Research Article | | Peer-Reviewed

Users' Perception of Vehicles Assembled in Cambodia and Driving Factors for Preferences

Received: 31 January 2026     Accepted: 11 February 2026     Published: 25 February 2026
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Abstract

The Cambodian automotive sector is experiencing significant growth. It is observed that its expanding economy as a middle-class country with government support has pushed growing demands for brand-new vehicles. This signal indicates the shifts in preferences from imported cars to Cambodian-assembled vehicles. This also reflects users’ perception of vehicles assembled in Cambodia and driving factors for preferences. Thus, the study seeks to (1) explore knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of car users in Cambodia, (2) determine the correlation between KAP, and (3) identify factors influencing car preferences. With a purposive-sampling method, 204 responses were collected by using an online survey within a predetermined one-month period from 26 December 2024 to 25 January 2025 in compliance with the study requirements. The findings showed that only 10% of respondents agreed that most users prefer Cambodian-assembled vehicles over imported vehicles. Moreover, the knowledge, attitude, practice, and KAP of users in Cambodia on Cambodian-assembled vehicles are rated at a moderate level based on the class intervals of average scores. All variables in the knowledge, attitude, and practice are positive linear relationship. Furthermore, between the knowledge and attitude, between the knowledge and practice, and between the attitude and practice are positively correlated. The knowledge and attitude are meaningful for the practice, but they have little power on the practice because there are other factors not included in this model influencing the preferences of users. According to several sources, there are eight driving factors for users’ preferences, such as brand reputation and trust, perception of quality, price and value, awareness and promotion, models and features, status symbol, after-sales services, long-standing supply chain, and networks. The findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and local manufacturers to promote Cambodian-assembled vehicles and enhance their competitiveness. This study suggests that the Royal Government of Cambodia should support and promote Cambodian-assembled vehicles more actively. At the same time, the local manufacturers should make more improvements, especially after-sales services for Cambodian-assembled vehicles. Then, Cambodian-assembled vehicles will have the potential to compete with imported cars from various countries.

Published in Humanities and Social Sciences (Volume 14, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15
Page(s) 43-56
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2026. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

User’ Perception, KAP, Cambodian-assembled Vehicles, Factors for Preferences, Automotive Sector

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  • APA Style

    Hy, T., Hin, L., Nhean, S., Seng, B. (2026). Users' Perception of Vehicles Assembled in Cambodia and Driving Factors for Preferences. Humanities and Social Sciences, 14(1), 43-56. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15

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    ACS Style

    Hy, T.; Hin, L.; Nhean, S.; Seng, B. Users' Perception of Vehicles Assembled in Cambodia and Driving Factors for Preferences. Humanit. Soc. Sci. 2026, 14(1), 43-56. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15

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    AMA Style

    Hy T, Hin L, Nhean S, Seng B. Users' Perception of Vehicles Assembled in Cambodia and Driving Factors for Preferences. Humanit Soc Sci. 2026;14(1):43-56. doi: 10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15,
      author = {Thy Hy and Lyhour Hin and Sophea Nhean and Bandith Seng},
      title = {Users' Perception of Vehicles Assembled in Cambodia and Driving Factors for Preferences},
      journal = {Humanities and Social Sciences},
      volume = {14},
      number = {1},
      pages = {43-56},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hss.20261401.15},
      abstract = {The Cambodian automotive sector is experiencing significant growth. It is observed that its expanding economy as a middle-class country with government support has pushed growing demands for brand-new vehicles. This signal indicates the shifts in preferences from imported cars to Cambodian-assembled vehicles. This also reflects users’ perception of vehicles assembled in Cambodia and driving factors for preferences. Thus, the study seeks to (1) explore knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of car users in Cambodia, (2) determine the correlation between KAP, and (3) identify factors influencing car preferences. With a purposive-sampling method, 204 responses were collected by using an online survey within a predetermined one-month period from 26 December 2024 to 25 January 2025 in compliance with the study requirements. The findings showed that only 10% of respondents agreed that most users prefer Cambodian-assembled vehicles over imported vehicles. Moreover, the knowledge, attitude, practice, and KAP of users in Cambodia on Cambodian-assembled vehicles are rated at a moderate level based on the class intervals of average scores. All variables in the knowledge, attitude, and practice are positive linear relationship. Furthermore, between the knowledge and attitude, between the knowledge and practice, and between the attitude and practice are positively correlated. The knowledge and attitude are meaningful for the practice, but they have little power on the practice because there are other factors not included in this model influencing the preferences of users. According to several sources, there are eight driving factors for users’ preferences, such as brand reputation and trust, perception of quality, price and value, awareness and promotion, models and features, status symbol, after-sales services, long-standing supply chain, and networks. The findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and local manufacturers to promote Cambodian-assembled vehicles and enhance their competitiveness. This study suggests that the Royal Government of Cambodia should support and promote Cambodian-assembled vehicles more actively. At the same time, the local manufacturers should make more improvements, especially after-sales services for Cambodian-assembled vehicles. Then, Cambodian-assembled vehicles will have the potential to compete with imported cars from various countries.},
     year = {2026}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Users' Perception of Vehicles Assembled in Cambodia and Driving Factors for Preferences
    AU  - Thy Hy
    AU  - Lyhour Hin
    AU  - Sophea Nhean
    AU  - Bandith Seng
    Y1  - 2026/02/25
    PY  - 2026
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15
    DO  - 10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15
    T2  - Humanities and Social Sciences
    JF  - Humanities and Social Sciences
    JO  - Humanities and Social Sciences
    SP  - 43
    EP  - 56
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2330-8184
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hss.20261401.15
    AB  - The Cambodian automotive sector is experiencing significant growth. It is observed that its expanding economy as a middle-class country with government support has pushed growing demands for brand-new vehicles. This signal indicates the shifts in preferences from imported cars to Cambodian-assembled vehicles. This also reflects users’ perception of vehicles assembled in Cambodia and driving factors for preferences. Thus, the study seeks to (1) explore knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of car users in Cambodia, (2) determine the correlation between KAP, and (3) identify factors influencing car preferences. With a purposive-sampling method, 204 responses were collected by using an online survey within a predetermined one-month period from 26 December 2024 to 25 January 2025 in compliance with the study requirements. The findings showed that only 10% of respondents agreed that most users prefer Cambodian-assembled vehicles over imported vehicles. Moreover, the knowledge, attitude, practice, and KAP of users in Cambodia on Cambodian-assembled vehicles are rated at a moderate level based on the class intervals of average scores. All variables in the knowledge, attitude, and practice are positive linear relationship. Furthermore, between the knowledge and attitude, between the knowledge and practice, and between the attitude and practice are positively correlated. The knowledge and attitude are meaningful for the practice, but they have little power on the practice because there are other factors not included in this model influencing the preferences of users. According to several sources, there are eight driving factors for users’ preferences, such as brand reputation and trust, perception of quality, price and value, awareness and promotion, models and features, status symbol, after-sales services, long-standing supply chain, and networks. The findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and local manufacturers to promote Cambodian-assembled vehicles and enhance their competitiveness. This study suggests that the Royal Government of Cambodia should support and promote Cambodian-assembled vehicles more actively. At the same time, the local manufacturers should make more improvements, especially after-sales services for Cambodian-assembled vehicles. Then, Cambodian-assembled vehicles will have the potential to compete with imported cars from various countries.
    VL  - 14
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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