Buy New Car Every 5 Years

Korean drivers change their cars every five years. The new outcome of the survey revealed that the period has prolonged 1year 4 months, comparing the result of the survey made 5 years ago.

Corresponding to the increased income, 15 percent of the new auto purchasers have bought their second cars, preferring compact cars followed by the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV).

Hyundai Motors` recent survey of 4000 new auto purchasers on the matter of the consumers` consciousness revealed that the monthly mileages by the models of the cars are in proportion to the sizes of the cars; compact (1435 km)- economy (1513 km) – intermediate (1611km) – standard (1630 km) – full size (1882 km) – mini van (1981 km) – SUV (2036 km).

According to the survey of people who purchased new cars after disposing their old cars, although the average period of using cars was only 44 months (3 years and 8 months), the cycle of changing cars became longer; 45 months in 1997, 51 months in 1998, 54 month in 1999, and 59 months (4 years and 11 months). 17.5 percent of people, who purchased cars for the first time, bought news cars last year. 65.9 percent of people changed cars and 16.6 percent of them purchased the second car. Therefore, the rate of people who purchased cars for the first time and the rate of people who purchased their second cars became similar. Although the rate of purchasing `second car` decreased from 8.6 percent in 1996 to 6.9 percent in 1997 and 6.7 percent in 1998 due to the foreign exchange crisis, it skyrocketed to 10.1 percent in 1999 (one out of ten cars is the `second car`) and 16.6 percent last year.

daviskim@donga.com