Driving ease, safety top buyer priorities in JD Power survey

New-vehicle owners in India want features and technologies that help in the driving convenience and visibility and safety, says a J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2014 India Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study released today.

The India APEAL Study now in its 16^th  year measures satisfaction across 10 performance categories: vehicle exterior; vehicle interior; storage and space; audio/ entertainment/ navigation; seats; heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC); driving dynamics; engine/ transmission; visibility and driving safety; and fuel economy. Overall APEAL performance is reported as an index score based on a 1,000-point scale, with a higher score indicating higher satisfaction.

Visibility and driving safety is the most influential performance category on new-vehicle customer satisfaction in the small car market, contributing 16 percent to the overall APEAL score. It is the third-most impacting category in the midsize segment contributing  13 percent to overall satisfaction.

The table below shows the percentage of small-car owners that “want” the listed safety feature on their next new vehicle and the percentage of small-car owners who already “have” the feature on their current vehicle.

Demand - small-car owners that “want” this feature          

Current Installation Rates – small-car owners that "have" this feature

“The rapid and substantial increase in demand for safety features by vehicle buyers in India over the last few years underscores the need for OEs  to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions to address customer expectations,” said Mohit Arora, executive director at J.D. Power Asia Pacific, Singapore.  “While India shows interest in some of these basic safety features, globally, there is a growing interest in a variety of more advanced vehicle safety features. In developed markets, such as the US, we are seeing a rising demand for emerging safety technologies that include low speed collision avoidance systems and fully autonomous parking systems.” 

In addition, owners also value driving convenience. For example, while automatic transmissions are currently found in only five percent of the new vehicles sold in India, 82 percent of owners want the option in their next vehicle. APEAL scores among mass market vehicles equipped with an automatic transmission average 869, compared with 854 among mass market vehicles with manual transmissions.

“According to the study, new-vehicle owners spend nearly two hours commuting each day, on average, which is almost a15 percent increase from 2011. With the addition of more than 2.5 million passenger vehicles to the roads in India in 2013, average commute time is expected to further increase, supporting customers’ demand for technologies and features that make the overall driving experience safer and less strenuous,” said Arora.

In the light of the recent developments on safety and the findings of the GNCAP study in particular, safety has become an issue in the automotive public space. In this context, the demand for features such as ABS and airbags is instructive. But will buyer be ready to pay for these remains the question.