Styling is top reason car buyers rule out model

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December 15, 2009 Styling is top reason car buyers rule out model | detnews.com | The Detroit News

Styling is top reason car buyers rule out model


The No. 1 reason why car buyers will rule out a model or a brand is because of the styling.

According to a new survey from J.D. Power and Associates, unattractive styling is a dealbreaker for 43 percent of new car buyers, followed by high price (25 percent), worries about reliability (21 percent) and now, a new category -- fears about the brand's future.

Not surprisingly, in a year when two of Detroit's automakers went through bankruptcy and the entire industry was jolted, 18 percent of car buyers said they avoided brands with an uncertain outlook. It was the reason cited by more than 40 percent of car buyers who ruled out Pontiac, Saturn and Dodge models.

The report reflects the views of nearly 45,000 people who bought cars in May or June, when Chrysler and General Motors went through bankruptcy. GM also had announced that it was closing or selling the Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn and Saab brands.

Responding to the survey, Chrysler spokesman Rick Deneau said: "We've been out of bankruptcy for five months now, and we're working on quality and making gains in that area."

As the only domestic automaker that didn't file for bankruptcy or take a bailout, Ford Motor Co. fared better in the survey. Only 16 percent of shoppers who avoided Ford brand cars cited uncertainties about its outlook.

Japan's automakers were hit hard by the downturn, but their financial prospects weren't an issue for car buyers. Only 4 percent who avoided models from Toyota Motor Corp. or from Honda Motor Co. said it was because they were concerned about the future of the company.

But the survey results showed a spike of nearly 60 percent in the proportion of domestic car buyers who shunned import brands because they wanted to buy an American car. In recent years, that figure has held steady just below 50 percent.

Kerri Wise, director of automotive research at J.D. Power, said the trend reflected the severity of the recession and an awareness among consumers of the U.S. automakers' difficulties.

Some brands were more vulnerable to protectionist sentiment than others. Domestic car buyers were far more likely to single out Toyota as a foreign brand they wouldn't consider than Honda, the survey found.

The other reasons car shoppers cited for avoiding foreign brands was the high cost and the small size of the vehicles.

Shoppers who ruled out domestic brands continue to cite concerns about their quality and reliability. But the perception doesn't always square with the results of J.D. Power's quality and reliability surveys, Wise said.

"When it comes to the domestics and the Koreans, they're avoided at a higher rate than is warranted, when you look at the actual experience of their buyers," she said.