Imports make up half of car sales in the US, but a vehicle's country of origin still plays an important role in the choice of which make and model a consumer will ultimately purchase, according to a recent JD Power and Associates study.
According to the report, almost 80 percent of those setting out to look for a new vehicle will limit their consideration to include only domestic or only imported models. Cross-shoppers, who include import and domestic vehicles in their consideration, often choose a domestic car for financial reasons, indicating that import automakers didn't offer aggressive enough incentives or rebates.
On the other hand, import buyers will often reject a domestic vehicle due to perceived problems with resale value, mileage or reliability.
"These findings point to continued difficulties for the Big Three in Detroit as they try to win back some of the market share they lost to the imports," said Kara Steslicki, a research manager at J.D. Power. "It also suggests that too few U.S. consumers have caught on to the fact that cars and trucks offered by Detroit automakers are in many cases as good, if not better, than their rivals from Asia and Europe. Reliability and resale value perceptions are difficult to change overnight, especially considering that people are already rejecting domestic vehicles because of this."
Interestingly, over 20 percent of shoppers rejected a particular model after consulting the internet for information.
According to the report, almost 80 percent of those setting out to look for a new vehicle will limit their consideration to include only domestic or only imported models. Cross-shoppers, who include import and domestic vehicles in their consideration, often choose a domestic car for financial reasons, indicating that import automakers didn't offer aggressive enough incentives or rebates.
On the other hand, import buyers will often reject a domestic vehicle due to perceived problems with resale value, mileage or reliability.
"These findings point to continued difficulties for the Big Three in Detroit as they try to win back some of the market share they lost to the imports," said Kara Steslicki, a research manager at J.D. Power. "It also suggests that too few U.S. consumers have caught on to the fact that cars and trucks offered by Detroit automakers are in many cases as good, if not better, than their rivals from Asia and Europe. Reliability and resale value perceptions are difficult to change overnight, especially considering that people are already rejecting domestic vehicles because of this."
Interestingly, over 20 percent of shoppers rejected a particular model after consulting the internet for information.