Mumbai: An India CAR (customer automobile recommendation) study reveals some interesting facts about the car market in India.

The syndicated study by idea7 (), a Mumbai-based automotive services vertical, is based on the concept of “referral value” and tracks the “willingness of the existing users of various car brands to recommend it to others.”

It assesses various car brands on three layers measured by the product recommendation score (PRS), the manufacturer recommendation score (MRS) and the dealer recommendation score (DRS), and a comprehensive index known as CAR Index, which is a function of the first three.

The Honda City tops the overall and C segment charts with CAR Index of 120 and has, along with it, the Maruti Alto topping the B segment chart with CAR Index of 108 and the Toyota Qualis that leads utility vehicles with a score of 117. The study this year did not include the newly created D segment, as the same has not matured enough to assess customer responses. The average industry CAR Index stands at 97.

The study delineates various value zones that determine the state of mind of the customers and maps various brands on these zones, namely Delight Value Zone, Satisfaction Value Zone, Zero Value Zone, Trouble Value Zone and Shock Value Zone. All the brands lie in Satisfaction Value Zone with only the Honda City touching the Delight Value Zone that begins at a score of 120.

All the brands performed well on PRS with an industry average of 105 than on MRS where the industry average was 90. On DRS the industry average was 77. Maruti emerged winner on the non-product parameters front with all its brands doing relatively better on these parameters.

Other manufacturers that did well on the non-product parameters are Toyota and Honda. The study points at a clear-cut charter for auto manufacturers to focus on non-product determinants of customer experience also as part of its differentiation strategy.

The study is based on 1,641 customer responses collected from eight cities across India, covering all major auto markets, and it tracks CAR Index of 18 car brands including four utility vehicle brands. The study strikes a balance between the objective and subjective side of consumer decision-making and reaches closest to the actual willingness intention through a quantitative model using statistical techniques.

India CAR study is the first study in India that measures the referral value of an automobile.

also see : www.idea7.net