NEW SURVEY SHOWS WHAT UK CAR BUYERS REALLY WANT
24 January 2006 - SMMT

Price - not safety, speed or emissions is the driving factor

Price is the priority not safety, top speed or low emissions when customers buy a new car according to results of a survey released by The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders yesterday.

The survey, compiled to promote the SMMT’s ‘Drive Green, Drive Safely’ campaign, headlined on the result that nearly a third of drivers have not worn a seatbelt while in a moving car in the last year and only 2.8 per cent of car buyers were interested in low emission levels of their potential new car.

However a question neatly camouflaged in the survey of 2,048 adults, aged over 17 years and undertaken nationwide between the 10th and 16th January 2006, was one the car industry really wanted answered.

The question was: “Of the following, which would be the first thing you look for in a car if you had to buy one.”

The answer proves that the majority of today’s customers are driven by price as 52.3 per cent said the car had to be the right price. Safety features only attracted 23.1 per cent, fuel economy 18.1 per cent, performance - as in top speed, just 3.8 per cent and low emissions - the factor that governs the taxation levels of a car, was important to just 2.8 per cent of car buyers.

So real people who buy real cars are mainly interested in the price. They don’t care how fast it goes or how ‘clean’ it is for emissions.

In all age groups surveyed, 17-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54 and 55+, the priorities were the same.

By region, Northern Ireland recorded the highest number of survey respondents, 63 per cent, saying that cars need to be the right price whilst the lowest percentage was in Scotland where price was still the top issue with 47 per cent saying it was their priority.

The RAC Foundation put a different ‘spin’ on the survey. They seemed to have missed the point altogether that the survey showed overwhelmingly over half of today’s car buyers were more interested in price.

They said, “We believe the attitudes to car buying are changing.” They highlighted the fact that car buyers say that safety, (23 per cent) and fuel economy (18 per cent) takes precedence over top speed (3.8 per cent). True but all these three issues together do not add up to fact that price is the priority.

Miles Better News Agency

www.smmt.co.uk

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