The Automobile Buyer Behaviour: Emotional or Rational?

The automobile buyer’s behaviour is a specific one and the knowledge and understanding of the motivations is important for the automobile manufacturers and distributors. Automobile buyers are the beneficiaries of complex high technology products, which have a long-term use. The paper is focused on understanding the mechanisms that underlie the buying process, the buyers’ expectations and needs, as essential elements for producers and distributors. When these mechanisms are controlled, the company can create superior products in terms of technical quality and which comply with the pollution standards, and wanted by customers more than the ones of the existing competitors on the automobile market. The buying decision is a complex process which is the result of both the endogenous and exogenous factors to the purchaser. To meet his needs the Romanian car buyer chooses either to purchase a used car, most of the times an imported one, or to buy new brands, also mainly imported ones. The underlying motivation of either option is twofold in the sense that it is rational and subjective, the proportion being different from person to person In Romania, the automobile buyer’s behaviour witnessed significant changes,the latest preferences being directed towards the used cars more than towards the new ones. The consumption behaviour is also different from one development region to another, the main factor of influence being the buyers’ income level which is different from one region to another. The population with higher income has a higher tendency to purchase more expensive automobiles.