October 5th, 2022, Bhavika Bansal
In the past few years, the automotive industry has seen a key shift in its consumer offer toward car-subscription services and the model may signal a fundamental shift in the way global consumers own and drive cars – if they like it.
According to YouGov's recent US Car Subscription services quarterly trends report, a growing number of Americans are aware of and embracing car subscription services. But are consumers across global markets aware of such subscription services - which allow them to use a car for a period decided by them, for a monthly fee, with no commitment or extra costs – and their features?
Data from YouGov Global Automotive Profiles reveals almost half of consumers (49%) are unaware of car subscription services, with only about one in ten (12%) fully informed about them.
Mirroring the average global audience, a majority of North American (57%) and European (53%) consumers indicate that they are not at all aware of car subscription services. Europe also registers the lowest proportion of consumers who are fully aware of car subscription services (8%).
Significantly outpacing the global audience, a fifth of APAC consumers (23%) and a third of MENA consumers (33%) say they are fully aware of and know a lot about car subscription services.
In order to get a better understanding of consumer awareness, we take a closer look at consumers who are fully or somewhat aware of car subscription services and the various subscription features they know of. Data reveals that ‘car maintenance’ is the most well-known feature – with a third of global consumers (31%) being aware of it. This is closely followed by ‘insurance cover’ (27%).
Almost a third of North American (29%) and European (32%) respondents say they are unaware of any of the given features unlike in the case of APAC and MENA markets (11% and 4% respectively).
On the other hand, while more than a fifth of consumers in the APAC (20%) and MENA (21%) markets say they are aware of the ‘no deposit’ feature, this drops to fewer than two out of ten consumers in North America (14%) and Europe (13%).
Unlike other global markets, ‘unlimited mileage’ and a ‘flat periodic fee’ are relatively popular among a third of MENA consumers (33% and 30%, respectively) and while the ‘no minimum term’ feature brings up the rear globally (13%) and in North America (13%) and Europe (11%), it is a fairly popular feature for a quarter of respondents in MENA (25%).
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Methodology: YouGov Global Automotive Profiles is a globally consistent audience dataset based on rolling surveys and continuously collected data from adults aged 18 and above across 14 markets. The data from Global Automotive Profiles used in this study is based on the interviews of sample sizes varying between 348 and 8,823, and 205 and 3,237 for each region, in August 2022. All interviews were conducted online, and the results are nationally representative, Learn more about Global Automotive Profiles.