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Top 10 Reasons People Reject a Car
Many young people still think that American cars grow on lemon trees. But they're wrong. Now it's incumbent on domestic automakers to win back the respect they've lost in decades past.

March 6, 2008

One of the top reasons for rejecting a car is that it is too small. When Jessica Tomcsik shops for a new car, she’s never sure exactly what she wants. But she sure knows what she doesn’t want. “I would never buy a domestic car,” says the 28-year-old elementary school teacher from St. Inigoes, Md. “Vehicles from overseas are just of a higher quality in general.” Tomcsik bought a 2005 Toyota Prius to replace her older Toyota Corolla. “You have fewer problems with an import, and you have a sense that things are going to be OK with your car,” she says.

Consumers’ belief that imports are of superior quality has been around for years, and in the 1980s and ‘90s it might have been true. But in recent years, that perception has become unfounded as most analysts agree that American models are generally as reliable as imports.

Still, many people aren’t convinced — especially young folks.

Car buyers aged 30 and under are the most likely to avoid buying a domestic vehicle, according to J.D. Power & Associates’ Avoider Study, which surveyed 35,000 people who registered new vehicles in 2007.

“Oh, where do I start with domestics?" says Elliott Cheng, a 30-year-old network engineer from Lexington Park, Md., who drives a 2002 Porsche Boxster S. "One factor would be reliability. Another would be design. And, three, the word of mouth is pretty bad for domestics. It’s also a matter of image. Would you rather drive a Ford or a Porsche?” The reasons Cheng gives for dismissing domestic vehicles are consistent with data from current consumer research which covers both foreign and domestic purchases and asked car buyers what factors would cause them to stay away from a particular model. The top factors cited by survey respondents who consciously rejected domestic vehicles include reliability, dependability, depreciation, and gas mileage.

Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors — known as the “Big Three” to industry insiders — have made strides in terms of quality and reliability, but they’ve only just begun to offer the kinds of vehicles that will appeal to a younger audience. “Young people buy less expensive and more compact vehicles, and for the longest time, the Big Three didn’t focus on the smaller car market, but on the minivan market and larger vehicles,” says one industry observer. “That doesn’t speak well for domestics. You want to attract the younger buyer base because they have their whole lives ahead of them to buy cars.”

David Morrison, president of the Philadelphia-based young adult consultancy TWENTYSOMETHING Inc., says that as Baby Boomers slide into retirement, it’s incumbent on domestic automakers to reach out to consumers in their 20s and early 30s. “At some point, Boomers are going to be buying their ‘Hail Mary’ cars as they exit the workforce, and they’ll be conservative with their car buying going forward,” he says. “They’ll be buying below their means, especially with the economy the way it is.”

Ford with its Mustang and Chrysler with its Jeep subsidiary have done a decent job of appealing to young consumers from both a marketing and product perspective, Morrison says, but there needs to be a much deeper selection of vehicles for young people to choose from.

The Big Three are already working on it. Saturn just unveiled the small and sporty Astra hatchback and Ford has announced that it will bring its all-new Fiesta, which is smaller than the Focus, to the U.S. But because most people don’t buy their first new car until their mid to late 20s, connecting with consumers is a game of catch-up for automakers, regardless of whether they’re foreign or domestic. That’s different than with other products, which are packaged and sold to consumers at a much younger age.

There’s still room to capture younger buyers, but the window of opportunity is shutting. “China and India are going to be entering the domestic market soon with lower-cost entry vehicles, and that will make it even tougher for Detroit,” says TWENTYSOMETHING's Morrison.

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