Sometimes what you see is not the reality. To get to the truth, you should be able to ask people what they’re thinking and what they want.
It is true that for a very long time, Pakistani motorists were addicted to sedans. This had perhaps more to do with the fact that only sedans were available in the market than their love for this body type.
As more and more auto manufacturers keep introducing their cars in the local market, people’s taste and preferences are changing. To say, Pakistanis still prefer sedans over other car types would be more of a perception than reality. This is especially true when we talk about a certain segment of cars with a specific price tag.
To get into the minds of Pakistani motorists and see what they are thinking, OLX Motors conducted a countrywide survey. As expected, there were many surprises which testifies to Pakistani motorists changing attitudes towards cars.
Would you like to know our findings? Let’s get into them.
People with Rs.5.5m – Rs.6.5m would buy this car
No, it’s NOT CIVIC. Any guesses? It’s Changan Oshan X7.
Surprised? Well, don’t be. This mid-size SUV is packed with features and offers value for money. No wonder it is the No.1 pick of many.
KIA Sportage came at No.2. This tells you how popular the crossover SUV segment has become in Pakistan.
And here comes another surprise – Honda Civic comes at No.3, followed by Hyundai Tucson at No.4 and Toyota Corolla Altis Grande at No.5.
Looking at these results, it can be safely said that the upper middle class in Pakistan prefers crossover SUVs over sedans. There could be a lot of reasons for this, consumer awareness being the main reason why a smart buyer prefers to buy a car with most features at a relatively lower cost, etc.
How important are safety features?
This should be no-brainer and our survey results were no different. However, if you think 100% of the respondents consider these features as make or break, then think again.
For 55% respondents, these features are Highly Important, while the remaining 32% consider them Mildly Important. However, 13% of the respondents either didn’t consider these important or weren’t sure about their importance.
Which car has the best build quality?
Here comes another surprise. While most respondents said they’d buy Changan Oshan X7, the majority doesn’t think it has the best built. Majority of the respondents believe Toyota Corolla Altis Grande has the best built, followed by Oshan X7.
Our respondents believe these are the best built cars in Pakistan:
- Toyota Corolla Altis Grande
- Changan Oshan X7
- Honda Civic RS
- KIA Sportage
- Hyundai Elantra
So, it can be said that our respondents didn’t rank Oshan X7 as the best car to buy in this price range purely based on its built quality. They must’ve based their decision on a whole variety of factors, build quality being one.
Which car do you think has the best fuel economy?
Like most surveys, our survey results are full of surprises as well. Majority of the respondents said Toyota Altis Grande has the best fuel economy as compared to other cars. They ranked Hyundai Elantra GLS at No.2. However, this comparison needs to be revisited.
Grande has a 1.8L engine, while Elantra has a 2.0 engine. Grande offers about 12km – 15km per litre in urban areas, while Elantra offers 12km – 16km per litre in urban areas.
Interestingly, Changan Oshan X7, a car respondents are most likely to buy, was ranked at No.3 in this comparison.
Which car offers the best resale value?
According to our respondents, these cars have the best resale value (in descending order):
- Toyota Corolla Grande
- Honda Civic
- KIA Sportage
- Hyundai Elantra
- Changan Oshan X7/Hyundai Tucson
Here, respondents ranked Oshan X7 at the bottom, which tells you they would buy it regardless of the fact that it doesn’t offer the best resale value. Altis Grande is ranked No.1 here though it is ranked No.4 when asked which car would you buy if you had 55 to 65 lacs.
OLX Motors Survey 2022: A Brief Analysis
Like all surveys, this survey results also comes with a mixed bag. It clearly shows that a specific socio-economic class prefers a particular body type (SUV) and is willing to forgo fuel efficiency and resale value for safety features, etc. This was expected as a higher level of education and awareness is associated with the upper middle class in Pakistan.
However, what is surprising is that a majority of respondents believed that Altis Grande offers the best fuel efficiency, when it doesn’t. This shows a lack of knowledge about new cars in the market i.e. Elantra and others with the latest fuel efficient technology.
Do let us know what surprised you the most about this survey and whether you would like us to conduct similar surveys in the future.
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