related events, I would love to join them. That would be great if they have a car rally in the center of Bangalore.

■Are you interested in online communities managed by car manufactures?
I would join a community managed by consumers if I am interested in buying a new car. After buying a car, I would go for a community managed by car owners or a brand if that is helpful.

I think car brands should take nice photographs of new owners in the dealer, and send it as a invitation to the owners community on Facebook, which Maruti Suzuki has not done for me. Facebook is my timeline. I am OK for Maruti Suzuki to contact me there.