Skip to main content

Owning a car will be a thing of the past in less than a decade, say researchers

UK automotive executives expect that more than half of today’s car owners will not want to own a car in less than a decade, according to KPMG’s Global Automotive Executive Survey 2017. The survey found that 74 per cent of UK automotive executives think that until 2025, more than half of car owners today will not want to own a vehicle, as self-driving technology and mobility as a service will take priority. The report findings revealed that 62 per cent of UK automotive executives view diesel technolog
January 10, 2017 Read time: 3 mins
UK automotive executives expect that more than half of today’s car owners will not want to own a car in less than a decade, according to KPMG’s Global Automotive Executive Survey 2017.

The survey found that 74 per cent of UK automotive executives think that until 2025, more than half of car owners today will not want to own a vehicle, as self-driving technology and mobility as a service will take priority.

The report findings revealed that 62 per cent of UK automotive executives view diesel technology as a thing of the past, expecting the traditional powertrain technology to eventually vanish from the manufacturers’ portfolio. Meanwhile, a staggering 93 per cent of UK automotive executives are planning to invest in the technology for battery electric vehicles over the next five years.

For the first time, battery electric vehicle technology has overtaken connectivity and digitalisation as the key trend in this year’s survey. The report revealed that 90 per cent of UK automotive executives expect battery electric vehicles to dominate the automotive marketplace by 2025.

With consumers shifting to using cars but not owning them, the researchers say it is likely there will be fewer cars and therefore less money to be made from building vehicles in the future. This does not worry the majority of automotive executives: 85 per cent of the respondents said they are convinced that their company will generate higher revenues by providing new digital services, than selling cars alone.

According to John Leech, UK head of automotive at KPMG, the UK is particularly suited to the early adoption of self-driving cars consumed as a service. Its greenbelt policy has created a relatively dense urban population which, when coupled with our high fuel prices, means that so-called ‘robot taxis’ offer a greater cost saving to the UK public, compared to European or North American markets.  He believes robot taxis will revolutionise UK urban transportation in the second half of the next decade.

“Improvements in the cost and range of battery technology, coupled with growing concern over the emission of both carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides from diesel engines, means that almost the whole automotive industry believes that the mass adoption of electric cars will happen during the next decade,” said Leech.

“Carmakers plan to sell a myriad of new digital services to vehicle users. Today carmakers already make substantial profits from the sale of consumer finance and annual vehicle insurance but this will grow in the future as innovative services such as remote vehicle monitoring and the integration of the car as a focal point in people’s ever more connected lifestyles are demanded by consumers.

“For the auto industry this implies that pure product profitability is outdated. Carmakers’ success will not be evaluated solely on the quantity of vehicles sold, but on the customer value over the whole lifecycle - especially when the digital ecosystem will be ready for the market.

“So OEMs need to rethink; more than three out of four executives believe that one connected car can generate higher revenues over the entire lifecycle than 10 non-connected cars.” concluded Leech.

Related Content

  • Automotive navigation market to grow due to focus on autonomous cars, says report
    September 30, 2015
    The market for automotive navigation software, data, and location-based services is shifting as OEMs focus on bringing a mix of connected navigation experiences for drivers and using location data for ADAS and enabling self-driving cars, according to Strategy Analytics’ latest report. The report, Navigation Market: Maps for Self-Driving Cars Shift Segment's Focus - 2015 Update, features the service's most up-to-date navigation forecast, which is a combined figure that includes shipments of embedded navig
  • ANPR - cost-efficient traffic management, enforcement and more
    January 23, 2012
    Geoff Collins of Vysionics Intelligent Traffic Solutions talks about the near-term prospects of ANPR. The continued absence of a champion for its cause is preventing digital enforcement technology from delivering the true levels of cost-effectiveness of which it is capable, according to Geoff Collins, sales and marketing director of ANPR specialist Vysionics Intelligent Traffic Solutions.
  • New car sharing economy disrupts automotive industry says ABI
    March 15, 2016
    Driverless cars are disrupting the automotive industry and supply chain, propelling car sharing forward as the ultimate, mainstream transportation mode. This new car sharing economy is already well in motion, and with it continuing to ramp up, ABI Research, the leader in transformative technology innovation market intelligence, forecasts that 400 million people will rely on robotic car sharing by 2030. "The new car sharing economy happens in three phases: street rental service, ride sharing service, and
  • Parking operators need to learn from Uber
    November 6, 2019
    For parking operators' customers, end of journey may just be start of frustration