ABSTRACT
Purchasing an automobile is possibly one of the most involving shopping processes we consumers experience. The purchase experience often requires both cognitive involvement (e.g., what functional features are needed, such as the size of the car, the number of seats, fuel economy, etc) and emotional involvement (e.g., do I like the shape of the car, or which color should I choose, etc). For some people, the choice of a car is a more functional one, and thus they methodologically compare, examine, and evaluate key functional features of the car (e.g., size of the car). On the other hand, for some other people, their cars are personal statements, and owning a car with an appealing image is an essential part of the purchase decision. In these cases, choosing the color of a car could be as important as selecting a car with high fuel economy, and as a result, there may exist differences in automobile purchase prices with respect to image attributes, such as color. The main purpose of the study reported here is to investigate if there are in fact price differences due to automobile image attributes.
