Five key trends observed in 2020 that may spill into 2021.
Isn’t it wild? 2020 is over, and oh man, what a year it was!
During this time I discovered that haircuts are overrated. My need for a haircut always appeared to trigger a lockdown, which meant that my hair cut count for 2020 was two. I feel like I belong in 1973, or with an ‘80s hair band.
Pants are also overrated. You don’t need them for Zoom calls — except when you forget and get up with the camera still on. Which brings me to rule number one of working from home: “the camera is always on.” Just ask the now former NBC reporter, Jeffrey Toobin.
More seriously, 2020 has seen COVID-19 dramatically change the way consumers think about their transportation and mobility. In the just completed Fifth Annual Mobility Study, we found very significant shifts in consumer attitudes to their mobility, a once-in-a-century shock that has affected everything.
The study, now in its fifth year with over 16,000 respondents to-date, is researched and compiled jointly by Vision Mobility, CuriosityCX and LEK Consulting. Here’s a summary of the outstanding trends for 2020:
Trend #1
Car usage is down, but shared mobility and transit fell off a cliff.
Globally, when measuring the net change in usage (respondents who said they used more, minus those who said they used less), consumers reported that the usage of all mobility types were down.
Car usage dropped by around 4 per cent, while airline travel dropped 45 per cent, public transit dropped 35 per cent, and ride-hailing fell 19 per cent. Those who had used shared mobility at least once in the last three months dropped by 40 to 70 per cent, depending on the type, while those who had used a personal vehicle in this time fell only by 9 per cent.
This is an organic trend that should worry all OEMs and dealers. The answer to who is your future customer is one that all long-term product planning departments should be considering very carefully.
These results strongly correlate with consumers’ need to feel safe during their transportation — an issue that has rocketed to the top of consumer mobility priorities, just behind cost.
Seventy-one per cent of consumers surveyed perceive that airlines are “unsafe,” while 69 per cent agreed that public transit was unsafe. At the same time, just 11 per cent said the same about their personal vehicle.
What’s more, respondents said that they plan to use shared mobility even less in the future, and much more greatly value the ability to work from home, up by a net of 31 per cent.
Trend #2
Interest in new mobility car ownership alternatives are way down
Consumers said their interest in subscription, partial vehicle ownership, car pooling and P2P rentals dropped between 38 per cent and 42 per cent. It seems anything shared is a difficult sell during COVID. Interestingly though, Communauto, the leading car-sharing company in Canada has been doing very solid business, as consumers without a car look for safer alternatives away from public transit.
Trend #3
Car ownership is less desirable
Respondents in all countries surveyed, except China, said that they were decreasing their car ownership situation due to COVID, either due to commuting less, or an awakening in environmental concerns over car ownership.
What’s more, in the U.S., fully 41 per cent agreed with “If I didn’t have to own a car, I wouldn’t,” — up from 36 per cent in 2016. This trend has been increasing steadily year-on-year, and is driven particularly by the older millennial age group (25-34), who are typically early-career workers. Fully 69 per cent of Canadians surveyed in this age group agreed with this statement.
This is an organic trend that should worry all OEMs and dealers. The answer to who is your future customer is one that all long-term product planning departments should be considering very carefully.
Trend #4
A huge increase in environmental awareness by consumers
We all saw it on TV — dirty cities experiencing clean air for the first time in decades, and guess what? Consumers understand that there is a direct link between the volume of vehicles on the road and air pollution. All countries surveyed showed big increases in interest surrounding awareness of air pollution and environmentally-friendly transportation, and the vast majority of respondents (typically 80 per cent to 90 per cent depending on the country) agreed that “I feel it is my responsibility to reduce my personal environmental impact.”
Trend #5
Consumer interest in EVs is growing with their environmental awakening
In North America and Europe, more than 50 per cent of respondents said they had an interest in electric vehicles and that they felt a personal responsibility for the environment. For this group, EVs are an “easy sell,” and it paves a clear path forward in the minds of consumers.
As well, Canada continues to lead the world in EV interest, out-pacing the other eight countries surveyed for the third year in a row. What this means is that you’ll have more customers enquiring about EVs, and every dealer will need to make sure that their OEM is providing both good options and sufficient stock.
Despite this, traditional consumer thoughts surrounding EVs remain. For almost all countries, interest in EVs is much higher for those under 35 years of age, those who live in urban areas, and those who have higher incomes. Furthermore, concerns around EV ownership continue to hover around cost, charging infrastructure, and range. Fortunately, all of which will be solved by developing technology and infrastructure build-outs.
So where does this leave us? Consumer mobility focus is changing from “home to outside” to “outside to home.” We work from home instead of commuting, and we have our groceries and consumer purchases from e-retail delivered instead of going shopping. Consequently, the need for personal mobility has lessened.
For now, the preference has been on the personal car as consumers perceive it to be safe. However, like many shocks, COVID too will pass and this will leave us with a permanent change in consumer mobility needs. More consumers than ever before are asking why they need to carry the giant expense of a car when working from home.
We work from home instead of commuting, and we have our groceries and consumer purchases from e-retail delivered instead of going shopping.
At the same time, consumers want the choice of environmentally-friendly transportation, placing EVs at the front and centre of the conversation.
So, while car sales may have hit record highs during certain periods of 2020, structural societal change centred around the home, combined with consumer perceptions of greater environmental responsibility, means that the long-term trend for car ownership of internal combustion vehicles is clearly down.
This learning is the big takeaway for how COVID-19 has impacted automotive in 2020 — that, and the importance of being aware of the camera during your virtual meetings and calls.
