"Imported Cars Become Common, Domestic Cars Upgrade... Intent to Purchase Imported Cars Drops for the First Time in 3 Years"

Complaints about Imported Car Repair Costs and Maintenance Fees
Positive Evaluation of Domestic Cars' Luxurious Image and Repair Convenience

Genesis GV80 (Photo by Genesis)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] The number of consumers willing to purchase domestic cars is increasing. As imported cars become more common and domestic cars become more luxurious, consumer purchasing intentions are also changing.

According to Hyundai Motor Company on the 13th, the intention to purchase imported cars decreased from 31.1% in 2018 to 22.4% last year, based on a new car purchase intention survey released earlier this year by market research firm Consumer Insight. This marks a decline of 8.7 percentage points compared to the previous year, showing a downward trend for the first time in three years since 2016.

On the other hand, the purchase intention rate for Hyundai Motor Company, including Genesis, rose to 41.6%, up 8.1 percentage points from 33.5% the previous year. Kia Motors also saw an increase of 3.3 percentage points to 21.2% last year.

This change is interpreted as being due to the burden and inconvenience of repair costs for imported cars and the increased luxury of domestic cars. Nielsen Korea recently conducted a survey in the second quarter of this year targeting 400 consumers who switched from imported cars to domestic brands such as Genesis and Hyundai within the last three years, and 300 imported car customers intending to purchase a domestic brand vehicle within one year.

In this survey, those who switched from imported cars to domestic cars cited the burden and inconvenience of repair costs, maintenance expenses, and depreciation of used car prices as disadvantages of imported cars. There was also an opinion that as imported cars have become more common, the rarity has decreased, weakening the 'exit impression'?the attention people pay when getting out of the car.

Consumers who switched from imported cars to Genesis pointed to factors such as a luxurious image, brand reputation, and repair convenience as reasons for their purchase decision. Notably, the responses of those who switched from imported cars to Genesis or Hyundai, or who hope to replace their cars within a year, have changed over the past two years. In 2018, reasons such as 'easy maintenance,' 'economic maintenance costs,' and 'spacious interior' were predominant, but in this survey, a luxurious and sophisticated image, interior and exterior design, and ride comfort were mentioned.

Meanwhile, the market share of imported cars in the domestic passenger car market decreased from 16.7% in 2018 to 15.9% last year, and 14.7% from January to July this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.