Gasgoo.com (Shanghai August 10) - Global marketing research firm Nielsen, in association with the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, recently released a report on automobile purchasing trends in top tier cities in China, Xinhua reported today. The report, entitled 'the white paper on automobile consumers in tier one cities', highlights the increasing number of repeat buyers in the new car markets of large cities.
According to the report, non first-time buyers make up 58 percent of all consumers in top tier cities, including but not limited to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Buyers trading in their present automobiles for new ones constitute 23 percent of consumers in those markets, while 35 percent are buyers looking to buy a second or third automobile. The latter group of buyers is primarily comprised of owners or senior executives of private businesses.
The report also points out that 31 percent of prospective automobile consumers are willing to purchase a used vehicle, with their average ages between 22 and 42 years. Demand for used automobiles in China reached 4.33 million vehicles last year, and look set to exceed ten million by 2015.
Only nine percent of current automobile purchases are made using financing plans, with a further 26 percent of prospective buyers stating that they would consider using such plans. Nielsen expects the scale of automobile loans in the country to exceed 400 billion yuan ($63.29b) in the next five years.
According to statistics cited by the report, the roads of first tier Chinese cities are now filled up to 16 percent capacity, over double the national average of seven percent. Manufacturers are taking notice of this by setting up dealerships in areas where automobiles usage is relatively low.
