For those of us over a certain age, getting our driver’s licenses and buying our first cars was a precious rite of passage, but the rising generation may not feel exactly the same. Consulting firm Deloitte spoke to 4,240 young adults worldwide between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, discovering that just over half of them are open to giving up vehicle ownership. So does that mean there are going to be fewer beat-up Toyota Tacomas and Honda Civics in college parking lots in the future?
2025 Honda Civic Sport Hybrid
- Base MSRP
- $28,000
- Engine
- 2L i4 Dual Electric Hybrid
- Horsepower
- 200
- Torque
- 232 lb-ft
- Fuel Economy
- 50 mpg
“Mobility As A Service” Is More Important Than Private Ownership
The answer to that question hinges on a hypothetical, because Deloitte found that the respondents – who came from India, China, Southeast Asia, the Rebublic of Korea, Japan, Germany, the UK, and the US – would be open to giving up cars if there was a compelling transportation solution available to them. Among the options would be autonomous taxis, decent car- and bike-share networks, and robust public transportation, collectively known as mobility as a service (MaaS). Of the 4,240 total respondents, 2,121 individals were open to giving up private vehicles if MaaS became more widely available.
Add CarBuzz to your Google News feed.
The numbers sway quite a bit when comparing the respondents’ specific locations. For example, of the 286 Americans who answered the survey, 44 percent of them said they were open to giving up private car ownership, roughly in the middle of the spectrum. Young people from Germany were the most attached to their cars, with only 35 percent of them saying they’d give up driving full-tilt on the Autobahn if given other MaaS options. At the other end of the spectrum, 70 percent of young adults from India were open to ditching their wheels.
Related
Auto Brand Loyalty Rose In The US In 2024
EV loyalty took a small tumble in 2024, and more people seem to be trading in their ICE cars for hybrids too.
We Still Have Some Questions About The Study
Deloitte didn’t specify where each of the respondents came from, and the answers could be skewed based on whether they lived in urban, suburban, or rural locations. Sample size is also a potential issue. The smallest nation – the Republic of Korea – has more than 50 million inhabitants, and only 241 of them were questioned for the survey, while only 286 people responded of the more than 330 million who live in the US.
That’s not to say the survey doesn’t have some intriguing findings. Aside from asking young folks about their car ownership aspirations, Deloitte asked more than 12,000 individuals in the same regions how they feel about autonomous driving and EV adoption. Nearly half expressed concern over autonomous taxis operating in their neighborhoods, while well over half showed trepidation about autonomous commercial vehicles driving at highway speed. Furthermore, a majority of respondents said their next vehicle would still be powered by internal combustion, with or without hybrid technology. In fact, in the US, only 5 percent said they’d buy an EV next.
