Tech culture: Chinese consumers are buying cars online using VR, without kicking the proverbial tyre

Many who have benefited most from China’s economic boom over the past decade have not been shy about flaunting their wealth — providing a boon in sales for luxury goods makers and high-end automakers such as Ferrari and Maserati.

Times are changing though and amid the recent economic slowdown more and more ordinary Chinese are turning to the second-hand car market to meet their driving needs.

Newly-married Ma Pengxiao is 25 years old, lives in Weinan, a small city in China’s northwestern province of Shaanxi, and is now a member of a growing band of Chinese who have just bought their first ever second-hand car.

Ma used his own savings to pay a 13,000 yuan (US$1,945) deposit last August for a 2-year-old Ford Focus and has signed a loan agreement to pay off the remaining cost in monthly instalments.

“My parents already spent a lot of money decorating my new house,” said Ma. “I couldn’t ask them to buy me a car.”

The story sounds fairly typical so far but what makes Ma’s purchase different is that he never saw the physical car before buying it.