April 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean vehicles lag behind imported cars in terms of quality, services and durability, a local market research firm said on Nov. 7.

In a recent survey of 96,123 owners and potential buyers, a majority of them chose imported cars over domestic ones in product quality, after-sale services and durability despite high maintenance costs, according to Consumer Insight.

“In general, compact and price-competitive vehicles are more cost effective than large ones,” said a Consumer Insight official.

“But compact-sized domestic cars with an average price tag of 30.8 million won (US$28,000) are less preferred by (some) Korean consumers than larger-size expensive imported cars with an average price tag of 61.3 million won.”

Consumers pointed out that domestic vehicles lag far behind imported rivals in terms of durability, among others. They picked repair services offered by domestic carmakers as the only sector which is as satisfactory as repair services provided by foreign car brands, the official said.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)