The analysis of consumers'preferences towards car brands: The case of Gümüşhane province

Car purchasing behaviour is one of the largest and most important expenditures in the life of the consumers. This study is intended to find out the existing brand loyalty of the consumers to car brands and to predict the future brand preferences of them. In the study, "Markov Chain Analysis" method was used. The study was conducted on 347 respondents. As a result, although there is a decrease in the number of purchases, it is understood that at the BMW, LADA and TOFAŞ brands there is an increase, while there is a stagnation at the AUDI, KIA and PROTON brands and a decrease at the CITROEN, FIAT, FORD, HONDA, MAZDA, PEUGUOT, RENAULT and SKODA brands in the current purchases of participants. It is understood that while VW, RENAULT, PEUGUOT brands are mostly preferred by female participants, TOFAŞ, RENAULT, FIAT and FORD brands are preferred by the male participants. It is also found in this study that while TOFAŞ and RENAULT brands are mostly preferred by low-income participants, TOFAŞ, RENAULT, FIAT and FORD brands are mostly preferred by the middle income participants and VOLKSWAGEN (VW), TOYOTA, SKODA, OPEL, NISSAN, HONDA and Citroen brands are mostly preferred by the high income participants. Finally, the highest brand loyalty of the participants were found to AUDI, MERCEDES and OPEL brands. Key Words: Automotive Sector, Consumer Behaviour, Markov Chain Analysis, Brand, Brand Loyalty.