Section
Ownership
Profile
[Sect. A]
Opinion on
ELV [Sect. F]
Item AE1
(Klang Valley) AE2
(Kuching)
[A1] Purchasing method:
Credit 86%
(Total N = 499) 88%
(Total N = 300)
[A2] Ownership plan: No
specific plan* 79%
(Total N = 499) 87%
(Total N = 300)
[A3] Ownership
satisfaction: ‘Satisfied’
and ‘very satisfied’
combined 87%
(Total N = 499) 92%
(Total N = 300)
[F1] Proposal to
introduce vehicle age
limit: ‘Agree’ 55%
(Total N = 498) 56%
(Total N = 300)
[F2] For those who
‘agree’, what is the
preferred age?
106 out of 219
50 out of 168 (30%)
(48%) answered 10 answered 10 years
years old
old
AE3
(website)
** 801 out of
902 model-
owners (89%)
recommended
their cars to
others
N/A
76 out of 263 (29%)
[F3] At what age cars will
130 out of 405
reach the “problematic” (32%) answered at answered at the 5 th
year
stage?
the 5 th year
* Respondents have three options with regard to ownership planning of their current cars: have a specific plan; sell it
after settling the loan; or no specific plan.
** This finding is related to the item [A3] that signifies car owners’ level of satisfaction.
Table 1 – Automotive ecosystem study highlights related to ELV
The Automotive Ecosystem Study
The on-going MIROS study has compiled several
datasets and the latest ones are from the
‘Automotive Consumerism Survey’ in Kuching,
Sarawak (code: AE2) and content analysis of car
owner’s reviews from a local motoring website
(AE3). These findings can be compared to the first
‘Automotive Consumerism Survey’ conducted in
the Klang Valley (AE1) two years ago. Both AE1 and
AE2 used questionnaires consisting of six sections
that were identical except for a few modifications
to suit local context. Table 1 shows a summary of
the ELV-related results.
A majority of car owners buy their cars using
bank loans, specifically the hire-purchase (HP)
scheme. Based on the current practice, the
period of repayment will be in the range of seven
to nine years i.e. 84 to 108 months. The findings
from both Klang Valley and Kuching were similar,
where approximately 90% of the transactions were
based on credit, rather than cash (A1). The second
finding (A2) shows that 79%-87% of car owners
had no specific ownership plan for their current
cars from both sample populations. Now, how can
we interpret the results from A1 and A2? Is it a
chicken-and-egg issue? This would need further
investigation especially if we were to hypothesise
that the long repayment period does influence the
uncertainty in ownership planning, or vice versa.
If someone decides to be car-debt free for a few
years after settling say a nine-year loan, then his
or her car would have already surpassed a decade
of ownership.
What’s more interesting is most car owners
were either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with their
cars i.e. the results were 87% and 92% among
Klang Valley and Kuching owners, respectively.
The content analysis of car owners’ reviews on a
motoring website, on the other hand, showed that
89% out of 902 model-owners would recommend
their cars to others (denoted by ‘yes’ or ‘no’;
21