A quarter of German consumers questioned in a survey said they might consider buying a Chinese car, but most respondants have qualms about quality, safety, and availability of service.
The marketing company Puls questioned 1,000 representative buyers for the study, commissioned by the German used car Web site gebrauchtwagen.de . 25% said they might think about buying a Chinese car. The percentage was higher—29%—among those less than 30 years old, and was 40% among owners of Asian-brand vehicles. But there’s also strong distrust of Chinese cars, with 75% of respondents concerned about build quality, 68% worried about safety issues and 47% troubled by the lack of available dealerships and service facilities.
Among those questioned, 41% also gave lack of a brand image as a reason for not buying a Chinese car and 31% cited unattractive design. By comparison, 60% believe that Chinese automakers are capable of developing and manufacturing marketable electric cars.”With electric cars, Chinese automakers have the chance to establish themselves in the German market,” said gebrauchtwagen.de director Roetger Arnold. He added the German car industry would be well advised to keep an eye on Chinese manufacturers when it comes to future sales of electric vehicles.
