Decision model for selecting a sedan car

There is a large variety of sedan cars available in the market in the US, and deciding on what sedan car suits a person best is difficult. This paper presents a hierarchical decision model (HDM) to help make that decision. HDM has been chosen for this purpose because it allows the users to easily visualize how decision elements at each level of the decision hierarchy impact the final decision. It is also provides information to the manufacturers to determine what characteristics of the car need to be improved. This paper uses the following six selection criteria: fuel economy, overall crash test rating, costs, features, performance, and dependability. Although there are other factors that go into a sedan car, these six are considered the most important criteria for selecting a sedan car. The authors of the paper provided their quantified judgments using pairwise comparisons to demonstrate the model. The use of the HDM with pairwise comparisons resulted in weighted values for each element at each level of the decision hierarchy. The model was applied to the top five best-selling sedans of 2012, and Honda Accord LX 2012 was selected as the best among them.