Who will buy connected cars?

Germany’s largest market research institute, GfK, has released results on a survey of 5800 consumers across Brazil, Germany, Russia, the UK, the US and China. The survey asked participants to rate the appeal of different types of ‘connected car’ concepts. 

GfK has identified a segment of the market it refers to as ‘leading-edge consumers’ (LECs) and the results show that LECs consistently rate all connected car concepts as very or extremely appealing, when compared to ‘general’ consumers (we’ll call them GCs). 

According to Frank Hartl, global lead for automotive at GfK, “Leading-edge consumers are doubly valuable to the automotive industry. They are a clear ‘hot opportunity’ for sales of connected cars - and they also give early indicators of where the rest of the market might follow, as the idea of connected cars becomes more embedded and popular.”

The report suggests that both LECs and the rest of the population value ‘ultrasafe’, a car that makes driving as safe as possible via connectivity with other cars and integrated cameras (96% for LECs and 87% for GCs) followed by ‘data tracker’, a car that runs diagnostics, checks repair costs and automatically records accident data (91% for the LECs vs 79% for the rest of us).

The third preference is where the two groups divide - LECs want a car that knows the driver’s entertainment preferences (90%) versus the ‘self-sufficient’ option, a strong but light electric car, as preferred by 73% of GCs. 

A relatively weaker ‘autonomous car’ option is last on the list - only 81% of LECs and 66% of GCs find this concept appealing.

The report goes on to cover specific options: entertainment and connectivity scored very highly with LECs, with in-car voice recognition having the most appeal (86%), followed by in-car Wi-Fi hotspots and in-car video and event recorders (both 84%) and point-of-interest search, such as parking spots (83%). In-car entertainment came last, with a still impressive 79% saying it appeals to them.

This level of appeal is particularly interesting when compared to general consumers. In this group, point-of-interest search was the most popular facility but only had 57% saying it appeals to them. This is followed by in-car voice recognition, in-car Wi-Fi hotspots and in-car video and event recorders, all with 56%. In-car entertainment again came last, with under half showing interest (47%).

It’s unclear from the report how GfK has identified these LECs, but it appears their opinion is more highly regarded than that of the average Joe. This seems a little strange in the face of expensive product development outlays - wouldn’t it make more sense to listen to the wider population? It remains to be seen what impact, if any, these results will have on future product offerings from the major car companies, but at least now you know where these ideas come from.