Are car buying attitudes changing?

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) conducted a survey that focused on the “entry generation” of vehicle buyers and reports that fewer young people today have strong feelings about car ownership.

The survey was conducted after a number of indications that young Japanese adults are moving away from car use and its objective was to track how perceptions could be expected to change over the coming years.

Its findings included:

• - There is a pronounced tendency to hold pessimistic views of social and economic conditions.
• - Fewer individuals in this generation own cars contributing to a trend in shared vehicle use among families.
• - The level of interest in cars is declining primarily due to an abundance of material commodities and expanding product ranges.
• - Cars are primarily seen as a product with a solid functional merit in terms of providing daily convenience.
• - A decline in positive feelings about car purchasing were put down to a waning sense of cars’ overall benefits and rising awareness of environmental issues; as well as increasingly significant purchasing deterrents including cost, time and ownership responsibility impediments.
• - Reducing auto related taxes and streamlining driver’s licence acquisition procedures is seen as key to improving the passenger car use environment.
• - Male university students in large urban areas are turning away from cars.

Overall JAMA concludes that there is not a vast difference from previous generations but there is a widespread perception that the burden of car ownership outweighs its convenience.

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