ABSTRACT India represents one of the world's largest and fastest growing automobile markets.

Delicensing in 1991 brought revolutionary changes in the industry and provided well-deserved and timely growth impetus to the industry. This attracted foreign auto giants to set up their production facilities in the country in a bid to take advantage of various benefits offered by the industry. Large middle class population, improving income levels and strong technological capability have been boosting automobile demand in the country for past few years. Even in the wake of economic slowdown, the industry sustained its positive growth momentum mainly because of strong domestic demand for passenger cars. Spurred by rapid economic growth, personal vehicle ownership in India is increasing at a fast pace. The relative popularity of the various vehicle segments by size and price are also undergoing marked changes. We decided to survey mid-sized sedans in the range 7-10 lacs onwards buyers in Mumbai, a representative city in Western India. The main objective is to analyze preferences of consumers in the car market. The study finds that monthly income has a significant effect on whether a person owns a car or not. It is also instrumental in determining the budget in which a person wishes to buy a car. It is seen that higher income groups tend to buy cars with a higher price tag. While studying we find that majority of respondents own car which are in the range of 5- 10 lacs. The study picked up the five most desired car in this range and found the preferred factors in these cars. Various Statistical Tools like ANOVA, Correlations, Discriminant analysis, Wilks Lamda test are used in this study. Through Factor Analysis, it has been confirmed that people desire certain factors which play an important role in their decision to buy a new car. They have been compiled into four factor components as Name and facilities,Convenience and upkeep,External and internal features,Pricing. In this study, 49.9% of the respondents have chosen Honda City as their desired car in the range of 7-10 Lacs. While comparing with the least desired car the study found aesthetics, access to service stations, maintenance and replacement of spare parts to be significant desired factors

whereas, brand name, power, fuel efficiency, comfort, boot space, price of spare parts and safety to be insignificant factors .The study ends with some recommendations to improve the least desired car. Keywords: Car, Midsize, Mumbai