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Proposal

Impact of financial parameters, performance, safety features, appearance (looks),

convenience and comfort factors on the category of car (determined by length) bought.

Introduction

The car purchase process, generally perceived and executed as a high- involvement purchase

depends on a number of factors, driven primarily by the customers preferences and

expectations from the investment he would be doing in the car. The factors are changing and

the priority given to the factors is getting re-defined, driven primarily by rising income levels

fuelling changing customer expectations and desires. Around 2,30,204 cars were sold by 14

manufacturers in the Indian market in January 2013, implying a robust demand for cars in

this market. India remains a favourite market for small (hatchback) cars measuring less than 4

meters in length primarily due to their low purchase price and less registration and

maintenance costs.

The present study seeks to study the impact on the category of car bought by variables like

financing/ financial parameters, car performance requirements, want of safety features, looks

and general appearance of the car, want of convenience and comfort features in the car. The

study would help us in understanding the importance of the various said factors on the

category of car bought in the Indian market.

Literature Review

As per Society of India Automobile Manufacturers, the classification of cars in India isprimarily driven by the length of the car. The engine displacement (cubic capacity of the

engine) is also used as a secondary parameter in determining the category of cars. Following

is the classification of cars: Mini (less than 3.6 m in length), Compact (length between 3.6-4

m), Super Compact (length between 4-4.25 m), Mid- size (length between 4.25- 4.5 m),

Executive (length between 4.5-4.7 m), Premium (length between 4.7- 5m). The top three

manufacturers by number of cars sold in India- Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai

mention the specifications of their cars under the following broad heads- car performance,

safety features, looks and general appearance of the car, convenience and comfort features in

the car. On a monthly sales figures ranking, Mahindra does feature among the top three car

manufacturers in India at times. However, since Mahindras product offerings (cars) are

skewed towards SUV segment, the specification heads followed by Mahindra may not be

relevant to our study covering all segments of the car market. Hence, the broad specification

heads followed by Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai have been taken as some of the

determining factors (independent variables) in our study.

Tatt (2010) says that the non-product attributes influencing the purchase of a luxury branded

product like a car include the feelings and experiences associated with it. The chosen factors

like comfort, convenience and performance selected reflect the feelings and experiences

associated with a car. The Black Box Model of Consumer Behaviour, Keegan (1992) says

that the product itself, its price, method of payment as well as economic conditions play an

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important role in a high involvement purchase, especially for income sensitive goods like

cars. All these factors, alongwith other relevant factors found from ownership and car buying

posts on teambhp.com have been considered in our study.

Research Objectives

The objective of this exercise is to provide a quantitative analysis of the dependence of the

category of car bought on various parameters (factors) like- financial parameters,

performance factors, safety considerations, comfort and convenience features, and

appearance of the car. The objectives can be summarized below-

To study the degree of individual impact of the said parameters on the category of thecar being bought.

To study the relevance of the factors considered on the car buying process and on thecar being considered for purchase.

To study the dependency (if any) on the factors being considered and to quantify thesame.

To determine, if possible, the effect of omitting any other relevant factor whichinfluences the category of car bought.

Methodology

A survey of the questionnaire prepared will be carried out, tentatively through the electronic

medium. The questionnaire will contain multiple questions, relevant to each of the factors

considered- financial parameters, performance factors, safety considerations, comfort and

convenience features, and appearance of the car. The category of the car will be taken fromthe list of categories defined by SIAM. The category of car taken will be quantified by

equating the category of the car to the average length of that category, as defined by SIAM.

The primary target audience for the questionnaire will the students of MBA 2011-13 batch,

NMIMS Mumbai. The survey would be carried out by requesting the identified target

audience for the survey to fill a Google- form containing the questions. The survey may be

additionally be carried out by face-to-face interactions with the identified target audience.

Analysis of the collected data will be carried out using Microsoft Excel 2007 version, IBM-

SPSS (version-19) and Eviews (Version 5) software packages.

Expected Research Output

Most of the existing researches and analysis on the factors influencing the car buying process

are qualitative in nature and are often seen to vary with the category of car chosen. Also,

most of the analysis is not comprehensive- they are focussed on certain selected car

segments. This analysis is comprehensive- it covers all the car segments as defined by SIAM

in India and will provide a quantitative analysis of the dependence of the various identified

factors on the segment of car bought. It is expected that all the various factors identified

would be found significant for the analysis. The determined model would help in predicting

the preferred category of car for a potential car buyer if his or her preferences and choices for

performance factors, safety considerations, comfort and convenience features, and

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appearance of the car are known, alongwith the financial parameters like income and loan

financing percentage.

The Team

Chiranjib Banerjee (D009)- Student, MBA 2011-13 Batch, NMIMS Mumbai

Gopikrishnan Nair (B041)- Student, MBA 2011-13 Batch, NMIMS Mumbai

Rahul Panigrahi (D045)- Student, MBA 2011-13 Batch, NMIMS Mumbai

Time Line

Approximately 3 weeks.

References

Khor Engg Tatt(2010)- Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behaviour of Luxury Branded

Goods; available at: http://eprints.usm.my/23695/1/ADW_622_-_Management_Project_-

_Khor_Eng_Tatt.pdf

Furaiji, Wawrzyniak (2012)- An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing Consumer

Behaviour in Market; available at- we.vizja.pl/en/download-pdf/id/246

Team BHP- http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-car/

Maruti Suzuki- www.marutisuzuki.com

HyundaiMotors-

http://www.hyundai.com/in/en/Showroom/Flash/SRFOVERVIEW/DF_IN_SR_CF_1208031

53639.html

Tata Motors-

http://www.tatamotors.com/products-services/passenger.php?ref=india