According
to Experian Automotive – the motoring industry-specific arm of the global
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information service provider – some 47% of hybrid car buyers would keep faith
with the manufacturer of the vehicle they drive, making them the most brand-loyal
car buying demographic.
Hybrid car
owner’s deliberate devotion to their own particular manufacturers’ motoring
cause represents a 12% increment over the percentage of consumers pledging
their brand allegiance to all other vehicle segments combined.
Although
not a surprise to many with fuel prices remaining volatile and environmental
sensitivities playing a greater part in the car buying cycle, Experian noted
that sales of hybrid vehicles has increased by 130% in the last three years.
The
in-depth study also determined that particular vehicle loyalty – as opposed to
solely the manufacturer – was prominent in the results, with 18% of hybrid car
buyers confirming that they’d purchase another vehicle of the same model.
Again, this reflected positively to the outcome of the same question being put
to buyers of none hybrid vehicles, where the combined average loyalty of all
remaining classes amounted to 12%.
Toyota
Prius owners topped the pole within the pole, being the most brand-repetitive of
the hybrid audience, with one in four Prius owners so enamoured they requested
more of the same at the point of re-purchase.
Toyota hybrid buyers also ranked
highest when it came to the broader vehicle make, model and class loyalty show
of hands.
The Experian Automotive study, which
examined vehicle sales from January 2007 to March 2008, also found hybrid truck
buyers (including SUVs) showed above-average loyalty to vehicle make with 37
percent purchasing another vehicle of the same make when compared to the
35-percent average of all vehicle classes combined.