Nearly half of motorists (44%) with a £50k budget would consider buying a Chinese car over an established prestige brand.
That’s the key finding of research from Startline which canvassed the views of 300 consumers and 50 dealers.
The Startline Used Car Tracker reports that 27% believe a well-designed and well-made car is more important than the brand, 21% that Chinese manufacturers are capable of competing with established upmarket brands and 15% that they have proven their abilities by making successful cheaper cars.
However, 20% believe European, US and Japanese manufacturers make better cars at this price, 19% say badge appeal and heritage become more important when spending a greater amount, and 14% say Chinese manufacturers are specialists only in cheaper cars.
Also, 10% say Chinese cars don’t project the image they want and 11% that making successful luxury cars is more difficult than cheaper ones.
Paul Burgess, CEO at Startline Motor Finance, said: “Chinese car makers are starting to move upmarket, planning SUVs, saloons and sports cars priced above £50,000 and sometimes costing much more. This is taking them well beyond the budget mainstream market where they have already found a high degree of success in the UK.
“What our research reveals is that approaching half of people who had this amount of money to spend—very much in the heartland of models from Audi, BMW and Mercedes—would consider a Chinese car and relatively few would be deterred by a belief that established manufacturers are better at this price point.”
