A study conducted among customers to gauge their feature preferences revealed a heavy inclination towards the car's safety features, with nine out of ten customers thinking all cars in India should have a safety rating. The survey was commissioned by Škoda Auto India and conducted by NIQ BASES.
About 67% of the respondents consisted of current car owners who owned a car above INR5 lakh. Some 33% did not own a car but intended to purchase one above the same amount of rupees within a year.
The car’s crash rating was the top driver of customer purchase decisions, with an importance score of 22.3%, followed by the number of airbags, with an importance score of 21.6%. Fuel efficiency emerged as the third most important driver, with an importance score of 15% when purchasing a car.
Regarding crash ratings for cars, a maximum customer preference of 22.2% was observed for a 5-star rating, followed closely by a 21.3% preference for a 4-star rating. A crash rating of zero is the least preferred, with only a 6.8% score.
While the awareness about two sets of 5-star safety ratings on crash tests is high at about 76%, only about 30% of all customers in India identify child/rear occupants’ safety rating as one of those two sets.
Alejandro Furas, Secretary General, Global NCAP, said, “Since 2014 Global NCAP has been encouraging a market shift in India for safer cars. We have been delighted with the positive response from consumers and the impact this has had on accelerating automaker safety design improvements. This recent survey demonstrates that consumers see safety as a priority in making a purchasing decision. A strong market indicator that safety sells cars as well as saving lives.”