Car-buying trends paint roadways a rainbow
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A Benz SMART car with a tiger pattern at an auto dealership in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. China Fashion and Color Association predicts brighter colors like orange will be the new fashion trend in this year's car market. [China Daily] |
After wrestling over plans to buy a car for nearly a year, Stella Chen finally selected a Mini Cooper Cheer, and not the car her friends suggested, a Volkswagen Golf GTI.
Why the Mini? Because she liked the color.
"I know that there are many factors why people choose a specific car, however, I have to admit that color was key to me in making the final decision," said Chen.
And even though the 28-year-old Beijing lawyer believes the Golf GTI offers much better driving performance than the Mini, nevertheless, she chose the Mini for its color - yellow. "If Volkswagen would have had a yellow GTI on the lot, I would bought one on the spot."
Chen's case is far from the exception in today's domestic auto market.
"For some young drivers - especially women - the car's external appearance is more important than the technological equipment on board," said Hui Yumei, an auto analyst with Sinotrust, an industry research company. "They want to show off their personalities through the selection of a distinct color."
"That attitude is the result of (an ongoing) transformation of Chinese car buyers' consumption habits since the car-buying boom started last year," she told China Daily.
During the last three years, local car buyers have become younger and the percentage of women owning cars has increased. More importantly, cars are no longer an out-of-reach luxury for many city dwellers.
"These changes have brought a rainbow of colors to traffic on the roads in China today," said Hui.
Previously, the norm for Chinese car buyers was to choose more conservative and less conspicuous colors like black, gray, silver and blue, which were primarily for official or business use," said Hui.
Now it's more about standing out."Chinese consumers now want to distinguish their private cars by selecting brighter colors."
According to a survey conducted by a US-based color research firm, the average person takes 7 seconds to formulate their first impression of a product, and color makes up 67 percent of that decision-making process.
Another report, released by Beijing-based China Fashion and Color Association on 2010 car color and fashion trends, found 43.2 percent of Chinese consumers will change their buying strategy if the target brand does not offer the color they prefer.
"A successful color scheme can add additional 15 to 30 percent to the value of a car," said Liang Yong, chairman of the China Color and Fashion Association. "Although there is yet to be a mature system of color design in China's automobile industry, I believe in the near future, as private auto consumption becomes more mainstream, color will be a very important factor automakers have to pay attention to win market share."
Last year, red proved very popular in auto showrooms as it represents good luck and prosperity according to Chinese tradition.
In 2009, red cars made up 9 percent of all new vehicle registrations, up from 5 percent in 2008, making it the fastest growing color choice.
At one Shanghai GM dealership in Beijing, 30 percent of new Buick Regals sold last year were red. "Customers are willing to wait for several months for a red car," said a salesman that declined to be identified.
Over at Chery Automobile Co, red versions of one popular model, the QQ mini, account for more than 30 percent of the State-owned car producer's small vehicle sales.
Other car makers too are aware of a car color's impact on consumers. "Color has been a key factor in car sales. So when designing and developing a new model, we will select the color early on according to consumer preferences and current fashion trends," said Chen Binbo, vice-director of Dongfeng Nissan's marketing department.
According to the China Fashion and Color Association's report, traditional colors like black, silver, dark blue, blue, white, dark red and red will remain the dominant car colors, while brighter colors like orange will be the new fashion trend in this year's car market.
"Chinese people prefer medium-sized sedans in silver or gray, larger luxury sedans in black and small economy or sporty cars in orange, yellow, green and purple," said China Color's Liang.
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