Car-buying trends in China paint roadways a rainbow

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.