Arthur D. Little: Is the Car Industry about to Change for Good?

New survey sheds light on end customers’ view of car sharing, autonomous
driving and electric mobility

LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In their new “Global Automotive Mobility Study”, experts from strategy
and innovation consultancy Arthur D. Little shed light on the three
megatrends of autonomous driving, electric mobility and car sharing.
Sixty-five thousand end consumers from 10 core markets of the car
industry were surveyed. The results show an industry facing massive
changes. For example, enthusiasm for autonomous driving is reasonably
limited. Only one-third of study respondents say they would be willing
to use an autonomous car. Likewise, prospects for e-mobility are not too
bright. High prices, limited range and lack of charging stations are the
main barriers. In addition, the claim that car ownership is no longer
important to the young generation has been disproved.

Security concerns decelerate the autonomous car

Consumers are very skeptical concerning the industry’s biggest trend,
autonomous driving, as only one-third say they would use an autonomous
car. In United States, 29 percent of respondents intend to use an
autonomous car, 30 percent have doubts and only 40 percent do not
consider it a possibility.

“OEMs face a huge communicative challenge in convincing their reluctant
customers about autonomous driving, even though in the long run,
autonomous driving will significantly increase the amount of
driven-passenger kilometers,” said Wolf-Dieter Hoppe, Associate
Director of the Automotive Practice at Arthur D. Little. The team
also highlighted the question of which companies customers ultimately
trust to bring reliable autonomous vehicles into serial production.
Although most of the car companies surveyed only enjoy high consumer
confidence in their home markets, Google and Apple scored the highest
concerning global reach.

Electric mobility has hurdles to overcome

There seems to be a global consensus on electric mobility. The main
obstacles in the way of its breakthrough are the still high prices (64
percent), limited range (53 percent) and an insufficient amount of
charging stations (41 percent).

Car ownership remains the ultimate token of status

The study also shows that the meaning of mobility in consumers’ minds is
changing profoundly, particularly in the global megacities, where
current problems may no longer be solved with classic concepts.
Car-sharing and driving services will therefore play an important role
in these areas. For a long time, one of the key assumptions of this
development has been that the role of the car as a status symbol would
decrease and the use of car-sharing services would increase. However, as Wolf-Dieter
Hoppe points out, “Car sharing won’t replace the private vehicle –
it is still best seen as an additional mobility option.”

Excerpts from the study with additional numbers and charts are available
to customers and media representatives on request.

Contacts

Arthur D. Little Contact:
Sue Glanville / Cate Bonthuys
+44
7715 817589 / +44 7746 546773
sue@catalystcomms.co.uk
/ cate@catalystcomms.co.uk