An Exploration Into the Factors Driving Working Professionals Buying Small Cars

Abstract

India is the one of the top 15 largest passenger car markets globally and is expected to be among the top 10 markets by 2016. Post-liberalization, many foreign manufacturers have set up their operations in India. It is expected that the small car segment is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15–16 per cent in the next five years. During its early stages, the auto industry was overlooked by the then government and the policies were also not favourable. The liberalization policy and various tax reliefs by the Government of India in recent years have made remarkable impacts on Indian automobile industry, especially the small car segments. Moreover, it is the small car that is going to dominate the Indian roads, generate volumes and strengthen manufacturers’ bottom lines in future. This article is an attempt to explore factors driving working professionals buying small cars. The data was collected from 250 respondents and analysed with exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using varimax rotations. The analysis extracted four factors such as artistic, economical, safety and security, and comfortability. The managerial implications include the following—small car dealers need to adopt strategies to understand working professionals’ safety, security and comfortability concerns and formulate strategy accordingly.