Global car purchase survey asks - "Do kids drive their parents?"
27 May 2004
HONG KONG — SYNOVATE, a leading market research company, today released results of a global study into the influence children have over car purchase decisions.
Jon O'Loughlin, Singapore-based Global Director of Synovate's specialist automotive division, Synovate Motoresearch, said that there were considerable differences among the nations surveyed.
Kids are king in India, with 42% of respondents agreeing that their choice of car is entirely dependent on their children's and grandchildren's needs - and a further 46% stating that their kid's needs influenced their choice of car.
"Meanwhile the results of the survey indicate that kids' needs appear to be much less of a priority for most French and Korean drivers," Mr O'Loughlin said.
TABLE A: Percentage of respondents who said their choice of car was entirely dependent or influenced by the needs of their children / grandchildren
Base: Have a child 17 and under in the household or have a grandchild 17 and under)
To further probe the role of youngsters in car decision-making, respondents were asked how much they involved their kids in the actual purchase process. On average, 60% of respondents admitted some involvement.
Mr O'Loughlin said that - again - the place where kids had the greatest involvement was India, where 92% get their children / grandchildren involved to some degree.
"This suggests that an Indian auto marketer who throws in a bucket of ice cream with every new car might well be on the path to riches"
"The places where the kids have the least involvement in the decision-making process of buying a vehicle are France and the United States, where six out of ten respondents say their kids are not involved," he said.
TABLE B: Percentage of respondents who allow children/grandchildren some involvement in the decision-making process
(Base: Have a child 17 and under in the household or have a grandchild 17 and under)
Subjects who indicated that they consulted their young family members about car buying were also asked for information about what areas the kids influenced.
Mr O'Loughlin said that cosmetic characteristics were the biggest target for pester power.
"A global average of 54% of respondents said kids held sway over colour, closely followed by size and styling of the vehicle, with an average of 52%. Kids in the US and Korea will need to stick with the finger painting for their colour fix, as very few of them have influence over their parents' / grandparents' colour choices," he said.
TABLE C: Elements of a vehicle that children / grandchildren have involvement with during the purchasing process
(Base: Children / grandchildren have at least a minor involvement in the decision making process when buying a vehicle)
NB - Highest and lowest results are featured in bold
The survey also delved into in-car entertainment. Respondents were asked if their kids or grandchildren had ever requested in-vehicle video entertainment.
Mr O'Loughlin said it seems kids haven't caught on to this concept yet as three-quarters of parents/grandparents replied with a no.
The biggest kid car couch potato hopefuls are in China where 37% of respondents received requests for video from their offspring. The Gulf Region and India also scored high. The idea was raised with 8% of qualified respondents in France.
"We also explored the noise coming from the backseat! The survey investigated which vehicle features children/grandchildren complained about most. Overall, 52% of respondents reported complaining kids," he said.
The biggest global gripe was temperature, a concern of 16% of respondents. Here the biggest complaints came from China. Seat belts were the next biggest source of moans. Nearly a third of kids in Brazil don't like to be told to belt up.
Fortunately, lack of in-car computer games isn't yet a big problem for most kids (apart from 28% of those in the Gulf Region). Germany scored very low here. Oddly enough, German kids don't seem to care much about having a view out the window, while Korean and French kids showed a marked lack of concern about not having a CD player.
"Interestingly, kids in China scored above average in most complaint categories, perhaps a symptom of one-child families - and Korean children were very accepting with 60% never complaining about the features of their cars," Mr O'Loughlin said.
Table D: Percentage of children complaining about certain car features
(Base: Have a child 17 and under in the household or have a grandchild 17 and under)
NB - Highest and lowest results are featured in bold
With all this potential influence in the backseat, the survey also looked at the important question - are car manufacturers doing enough for kids?
Here the USA scored highest, with 78% of respondents agreeing that car makers are kid-friendly. However over in Korea, only 18% felt their children/grandchildren were being suitably looked after. China, with 32%, was another place notable for the number of respondents who felt car companies weren't particularly kid friendly. The global average was 60% thinking car manufacturers are doing enough to accommodate the needs of children today.
TABLE E: Percentage of respondents who think car manufacturers are doing enough to accommodate the needs of children today
(Base: Have a child 17 and under in the household or have a grandchild 17 and under)
Contact(s) for this press release
|
Linda Collard
Director, Marketing Communications |
|
|
9/F Leighton Centre |
Telephone: +852 2830 2588 |
For the purposes of the study, a qualified respondent was a parent with at least one child in the household, or a grandparent. A child / grandchild is defined as being aged seventeen and under.
The findings are taken from a Synovate Global Omnibus survey of nearly 5,000 qualified individuals conducted in the USA, Brazil, France, Germany, UK, China, Korea, Thailand, India and the Gulf Region (UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait).
Synovate Global Omnibus studies cover the Americas, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, providing access to telephone, internet and face-to-face methodologies in 51 countries worldwide.