Are Sri Lankan Car Buyers Too Conservative?

[Pericles]

Bulshit

I have a Kiwi friend there have been using BMWs and always updated the with BMWs. This young boke(student) bought a Toyota MR2 (second hand) that was the first japanease car they ever bought. After that their family fleet gradually changed into Japanese car.

Another example is a SriLankan living in Aussi bought a BMW X5 brand new because he wanted a Prestige Badge. Then he bought Mitsubusi Pajero as a second vehicle because he needed a car with 7 seats. Now he very rarly drive X5 because he does not like the feeling. Pajero is half the price of X5

I am writing this because in SriLanka it is better to get a common model that suits to the SriLankan poket and roads. But if you want to show off get a prestige brand and related costs in repairing it

Ur second example is a bad one for you point. U miss the fact that he wanted to a prestige brand, and he got that. The question isn't about the better car, or the needs. He got it for the prestige. And he still keeps it, even if he doesn't use it. I mean, why not sell it? If he's not driving it as he doesn't like the feeling, why go thru the expense of service, insurance, etc? It proves what xXx says. If its available, if they can afford it, people buy the prestige model.

Also, roads. Do you think the Corollas and Sunnys will deal with the SL roads better than a Merc S? Or even a C? There is another reason to go that way. Sri Lankan pockets come in a variety of sizes, so if you can get it, why bother being common? There are people who like to express their induviduality through their cars.

I'll give you the local example. How many guys on the forum would like to own a Jag? One of my relatives (avid car fan) has a Jag S-Type. He'll freely admit its not practical or cheap to keep. He'd also admit that at that price range, there are plenty of other cars he could have got. BUT, he loves it. 5l V8, that car has. I still haven't had the luck to drive it, but I did get in and check it out one day. I'd be willing to sell my left leg to be able to afford that. (I think its an auto, so no prob) GTAm, you might know the dude. Pops around with a little Italian car now and then too

Even the guys who can't afford expensive cars like to express their induviduality through their cars. Hence the large after-market scene. People don't want to be common. People choose different ways to do this. Heck, even the trishaw drivers like to express themselves. You see trishaws with so many things stuck on, you wonder if the dude saved all that money, he might have been able to buy a whole new trishaw again!

So, True, the majority is conservative. I tend to agree with GTAm on the access to information thing. I mean, thats what we are all doing here, trying to get information to make a better choice, right? Look at whats available in the market for the price, throw out some options, get some opinions? Maybe the conservative trend will change. There are people in the forums willing to take a gamble on cars. The Audi opinion has come up before. Remember there was a long thread on a 1.9 TDI?

[JwesT]

This topic is getting interesting by the minute so thought of poking my head and stir things up a bit.

IMO yes Sri Lankans are bit conservative BUT there are very good reasons for it. I’ve pointed few out in my earlier posts so I’m not going to list them again.

My good man Don I doubt people will buy European cars even if the price tag is low. A good example is the second generation Range Rover. We discussed about this in another thread and everyone agreed even though it looks brilliant due to its high maintenance and reliability issues it is not a viable option to have as a daily runner.

As I’ve said before it really is useless to compare the lifestyle of a developed country with a developing nation. But I do believe life is some what atleast by a fraction is easier for them compared to us. There are rules and regulations to ensure that everyone has a decent standard of living. Both interest rate and inflation is very low and people have a fair share of access to debt markets. Current credit crunch was triggered due to this fact. And they also live large. No matter what your income westerners make sure to go on atleast one holiday per year. They would rather live a life like that off their credit cards and over drafts than cutting down expenses.

I do believe student loans are a piss take. There no set deadline for the repayment plus it depends on the income. I find it quite hard to believe that some student opt out of going to uni solely because of the student loan. Actually if you are from a less fortunate family you won’t have to pay back the loan at all.

JWest…. Where can I start. First of all I think it’s an insult to call every one who owns a super car in UK as playboys. For majority having such a car is a symbol of their success and hard work. It’s another ‘piece’ for the trophy cabinet. One of the traders I work with is so confident that he’ll get a thumping bonus this year he has already started hunting for an Aston.

I also find it very hard to believe that there were no ‘coloured’ individuals in you batch. Unless you went to a community collage up north or you did a mickey mouse course like PGA golf management or American studies.

Last but not least until you climb to a certain level in carrier ladder life is hard for everyone regardless where you are.

And Leo I know there are only had full of fancy SUV’s in SL. My point is people who can afford such a luxury go to extreme lengths to stand out of the crowd.

I did not say ALL the exotic car buyers are playboys. I said MOST!! I know there are some people as u mentioned.

To GTAM

About the "huge amount of money thingy" I'm not only talking behalf of me. I would say my posts represent "an average car buyer" from UK. Yes owning a car is a huge expense for any family with an average income.

The number of small cars on the roads today have increased dramatically over the past few years.

U could get a 2nd hand BMW/Audi/Benz for a brand new Corsa/Clio money. Which will be "prestige" according to u. But does that happen all the time? NO. People who take that option are a minority. Buying a new small car means free 3 year service, No MOT for 3 years, cheaper insurance and tax, better on fuel. So number of people consider that option rather than getting a used BMW or an Audi and paying for its maintainance, MOT, tax and insurance.

If u see the size of the so called small cars manufactured today, they ain't any smaller than an ordinary 5 door hatch. The small cars are built bigger to easily accommodate 5 adults. Small cars are more or less a family cars nowadays. Like the new Fiesta which has taken over the market of its big brother Focus as well. Do u think if running costs was not an issue people would ever go for a small car as a family car?

When an individual wants to buy a car; the first thing comes to his/her mind is how is it gonna be to live with it! Not how cool am I gonna look in it! U get what I'm saying? Its just like people go for toyota. nissan since they are cheaper to run in SL. In the UK they go for a brand new small car or a slightly used very reliable cheap to maintain japanese or european car. I was talking to a trader the other day and he was saying that buying a 2nd hand japanese car is increasingly difficult; reason being people who owns them tend to keep the cars for a longer period of time due to their unquestionable reliability. Cars like Honda Civic has a very good 2nd hand market compared to its European rivals. Mainly due to its reliability and the build quality.

Sales of lower medium cars have been usurped

Superminis are the most popular cars in the UK after used sales in the sector overtook those of small family cars.

During the first half of the year sales of B-segment models reached 1.11 million units – 0.2 per cent higher than sales of lower medium cars.

The Fiesta is the UK's best selling used car

According to data analyst Experian, which compiled the used car study, it is the first time in eight years that the lower medium segment has not been the nation’s best selling sector, although its lead has been whittled away in recent years.

The Ford Fiesta is the UK’s best selling used supermini and was also the best selling used car overall during the first half of the year.

The Fiesta notched up sales of 176,351 units, ahead of the Vauxhall Corsa with 154,224 units and the Renault Clio which followed with 111,762 sales.

The Vauxhall Astra topped lower medium car sales with 167,080 units, the Ford Focus and Ford Escort were the next best-selling lower medium models.

Kirk Fletcher, managing director of Experian’s Automotive division, said: “With growing levels of personal debt, higher running costs, increasing tax and pressures to reduce our impact on the environment, the benefits of a smaller car are becoming more apparent to car buyers.

“It is not surprising that supermini sales have topped the popularity list in the used car world.”

http://www.motortrader.com/26196/Supermini...K-used-ca.ehtml

[GTAm]

Excellent post Peri........... I'm thinking about the guy in the S-Type........ Does his Italian car he owns have it's engine in the middle?

[GTAm]

ok so i havn't ever been to europe so i don't know how the car market is there.

but i have been to many parts of asia, and australia and dubai, and we are conservative in comparision. in australia they go around in holdens and commadores but you also get plenty of sports cars and european cars. funnily enough its the sri lankans living there who go for the toyota corollas and camrys so much so that they are referred to as "curry cars!" by aussies! so it seems like we take this conservative mentality when it comes to cars with us wherever we go! and you do see plenty of stunning cars whenever you go to dubai, singapore, malaysia and HK.

and XXX you can count the number of X5's, cayenne's and range rovers we have in sl with one hand! and this topic simply is about sri lankan car buyers being too conservative. i would say yes, compared to lots of places. and yes, IMHO most sri lankans do have bad taste in fashion too, but that's another story!

Leonardo you're so right. When I was in Oz ten years ago all my Aussie classmates wanted V8 Commodores, when a 4 pot Corolla was available at one third the price and was a whole lot cheaper to run if you consider fuel consumption alone. The second choice if you could not stretch for a V8 was a 4.1L straight six Cortina Mk 4 which with its relative light weight could fly. I checked one out myself but could not afford the asking price and so settled for a Volvo 244 which turned out to be an extremely solid buy.

These are not conservative cars for students except my Volvo perhaps . Of course the East Asian Students had really expensive and funky cars. One Indonesian guy had a NSX and that was the 1st time I saw one in the metal. Most others drove a VW Golf VR6 or GTi, Kitted Integras or a Beemer.

All my relatives in Oz and the other Sri Lankans in general were insisting I buy a KE50 Corolla or Datsun 120Y which were what most Sri Lankan students bought. It was a set tradition. One elderly uncle who promised to take me to see cars refused to take me when he knew it was something cool. However I when I suggested that I'd rather bus it they allowed me to do what I wanted.

The Volvo despite being a bit of a joke in Oz was good on the Freeways and did not try to get airborne like the cars that they suggested. I even checked out a 70's straight six Skyline (I loved that shape) but it turned out to me more of a mega pumping stereo than a mode of transport

This is more than proof that Sri Lankans are very conservative. But hey mate that term "Curry Cars".......... I have been laughing all day What a term!!!!

[Pericles]

Excellent post Peri........... I'm thinking about the guy in the S-Type........ Does his Italian car he owns have it's engine in the middle?

Yes it does.

[xXx]

Well XXX, as you yourself said Range Rovers have a problem of high maintenance costs. This is not something which is shared by European cars in general. We have to speak relatively of course. And when I speak of price tag I include the associative cost of ownership including cost of regular maintenance etc. European cars are relatively more expensive to maintain due to having to take them to specialists and higher spare part costs owing to scarcity. If there were more examples around some of these problems will get resolved automatically.

True say, I agree IF the number of European vehicles do increase costs associated with spare parts and labor will definitely decrease. If I remember right in early 2000 re-con Peugeot 406 was in a similar scenario but couple of years later it totally crashed and burned

For ur information, I went to the university ranked 1 in whole of the UK by The Guardian for my field of study which is Mechanical Engineering. I don't know much about mickey mouse courses mate, maybe u could explain a bit..... Have u studied that? As about believing me, I don't really care u believe me or not, I couldn't care less.

Now I really don't believe you. Not only you went to a popular university you even did a course that is very popular among Asians. Plus the word 'coloured' is used to describe anyone with a darker skin colour and that is hell of a lot of people.

Regarding the micky mouse courses yes I do know a bit about them. Couple of my very good friends followed the very same ones I mentioned earlier. What would you like to know about them???

Bulshit

I have a Kiwi friend there have been using BMWs and always updated the with BMWs. This young boke(student) bought a Toyota MR2 (second hand) that was the first japanease car they ever bought. After that their family fleet gradually changed into Japanese car.

Another example is a SriLankan living in Aussi bought a BMW X5 brand new because he wanted a Prestige Badge. Then he bought Mitsubusi Pajero as a second vehicle because he needed a car with 7 seats. Now he very rarly drive X5 because he does not like the feeling. Pajero is half the price of X5

I am writing this because in SriLanka it is better to get a common model that suits to the SriLankan poket and roads. But if you want to show off get a prestige brand and related costs in repairing it

huh what did I miss???? I’m lost none of the things you say make any sense and who you calling bull????

[JwesT]

Now I really don't believe you. Not only you went to a popular university you even did a course that is very popular among Asians. Plus the word 'coloured' is used to describe anyone with a darker skin colour and that is hell of a lot of people.

Like I said earlier I don't care!! Did i say I was the only Asian in my class? I said I was the only colored person. I don't consider Chinese and Malaysians as 'Colored' because they aren't!!! Anyway Its not important for this this topic. So we should leave it here and get back to the topic.

[xXx]

Couple of years ago velocity started a poll that consist of several exotics in sri lanka. If I remember right andy's skyline and DD's Evo 9 top the poll beating dilli's hummer, roosi's SL, aravinda's Ferrari 360 and arthur's Porsche Cayenne. Just out of curiosity, is that part of been conservative?????

[Pericles]

Couple of years ago velocity started a poll that consist of several exotics in sri lanka. If I remember right andy's skyline and DD's Evo 9 top the poll beating dilli's hummer, roosi's SL, aravinda's Ferrari 360 and arthur's Porsche Cayenne. Just out of curiosity, is that part of been conservative?????

Arguement could be made that way The cheaper Jap cars beat out the Euro Exotics, innit?

[xXx]

Arguement could be made that way The cheaper Jap cars beat out the Euro Exotics, innit?

http://forum.autolanka.com/index.php?&...de=show&st=

31 votes for Japs only 23 for Euro/American

how on earth can someone pick a Evo9 over 911, SL even the M3

Edited December 9, 2007 by xXx

[GTAm]

To GTAM

About the "huge amount of money thingy" I'm not only talking behalf of me. I would say my posts represent "an average car buyer" from UK. Yes owning a car is a huge expense for any family with an average income.

The number of small cars on the roads today have increased dramatically over the past few years.

U could get a 2nd hand BMW/Audi/Benz for a brand new Corsa/Clio money. Which will be "prestige" according to u. But does that happen all the time? NO. People who take that option are a minority. Buying a new small car means free 3 year service, No MOT for 3 years, cheaper insurance and tax, better on fuel. So number of people consider that option rather than getting a used BMW or an Audi and paying for its maintainance, MOT, tax and insurance.

If u see the size of the so called small cars manufactured today, they ain't any smaller than an ordinary 5 door hatch. The small cars are built bigger to easily accommodate 5 adults. Small cars are more or less a family cars nowadays. Like the new Fiesta which has taken over the market of its big brother Focus as well. Do u think if running costs was not an issue people would ever go for a small car as a family car?

When an individual wants to buy a car; the first thing comes to his/her mind is how is it gonna be to live with it! Not how cool am I gonna look in it! U get what I'm saying? Its just like people go for toyota. nissan since they are cheaper to run in SL. In the UK they go for a brand new small car or a slightly used very reliable cheap to maintain japanese or european car. I was talking to a trader the other day and he was saying that buying a 2nd hand japanese car is increasingly difficult; reason being people who owns them tend to keep the cars for a longer period of time due to their unquestionable reliability. Cars like Honda Civic has a very good 2nd hand market compared to its European rivals. Mainly due to its reliability and the build quality.

Sales of lower medium cars have been usurped

Superminis are the most popular cars in the UK after used sales in the sector overtook those of small family cars.

During the first half of the year sales of B-segment models reached 1.11 million units – 0.2 per cent higher than sales of lower medium cars.

The Fiesta is the UK's best selling used car

According to data analyst Experian, which compiled the used car study, it is the first time in eight years that the lower medium segment has not been the nation’s best selling sector, although its lead has been whittled away in recent years.

The Ford Fiesta is the UK’s best selling used supermini and was also the best selling used car overall during the first half of the year.

The Fiesta notched up sales of 176,351 units, ahead of the Vauxhall Corsa with 154,224 units and the Renault Clio which followed with 111,762 sales.

The Vauxhall Astra topped lower medium car sales with 167,080 units, the Ford Focus and Ford Escort were the next best-selling lower medium models.

Kirk Fletcher, managing director of Experian’s Automotive division, said: “With growing levels of personal debt, higher running costs, increasing tax and pressures to reduce our impact on the environment, the benefits of a smaller car are becoming more apparent to car buyers.

“It is not surprising that supermini sales have topped the popularity list in the used car world.”

http://www.motortrader.com/26196/Supermini...K-used-ca.ehtml

I really don't know what you're ranting off about. For a person who's studying the in the top ranked UK uni you seem to get this simple discussion all mixed up. Everyone knows that supermini's and small cars out sell premium, exotic and sports cars. That's general knowledge.

This discussion is about are Sri Lankans more conservative than others. And you should bring ratios of non-premium to premium in both countries not to mention matching that with per capita income of both countries.

[GTAm]

how on earth can someone pick a Evo9 over 911, SL even the M3

It's simply because hardly anyone in SL knows what a 911 is. They don't know it's history, or even perhaps it's engine layout. Not to mention it's motorsport heritage and status in the rest of the car world.

However an Evo 9 is still a Lancer to many Sri Lankans. They've seen them on the road and performing on our tracks. They've seen many look-alikes and it's the more identifiable shape. They are more comfortable with an Evo.....again a sign of being less informed and conservative. You can't dream of a 911 if you don't know much about it.

If there were many more 911s on the road and track here the results might have been different.

Now before JwesT and the gang get all ruffled up for no reason.....I must say the Evo 9 is a great car and offers more performance for lesser price. And relatively speaking it's not a conservative choice.

[JwesT]

I really don't know what you're ranting off about. For a person who's studying the in the top ranked UK uni you seem to get this simple discussion all mixed up. Everyone knows that supermini's and small cars out sell premium, exotic and sports cars. That's general knowledge.

This discussion is about are Sri Lankans more conservative than others. And you should bring ratios of non-premium to premium in both countries not to mention matching that with per capita income of both countries.

Yes I know the topic is about sri lankans conservative attitude towards cars, what I'm trying here is to establish a comparison between a UK car buyer and a sri lankan car buyer and see what exactly affects them when choosing cars.

There are quite a lot of factors such as running costs, taxes and things like that. After considering these; an ordinary citizen does not have much options but going for a car with 'reliability' & 'cheap running costs'. Which is why sri lankans go for toyota corolla rather than getting a bit old BMW or an Audi for the same price.

Unless u got big bucks u don't have much options when choosing a car innit? Its the same in the UK as well as in SL. What I think is sri lankans are not conservative as such, its just they don't have a choice! Just like here in the UK most of us have to drive stupid ford fiestas even though we want something more exciting. we don't have a choice!

Hope u understand what I'm saying here

About the evo and 911 thingy I totally agree with u when u said people don't know much about the 911 where as Evo's performance is proven on track. But putting that as 'conservative' is questionable..

And don't worry mate I'm cool

[whatever]

Japanese cars dominate in reliability everywhere. Yes Sri Lankan buyers are conservative and that might be right.

On the other hand it is up to the individual. If you are fascinated on “exotics” European cars and can afford the maintenance cost, why don’t you go ahead?

[GTAm]

Yes I know the topic is about sri lankans conservative attitude towards cars, what I'm trying here is to establish a comparison between a UK car buyer and a sri lankan car buyer and see what exactly affects them when choosing cars.

There are quite a lot of factors such as running costs, taxes and things like that. After considering these; an ordinary citizen does not have much options but going for a car with 'reliability' & 'cheap running costs'. Which is why sri lankans go for toyota corolla rather than getting a bit old BMW or an Audi for the same price.

Unless u got big bucks u don't have much options when choosing a car innit? Its the same in the UK as well as in SL. What I think is sri lankans are not conservative as such, its just they don't have a choice! Just like here in the UK most of us have to drive stupid ford fiestas even though we want something more exciting. we don't have a choice!

Hope u understand what I'm saying here

About the evo and 911 thingy I totally agree with u when u said people don't know much about the 911 where as Evo's performance is proven on track. But putting that as 'conservative' is questionable..

And don't worry mate I'm cool

Not worried but good that you've cooled down I hear you, but again to establish a comparison between UK and SL buyers we need the ratios I mentioned.

It is quite obvious that many factors like availability play a big part. For example Ford and Vauxhall have the most number of dealers in the UK compared with every other manufacturer. It is no surprise then that they are the best selling brands.

However despite these being universal factors I am inclined to believe that the average UK buyer is a lot more sophisticated than his Sri Lankan counterpart. It simply has to be considering the disparity in development levels of the two markets. How many car mags are there in the UK compared to SL?

Yes Sri Lankans don't have much of a choice and yes this is part of what makes them conservative. And so they are conservative. UK buyers are more informed and have a lot more choice and a lot more money. I'm glad you agree.

However Sri Lankans are generally very very conservative IMHO. We are coming out of it but there's a long way to go. Just look at our music industry and Movie industry. It is very very rarely that we get anything revolutionary. Look at the way we dress. Except for a few of the wealthy population in Colombo most of the population will stick to tradition. Fashion changes very very slow in SL. People are afraid of change. Maybe because they'll be laughed at. But hey you have to be daring if you want to make a change. It could be a cultural thing and I feel it will change the more we are exposed to the outside world.

Like I said before, if you don't know the English language, that immediately makes you less competitive than the ppl who do know the language in SL. You can't read English books and magazines, you can't surf the net. You probably just have to reply on what your mechanic, or neighbour says about a car. It's safer to follow the crowd.

I don't have UK sales figures but if you look at Nov 07 and Jan-Nov 07 sports car sales in Germany, the Nissan 350Z vs Ferrari F430 sales are as follows.

Month of Nov 07 Year to date

350Z - 23 487

F430 - 24 477

Consider the price difference between the two. You could buy 4 350Zs for one F40. And the 350Z is a highly praised car. Both have their respective German rivals who outsell them by a huge margin. For example the Porsche 911 (which is a rival to the Ferrari) sold 530 in Nov and 8149 year todate. While the 350Z rivalling Boxter Cayman sold 222 and 4098.

That last figure also tell us that the costlier 911 outsells the entry level car which is the Boxter/Cayman.

Source - www.kba.de

[GTAm]

Not worried but good that you've cooled down I hear you, but again to establish a comparison between UK and SL buyers we need the ratios I mentioned.

It is quite obvious that many factors like availability play a big part. For example Ford and Vauxhall have the most number of dealers in the UK compared with every other manufacturer. It is no surprise then that they are the best selling brands.

However despite these being universal factors I am inclined to believe that the average UK buyer is a lot more sophisticated than his Sri Lankan counterpart. It simply has to be considering the disparity in development levels of the two markets. How many car mags are there in the UK compared to SL?

Yes Sri Lankans don't have much of a choice and yes this is part of what makes them conservative. And so they are conservative. UK buyers are more informed and have a lot more choice and a lot more money. I'm glad you agree.

However Sri Lankans are generally very very conservative IMHO. We are coming out of it but there's a long way to go. Just look at our music industry and Movie industry. It is very very rarely that we get anything revolutionary. Look at the way we dress. Except for a few of the wealthy population in Colombo most of the population will stick to tradition. Fashion changes very very slow in SL. People are afraid of change. Maybe because they'll be laughed at. But hey you have to be daring if you want to make a change. It could be a cultural thing and I feel it will change the more we are exposed to the outside world.

Like I said before, if you don't know the English language, that immediately makes you less competitive than the ppl who do know the language in SL. You can't read English books and magazines, you can't surf the net. You probably just have to reply on what your mechanic, or neighbour says about a car. It's safer to follow the crowd.

I don't have UK sales figures but if you look at Nov 07 and Jan-Nov 07 sports car sales in Germany, the Nissan 350Z vs Ferrari F430 sales are as follows.

Month of Nov 07 Year to date

350Z - 23 487

F430 - 24 477

Consider the price difference between the two. You could buy 4 350Zs for one F40. And the 350Z is a highly praised car. Both have their respective German rivals who outsell them by a huge margin. For example the Porsche 911 (which is a rival to the Ferrari) sold 530 in Nov and 8149 year todate. While the 350Z rivalling Boxter Cayman sold 222 and 4098.

That last figure also tell us that the costlier 911 outsells the entry level car which is the Boxter/Cayman.

Source - www.kba.de