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Japanese brands perception shootout


Bhaskar

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Hello fellow car enthusiasts! 

So we keep hearing that the Japanese brands, in general are reliable, durable, tough, efficient etc. Of course there are differences pointed out for service & parts costs for Toyota, Nissan vs Honda, Mitsubishi for example.

I was wondering how are these brands perceptually distinctive to us as customers? What makes someone go for a Nissan vs a Toyota or any other Japanese brands for that matter. So I thought I'd get different perspectives from you all. To keep the discussion a little streamlined, let's focus on the following brands and answer the questions that follow. 

Brands: TOYOTA, NISSAN, MITSUBISHI, HONDA

Key questions: 

1. What are the strengths of the brand? 

2. What are the weaknesses & challenges for the brand?

3. How's the brand experience in UAE - dealer, online, after sales service etc.?

4. What differentiates the brand from the other brands? Could be anything from product features, technology to dealer experience or even something else. 

5. What if the brand ceases to exist for some unfortunate reason? Would you miss it? What would you replace the brand with? 

Looking forward to varied opinions and perspectives! Hope you all find this interesting! 

Thanks in advance! 

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Let me start with Mitsubishi:

1. What are the strengths of the brand?  Reliability, simplicity, number of vehicles on the road in UAE.

2. What are the weaknesses & challenges for the brand? Many models have become a bit outdated, and the competition is fierce. There is only very limited market for a "real" capable 4x4, hence they become more soft-offroad SUV vehicles.

3. How's the brand experience in UAE - dealer, online, after sales service etc.? good independent workshops that cater to Mitsubishi. No experience with the dealership.

4. What differentiates the brand from the other brands? Could be anything from product features, technology to dealer experience or even something else.  Mitsubishi has always been a bit of an underdog, but bang for the buck they remain fantastic value.

5. What if the brand ceases to exist for some unfortunate reason? Would you miss it? What would you replace the brand with? In UAE i would stay with Japanese brands for the reliability and good resale value. 

Looking forward to varied opinions and perspectives! Hope you all find this interesting! 

Thanks in advance! 

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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1 minute ago, Frederic said:

Let me start with Mitsubishi:

1. What are the strengths of the brand?  Reliability, simplicity, number of vehicles on the road in UAE.

2. What are the weaknesses & challenges for the brand? Many models have become a bit outdated, and the competition is fierce. There is only very limited market for a "real" capable 4x4, hence they become more soft-offroad SUV vehicles.

3. How's the brand experience in UAE - dealer, online, after sales service etc.? good independent workshops that cater to Mitsubishi. No experience with the dealership.

4. What differentiates the brand from the other brands? Could be anything from product features, technology to dealer experience or even something else.  Mitsubishi has always been a bit of an underdog, but bang for the buck they remain fantastic value.

5. What if the brand ceases to exist for some unfortunate reason? Would you miss it? What would you replace the brand with? In UAE i would stay with Japanese brands for the reliability and good resale value. 

Looking forward to varied opinions and perspectives! Hope you all find this interesting! 

Thanks in advance! 

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Thanks Frederic for the well rounded perspective on Mitsubishi! The underdog perception for Mitsubishi is quite interesting. Any comparisons with Nissan & Toyota given that they're the top 2 japanese brands here? 

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20 minutes ago, Bhaskar said:

Thanks Frederic for the well rounded perspective on Mitsubishi! The underdog perception for Mitsubishi is quite interesting. Any comparisons with Nissan & Toyota given that they're the top 2 japanese brands here? 

Thanks @Bhaskar from a reliability perspective in my opinion Mitsubishi will be as reliable as Nissan and Toyota, but the spareparts are more expensive. The reason i mentioned underdog is that i've always been a bit surprised why Mitsubishi is not that popular with the locals. But then again Mitsubishi has no alternative for the big Landcruisers and Y62 Patrols.

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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I think Japanese cars in general is indeed more reliable because the technology has been tried and tested. Maintenance is relatively straight forward although certain agencies may try to charge you for various things that are not required/needed. 

 

I completely agree that Mitsubishi takes the crown for the best bang for the buck, and Pajero deserves the special mention since this is the only full fledge 4x4 offroader, be it 5 doors or 3 doors, in the sub AED90k category- even if you buy new.

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21 hours ago, Bhaskar said:

Hello fellow car enthusiasts! 

So we keep hearing that the Japanese brands, in general are reliable, durable, tough, efficient etc. Of course there are differences pointed out for service & parts costs for Toyota, Nissan vs Honda, Mitsubishi for example.

I was wondering how are these brands perceptually distinctive to us as customers? What makes someone go for a Nissan vs a Toyota or any other Japanese brands for that matter. So I thought I'd get different perspectives from you all. To keep the discussion a little streamlined, let's focus on the following brands and answer the questions that follow. 

Brands: TOYOTA, NISSAN, MITSUBISHI, HONDA

Key questions: 

1. What are the strengths of the brand? 

2. What are the weaknesses & challenges for the brand?

3. How's the brand experience in UAE - dealer, online, after sales service etc.?

4. What differentiates the brand from the other brands? Could be anything from product features, technology to dealer experience or even something else. 

5. What if the brand ceases to exist for some unfortunate reason? Would you miss it? What would you replace the brand with? 

Looking forward to varied opinions and perspectives! Hope you all find this interesting! 

Thanks in advance! 

Hi Bhaskar, 

As with every brand, we need to look at the relative positioning to understand the brand strenghts. I am assuming that your queston relates specicifally to the 4x4 community - the wider questions of the brand as a whole impact on that, however, I would argue that the 4x4 perspective is a little different to the consumer of a Corolla, Sunny or Lancer.

Globally, and regionally. Toyota built its reputation on reliability and build quaility and took that equity into the Hi Ace & Land Cruiser sub brand. From open pick ups and indestructable vehicles transporting gun toting radicals (maybe not perfect for brand image), Toyota displaced LandRover as THE offroad champion. 

The Nissan dynasty was created by their successful program of supplying the UN with vehicles - the Patrol's reputation was established as we saw thousands of white Patrols coming to the rescue worldwide: Quite a feat for a company that was not really known for well constructed sturdy cars - Datsun as it was was a copycat that took over the market place of those who helped create it and who pursued equity through supercharged sports cars (That's why the Nismo that would make no sense anywhere else makes sense here!). Nissan has been very intelligent in creating a range of affordable 'not Patrol' models that allow the aspirant buyer access to the brand in a way that many of the other manufacturers missed: Pathfinder, X Terra ... all give the driver the chance to feel the afterglow of the Patrol in a way that the other brands miss. 

Honda - it's a motorbike company. What are they doing making cars? Even though some of the most incredible vehicles come out of the Honda stable like the Accord, S2000, the Civic ... they make motorbikes don't they. My perspective possibly as I ride bikes and owned a number fo Hondas. But as an offroader? They have little equity, and little range in the competent 4x4 world. Shopping trolleys - yes, but nothing that supports an equity for the committed offroader. 

Mitsubishi - is like the almost man. The Pajero (yes, we know unfortunate name in some communities) cold so well have become the undisputed chanpion. It had everything. Great manners on and off road, good engines, great reliability ... but it got pulled down by the sad fact that the rest of the assortment became a plain vanilla brand: a real real shame because at the time that the Evo was really putting them on the map and creating a great story for the brand, the Pajero hit middle age and like all of us got wider, heavier and wanted more comfort. Here in UAE it's the car you buy because it is easy to maintain, parts are cheap, second hand values are low ... excited by that? Of course not, but we buy the car because at the end of the day, it's disposable motoring. 

I guess, my perspective as a marketing consultant is more nuanced than some ... and I am happy to continue to the discussion into any of the areas that you asked, but I think anyone not a marketer might find it tedious. It's my passion, so you lit a fuse ...

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Why Japanese cars are more reliable in the UAE as compared to other makes is because the Japanese worked hard at it. They would send teams to the middle east from the very beginning along with their cars to be tested to see how they would fair in this region. In the hot summers here they realized the need a better engine cooling system besides the materials to be used inside the car, the paint and everything else in between. Thus when you're looking for a car here you prefer middle east specs rather than Japanese or US specs. Other makers did not bother and continued to sell one size fits all mindset and soon started to realize all the issues faced in the Middle East. This drove the resale value of their vehicles lower as people saw them as faulty, over heating, inside materials (plastics) melting or breaking, becoming brittle over a couple of winter and summer heat and cold. So where you'd normally see a Japanese vehicle depreciate 50% in 3 years, an American vehicle would depreciate 50% the moment you registered and put a number plate on it.

This however has changed over time and we see a lot of vehicle manufacturers sending their latest vehicles in wraps to be tested over time here in Middle East before releasing it here. At one point in UAE you could see brand loyalty in terms of 40% vehicles on road were Toyotas, maybe 20% Nissan, 8% Honda, 2% Mazda, few Suzukis, Chevrolet and Ford held a certain place in the hearts and minds of UAE nationals as having studied abroad these were brands that resonated with them. But they were huge V8 gas guzzlers, broke down often and costed a pretty penny to repair. Besides these we more attractive second hand rather than from the showroom floor. You could buy a Toyota Corolla brand new or you could save some money buying a 3 year old Cadillac, look good and it was not driven much. People who bought these second hand did not realize why they had not been driven much, the reason, it spent just as much time in a workshop as on the road. People who cared about value would always go for a Japanese.

One more thing to see here is 80% of the population here has always been expats. The expats have no chance of staying here for life or calling UAE their home. So it's all about escaping some developing or 3rd world countries and earning a living with the hope of saving some for future. This is where the value comes in. Japanese brands were a good value as they hardly broke down, were cheaper to repair and thus sold at close to the value it was bought at. Which meant savings and an investment that was never going to go that far south as any other.

Among these Toyota as @Wrangeld said built its reputation against reliability which hold true to date. Although there are some exceptions and after the millennium was crossed they realized their main income is in spare parts and not selling a car which is good to drive for 20 years with the bare minimum maintenance, where I would agree with @Gaurav bhai about making parts with and expiry date. Best example of this is AC Delco batteries which give a one year warranty and would run out on the second or 3rd day of the warranty expiring.

With all these factors considered you'll not find Toyota ruling the UAE roads any more. You find more competition, more brands, more options with similar reliability. People today would at least list 4 options and try them out and find out a bit more on the costs to be incurred during their possession and resale values to make a learned decision. The social media and other such outlet allows you to learn a lot more and people today are more informed than say about 25 years ago.

My first choice would be a Toyota, but I've only bought 1 in my 26 years of driving and used it for 7 years only. 19 years I have spent driving different vehicles to weigh the benefits. One reason is because Toyota has always been put of my budget and maintaing a Land Rover Discovery 1 was cheaper to maintain than my Toyota. To be fair The LR Disco would break down more often and you could never own one without a leak in 6 months. But it was way more comfortable and cost less to maintain. I now own a Nissan Pathfinder 2001 model for 4 years. Even after 19 years it drives great, doesn't cost as much to maintain, was within my budget and does exactly what I expect it to do, serve as a desert toy for Fridays and sometimes beyond.

With the amount of brands and choices I don't think the world will come to an end. Surely if the brand is big enough it will be missed, but people will find options and learn to live with the alternatives.

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Thank you @Wrangeld and @Rahimdad for your comprehensive perspectives! Legacy, heritage & what the brand has done for years are so important in determining what the brand stands for or is known for in the market today. Adding to it, each one of us have our own way of looking at different features and attributes coming from our psychographic world views and that makes us all a potential target for these brands!

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