Identifying the factors affecting automobile type preferences in Turkey

The objective of this study was to identify the factors affecting automobile type preferences. To meet the objectives, a survey was conducted in April-May period of 2011 with 715 participants in Istanbul, Ankara, Gaziantep, Kayseri and Konya, which are some of the major cities located in different parts of Turkey. Multinomial logit model was used to estimate the empirical models. The results showed that the model year of a car, gender, age, income and the education level of the participants, and the number of children in the family affected automobile body type preference. The results of the second empirical model showed that the number of cars in the family, the importance attached to dependability, comfort and design, age, education level and income of the participants, and the number of children had explanatory power on automobile segment preference.