Electric cars have overtaken petrol vehicles as car buyers’ next intended purchase for the first time, according to Autovia, Britain’s leading publisher of automotive information.
According to Autovia’s unique independent tracker of car-buyers’ intentions, electric cars moved into the lead in September and have since risen to around one in three intended future purchases.
Autovia tracks car buying plans to help connect the in-market audiences of respected titles like Auto Express, DrivingElectric and Carbuyer with dealers and carmakers, via a unique Customer Data Platform (CDP).
Insights from Autovia’s CDP reveal real underlying trends more accurately than individual surveys, which are fixed in time and often influenced by short-lived news events.
By permanently tracking the intentions of consumers who are thinking about their next car, Autovia is able to help manufacturers anticipate demand and plan their marketing more effectively to help the transformation to zero-emission motoring.
Autovia’s CDP insights reveal that the immediate future for the market is electric and petrol, with diesel languishing at around one in ten purchase intentions and electric now pushing up beyond one in three. Other fuel types, such as the various types of hybrid, are consistently hovering around 7.5 percent and 15 percent of future purchase plans.
It’s good to see that people are looking to transition towards driving and buying electric cars. The last year has seen a massive rise in the demand for electric vehicles and this looks set to continue. Hopefully, cleaner and sustainable driving will be the future of motoring.
As a result, there has also been a big rise in the delivery of infrastructure to aid this transition. For example, Shell announced it aims to install 50,000 ubitricity on-street electric vehicle charge posts across the UK by 2025 and IONITY will create 5,000 new fast charging points for electric cars across Europe by 2025.
Steve Fowler, Autovia editor-in-chief, says that car-buyer intentions closely mirror constant growth in reader demand for electric vehicle-related insight across Autovia’s widely read magazines and websites.
“Autovia’s car customer insights are especially valuable in gauging future intentions because they reflect real plans rather than the more typical on-the-spot opinions captured in occasional surveys.
“When an in-market car buyer volunteers their future buying plans to us they’re effectively asking us to help them to find their ideal future car. With EVs now stretching their lead as the most popular future choice among our highly engaged audiences it’s clear a turning point has been reached.”
