Proposal Impact of financial parameters, performance, safety features, appearance (looks), convenience and comfort factors on the category

of car (determined by length) bought. Introduction The car purchase process, generally perceived and executed as a high- involvement purchase depends on a number of factors, driven primarily by the customers preferences and expectations from the investment he would be doing in the car. The factors are changing and the priority given to the factors is getting re-defined, driven primarily by rising income levels fuelling changing customer expectations and desires. Around 2,30,204 cars were sold by 14 manufacturers in the Indian market in January 2013, implying a robust demand for cars in this market. India remains a favourite market for small (hatchback) cars measuring less than 4 meters in length primarily due to their low purchase price and less registration and maintenance costs. The present study seeks to study the impact on the category of car bought by variables like financing/ financial parameters, car performance requirements, want of safety features, looks and general appearance of the car, want of convenience and comfort features in the car. The study would help us in understanding the importance of the various said factors on the category of car bought in the Indian market. Literature Review As per Society of India Automobile Manufacturers, the classification of cars in India is primarily driven by the length of the car. The engine displacement (cubic capacity of the engine) is also used as a secondary parameter in determining the category of cars. Following is the classification of cars: Mini (less than 3.6 m in length), Compact (length between 3.6-4 m), Super Compact (length between 4-4.25 m), Mid- size (length between 4.25- 4.5 m), Executive (length between 4.5-4.7 m), Premium (length between 4.7- 5m). The top three manufacturers by number of cars sold in India- Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai mention the specifications of their cars under the following broad heads- car performance, safety features, looks and general appearance of the car, convenience and comfort features in the car. On a monthly sales figures ranking, Mahindra does feature among the top three car manufacturers in India at times. However, since Mahindras product offerings (cars) are skewed towards SUV segment, the specification heads followed by Mahindra may not be relevant to our study covering all segments of the car market. Hence, the broad specification heads followed by Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Hyundai have been taken as some of the determining factors (independent variables) in our study. Tatt (2010) says that the non-product attributes influencing the purchase of a luxury branded product like a car include the feelings and experiences associated with it. The chosen factors like comfort, convenience and performance selected reflect the feelings and experiences associated with a car. The Black Box Model of Consumer Behaviour, Keegan (1992) says that the product itself, its price, method of payment as well as economic conditions play an

important role in a high involvement purchase, especially for income sensitive goods like cars. All these factors, alongwith other relevant factors found from ownership and car buying posts on teambhp.com have been considered in our study. Research Objectives The objective of this exercise is to provide a quantitative analysis of the dependence of the category of car bought on various parameters (factors) like- financial parameters, performance factors, safety considerations, comfort and convenience features, and appearance of the car. The objectives can be summarized belowTo study the degree of individual impact of the said parameters on the category of the car being bought. To study the relevance of the factors considered on the car buying process and on the car being considered for purchase. To study the dependency (if any) on the factors being considered and to quantify the same. To determine, if possible, the effect of omitting any other relevant factor which influences the category of car bought. Methodology A survey of the questionnaire prepared will be carried out, tentatively through the electronic medium. The questionnaire will contain multiple questions, relevant to each of the factors considered- financial parameters, performance factors, safety considerations, comfort and convenience features, and appearance of the car. The category of the car will be taken from the list of categories defined by SIAM. The category of car taken will be quantified by equating the category of the car to the average length of that category, as defined by SIAM. The primary target audience for the questionnaire will the students of MBA 2011-13 batch, NMIMS Mumbai. The survey would be carried out by requesting the identified target audience for the survey to fill a Google- form containing the questions. The survey may be additionally be carried out by face-to-face interactions with the identified target audience. Analysis of the collected data will be carried out using Microsoft Excel 2007 version, IBMSPSS (version-19) and Eviews (Version 5) software packages. Expected Research Output Most of the existing researches and analysis on the factors influencing the car buying process are qualitative in nature and are often seen to vary with the category of car chosen. Also, most of the analysis is not comprehensive- they are focussed on certain selected car segments. This analysis is comprehensive- it covers all the car segments as defined by SIAM in India and will provide a quantitative analysis of the dependence of the various identified factors on the segment of car bought. It is expected that all the various factors identified would be found significant for the analysis. The determined model would help in predicting the preferred category of car for a potential car buyer if his or her preferences and choices for performance factors, safety considerations, comfort and convenience features, and

appearance of the car are known, alongwith the financial parameters like income and loan financing percentage. The Team Chiranjib Banerjee (D009)- Student, MBA 2011-13 Batch, NMIMS Mumbai Gopikrishnan Nair (B041)- Student, MBA 2011-13 Batch, NMIMS Mumbai Rahul Panigrahi (D045)- Student, MBA 2011-13 Batch, NMIMS Mumbai Time Line Approximately 3 weeks.

References Khor Engg Tatt(2010)- Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behaviour of Luxury Branded Goods; available at: http://eprints.usm.my/23695/1/ADW_622_-_Management_Project__Khor_Eng_Tatt.pdf Furaiji, Wawrzyniak (2012)- An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour in Market; available at- we.vizja.pl/en/download-pdf/id/246 Team BHP- http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/what-car/ Maruti Suzuki- www.marutisuzuki.com HyundaiMotorshttp://www.hyundai.com/in/en/Showroom/Flash/SRFOVERVIEW/DF_IN_SR_CF_1208031 53639.html Tata Motorshttp://www.tatamotors.com/products-services/passenger.php?ref=india