As competition intensifies, car buying is evolving into less about utility, and more about the ‘fear of missing out’ or FOMO.Panoramic sunroofs, ventilated seats, wireless charging, voice commands, rain-sensing wipers—cars come loaded with features many drivers rarely use. Still, companies in the race to win over buyers in an intensely competitive Indian auto market are starting to offer them in entrylevel variants.
The launch of Tata’s Sierra SUV is the latest iteration of the trend. Its base version has features once reserved for the top variants because no automaker today can afford to leave them out.
Across India, consumers are shelling out Rs 80,000-2 lakh more for features they utilise less than 5% of the time they spend in the vehicle. Drivers admit to this, but if a carmaker excludes even one of these features, the variant is instantly rejected, said industry experts.
Walk into any car showroom, and the script is almost identical: panoramic sunroofs, ventilated seats, wireless charging, longrange batteries, and third-row seating are among the most indemand features. “Most buyers barely use them, but if a feature is missing, the car disappears from consideration,” said a leading Mumbai-based car dealer.
The battleground of India’s auto market is currently referred to as the “absence penalty” in industry parlance. Leading carmakers emphasised that the fear of missing a feature now outweighs its need. Data from Jato Dynamics showed once 40% of a car segment starts offering a particular feature, any variant without it sees an 18–22% drop in purchase consideration despite the minimal usage. Buyers aren’t choosing cars due to ventilated seats, they’re avoiding the ones without them, said manufacturers.
When Hyundai added ventilated seats to its Creta SUV in 2020, only 22% of buyers found them worthy of consideration in their buying decisions. Fast forward a few years, and variants without them in the most competitive Rs 15–20 lakh SUV segment are struggling with lower offtake and weaker resale values. “Feature adoption is now dramatically faster – from sunroofs to ventilated seats and wireless charging,” said Ravi Bhatia, president, Jato Dynamics.
Hyundai, Kia in the Lead
South Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia have been pioneers in accelerating this shift.
A feature introduced in a midrange variant quickly becomes segment standard. “If we don’t match it quickly, we’re knocked out of the shortlist,” noted a senior product planner.
At the Tata Sierra launch, Shaiesh Chandra, managing director and CEO of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, summed up the changing mindset. “With the new Sierra, we are setting a new benchmark for what Indian mobility can be,” he said, adding,“Customers deserve more than the ordinary—a premium experience that elevates every journey.”
For value brands, the growing penchant for features is causing a dilemma. “Skip emerging features to keep costs low, and the car feels incomplete; add them proactively, and margins shrink. Yet staying competitive leaves little choice,” said a senior official at a leading car maker.
The gap between buyer intentions and actual purchases is also resulting in costly business decisions. Surveys show most insist features aren’t essential, but realworld purchases tell a different story. Once three or more competing models include a feature, its absence becomes a dealbreaker, leading to product-planning errors worth 200–500 crore.
“The winning strategy isn’t having unique features, it’s ensuring you’re not missing expected ones,” said Bhatia.
As competition intensifies, car buying is evolving into less about utility, and more about the ‘fear of missing out’ or FOMO. This trend is reshaping carmakers’ design decisions, variant strategies, and the economics of every new launch, experts said.
