- Most American consumers are not interested in purchasing a Chinese or Indian vehicle, according to a new study.
- Just 30 percent of American buyers say they are open to buying a car from an Indian manufacturer, while 38 percent say they are open to buying a car from a Chinese manufacturer.
- Baby Boomers are the most likely to shun vehicles made by Indian and Chinese manufacturers.
NEW YORK — Don't look for the Mahindra Scorpio pickup or BYD e6 crossver to be snapped up by American car shoppers. A new study says that most American consumers are not interested in purchasing a Chinese or Indian vehicle.
Just 30 percent of American buyers say they are open to buying a car from an Indian manufacturer, while 38 percent say they are open to buying a car from a Chinese manufacturer.
Baby Boomers are the least likely to buy such vehicles, with just 29 percent saying they would buy a Chinese car and only 22 percent saying they would buy an Indian vehicle, such as a Tata Nano. Younger Gen Y consumers are the most open to buying vehicles out of new foreign markets.
The GfK Barometer of Automotive Awareness and Imagery Study said that Chinese and Indian automakers "could face a similar purchase consideration curve to Korean vehicles when they launched in the U.S." The study notes that it took "more than 15 years for consumers to significantly increase their consideration to purchase Korean vehicles."
The problem is that consumers tend to have "initial skepticism without a frame of reference into the company's history and differentiators from other brands," said Don DeVeaux, managing director of GfK Automotive in a statement. The company is a leading market research firm.
India's Mahindra & Mahindra announced last year that it intends to bring the diesel-powered Scorpio to the U.S. market. But its original launch schedule has been delayed.
Chinese automaker BYD said it has plans to launch its e6 in the U.S. as a competitor to the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt. The e6 is expected to be priced around $40,000. But those launch plans also have been delayed well beyond BYD's initial target date of late 2010.
Inside Line says: Ready to plunk your cash down on a Chinese or Indian car?
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jaydeep2shah says:
10:57 PM, 08/29/2011
wow this is a nice that American Buyers Skittish About Chinese and Indian Cars, Says Study and while 38 percent say they are open to buying a car from a Chinese manufacturer....
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jaydeep2shah says:
10:57 PM, 08/29/2011
wow this is a nice that American Buyers Skittish About Chinese and Indian Cars, Says Study and while 38 percent say they are open to buying a car from a Chinese manufacturer....
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jjm95x says:
10:05 AM, 08/25/2011
no way junk cars. really?vvvv as for all of you here . i own one of these mahindra trucks back in india and its quality is unbeatable. yes it may not be good looking or amazingly equipped but just like some american cars they may look terrible but get the job done.
vu1nguyen says:
11:28 PM, 08/24/2011
Junk cars just like the Yugo!!!!
stuntman_mike says:
06:22 PM, 08/24/2011
I've been waiting for the chance to see the Mahindra truck up close for some time now. I don't need it to be pretty. I just need it to work. Ranger is gone after this year. Colorado / Canyon, Dakota (now deceased), Tacoma, and even Frontier have gotten too close to Full Size in their proportions. Those little Toyota, Datsun, and Mazda trucks from back in the day took a thrashing and kept on going, even if they were sparsely equipped.
Bring it, Mahindra. There are some of us who are eager to give you a chance . . .
gris1969 says:
05:36 PM, 08/24/2011
Go on Youtube and type in China and crash test. One video you can hear the German engineer laugh at how badly they did in a crash. 30MPH your dead. No Chinese cars here.
copmotor440cid says:
01:33 PM, 08/24/2011
Finally something everybody on here can basically agree on. NO to Chinese cars.
joe_scuba says:
01:24 PM, 08/24/2011
After the early FIATs and YUGOs we got burned bad, and nothing about China or India screams quality. If you look at the India built tractors in the US they look like cheap toys and those are Mahindra so how can they expect us to like their cars.
grocerygrip says:
08:52 AM, 08/24/2011
Weren't we like that when the Japanese started introducing their cars back when? And to flip the script, they feel the same way, to this day, about american products, eventhough we're on the rise in quality. Give it about 10-15yrs and American peeps will consider(We like alternatives)
500rwhp says:
06:53 AM, 08/24/2011
Skittish doesn't begin to describe it. How about "avoid like the plague"