Nowadays, almost everyone agrees that environmental sustainability is important, but how far will new car buyers go to put those values into practice? Europe’s new-car buyers consider that their government should lead the development of sustainability policy and practices. In Italy and Spain, consumers are seen as next in line to take responsibility, but in the UK, Germany and France, there is a sense that both corporates and consumers should step up together to improve the situation.
So, how should the consumer/corporate dance go if everyone wants to enjoy the journey toward environmental sustainability? European New-Car Buyer Opinion on Automotive Sustainability
The Escalent EVForward® Europe study, which is carried out annually among 10,000 new car buyers in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain to learn more about the future of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in Europe, demonstrates that automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must carefully navigate their way toward sustainability. According to our findings, many of Europe’s new-car buyers are far happier dispensing their sustainability responsibilities in the home and in the supermarket rather than in factors that impact their direct experience with a new car.
70% of Europe’s new-car buyers are not yet ready for recyclable materials in visible areas of their new car.
More than twice as many new-car buyers are happy to reduce food waste and energy and water consumption at home as those who are ready to look for recyclable materials in visible areas of the car.
Different European consumers’ perspectives on sustainability Although most of Europe’s new-car buyers aren’t considering environmental sustainability when shopping for their next vehicle, we did find that knowing the OEM is being more sustainable increases purchase consideration among 55% of European consumers.
When it comes to buying a new car, many new-car buyers are happy to abdicate responsibility for sustainable production to OEMs with the expectation that OEMs will do everything they can to be sustainable “behind the factory gates” rather than “up close and personal” in consumers’ precious new car. Only about one-third of new-car buyers would consider the amount of carbon released during production and/or the use of recycled materials in less visible areas of the vehicle when shopping for a car. EV Owners and EV Intenders—consumers who are more than 15 times more likely than the average new car buyer to purchase a BEV—are more likely to consider sustainability factors when shopping for their next vehicle, which is not surprising. There are significant differences between nations and owned vehicle brands: New-car buyers in Italy and Spain claim to be more influenced by sustainability principles on a daily basis than their northern European counterparts.
Some, but not all, premium vehicle brand owners claim to be more influenced by sustainability principles but how they want to experience sustainability varies to a great degree.
Overall, mainstream vehicle brand owners tend to be less inclined toward sustainability, but high and low points do not always appear where they might be expected.
Automotive OEMs need to understand the speed and direction in which their customers want to walk toward sustainability—and reconcile this with imperatives imposed on them by legislators. The ability to recognize what would be acceptable to European buyers of new automobiles will lessen the likelihood of a mismatch between brand promises and customer expectations, despite the fact that these imperatives provide OEMs with relatively little room for maneuver. Please fill out the form below to contact us if you are interested in learning more about our EVForward Europe findings and the attitudes of European new car buyers.
