May 9th, 2024, Janice Fernandes
The automotive industry is undergoing a significant shift towards sustainability. Consumers are increasingly interested in eco-friendly options, and governments around the world are implementing stricter regulations to reduce emissions.
A major hurdle to widespread adoption of electric vehicles remains cost as EVs are typically more expensive than traditional fuel-powered vehicles.
A recent YouGov survey, conducted across 17 international markets, gauges consumer willingness to pay a premium for sustainable cars. The study presented respondents with a hypothetical scenario: If consumers were presented with two identical cars, one manufactured with environmental considerations and the other one not. How much more would they be willing to pay for the sustainable version of the car?
The data shows that among those willing to pay more for a sustainable car nearly half of all consumers (48%) would pay up to 10% more. Around a quarter of all consumers (25%) would pay up to 25% more, while 15% of them would push spending up to 50% more.
Just one in 25 overall consumers (4%) would consider doubling it and paying up to 100% more and 3% of those surveyed say they’d pay more than 100% for a sustainable car.
Willingness to pay more for a sustainable car in individual markets
Many respondents in all 17 markets would be willing to pay up to 10% more for a sustainable car. Spaniards are the most likely to pay up to 10% more for sustainable versions of a car (60%), followed closely by Italians (59%) and Britons (58%). In Asia, more than half of all Hong Kongers (56%) would pay up to 10% more as well – the most likely in this region to say so.
As for those who would be willing to pay up to 25% on sustainable cars, urban Indians lead across all markets (31%), followed by Mexicans (30%) and Danes (29%).
Around a fifth of consumers in Indonesia and UAE (20% each) would pay up to 50% more, followed by consumers in India (17%) and Singapore (16%).
A similar proportion of US consumers would be willing to spend up to 50% more (10%) as they are to spend up to 75% more (9%).
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 501/200 and 2023/446 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in December 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.
Image: Getty Images