• by Karl Greenberg , December 15, 2009

New-vehicle buyers are basing their decision on which car to buy on whether the brand will actually be around in coming months and years. J.D. Power and Associates' new Avoider Study, which looks at which vehicles consumers aren't buying, found that 20% were eschewing a car or truck for fears of the brand's health.

This year, the seventh annual study -- based on responses from about 45,000 owners who registered a new vehicle in May or June this year -- finds the top reasons for not buying are styling, price and perceived reliability, and they remain the same as last year. The firm says concern over the future of the brand is the fourth-most-frequently mentioned reason for avoiding a particular model.

The top five brands that were avoided over fears -- justified in a couple of cases -- of their imminent demise are domestics: Chrysler, Dodge, Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn. The firm says that when the study was fielded, GM had announced it was jettisoning Hummer, and shuttering Pontiac and Saturn brands; Chrysler was in bankruptcy.

Kerri Wise, director of automotive research at the Thousand Oaks, Calif.-based firm, says the health of the company as a prime concern wasn't happenstance. J.D. Power specifically -- and for the first time -- asked that question in its survey about why a respondent avoided a brand. But Wise says it was surprising to see it so prominent in the hierarchy of reasons people avoid a vehicle.

"We were surprised to see it show up on the top four avoidance reasons." She says about half of Pontiac avoiders mention it, followed by Chrysler and Saturn, 40% of whose avoiders mention the health of the company. Next are Chrysler, Dodge and Saturn, 40% of whose near-misses said they avoided the brands because of the companies' health. Thirty-five percent of Hummer avoiders said the same thing.

The study also found -- not surprisingly -- a relationship between avoidance of a particular brand because of the brand's perceived shakiness and because of perceptions of its vehicles' reliability, rapid depreciation, and the manufacturer's reputation and poor quality.

The economy has also affected imports because of a "buy American" sentiment. Still, J.D. Power concedes that import market share grew 3% this year. The study found that this year nearly six in 10 domestic buyers who avoided an import model cite they "didn't want a foreign/import vehicle" as a reason for avoidance -- compared with 46% in 2008. The economy is driving another impediment to sales, due to slashed marketing budgets: lack of awareness of new models. They found that that one of the biggest obstacles to consideration for the 19 all-new model launches this year was that consumers had no idea they exist.

Wise says the Suzuki Equator pickup, Kia's Borrego SUV, and Forte car, and Nissan Cube all suffered from an awareness problem. "They were launched right before we fielded the study, so they weren't in the market for long; I expect to see improvements," says Wise, adding that budget alone doesn't determine success.

"With Suzuki Equator in particular there was not a lot of buzz in terms of product, and that has to do with the segment. I think there's multiple factors that can play a part in it, and the strength of the product can be just as beneficial as spending a lot of money on marketing."

As for styling, the study found consumers liked the Audi Q5, Dodge Challenger, Kia Soul and Pontiac G3. More polarizing models are the Ford Flex and Nissan Cube. While buyers of these models are influenced to purchase due to styling, this same styling causes many consumers to avoid these models.