In Germany 88 percent of car owners do not want to be without their own car now or in the future. This means that Germans’ attachment to cars is particularly strong compared to other European countries, as the management consultancy Horvath found in a survey in twelve European countries. Only in Austria is car dependency even higher at 92 percent.
Over 2,000 vehicle owners across Europe were surveyed for Horvath at the end of the third quarter of 2023. The question was: “Do you think you will still own your own car in 2040?”
In addition to the Germans, 88 percent of people in the Netherlands also said yes. Switzerland and France follow with 83 percent each, followed by Spain with 68 percent and in the lower places Sweden with 52 percent and Italy with 41 percent.
Overall, more people in large cities and metropolitan areas can imagine doing without their own car, as the survey showed. Sharing services are more commonly established there and local public transport is better developed.
Hardly any trust in public transport in Germany
Trust in future public transport and in sharing offers or transport service providers is relatively high in Italy. According to the study, those surveyed there assume that local passenger transport will account for more than a quarter of the forms of mobility used by 2040. The share of alternative mobility solutions is estimated at 13 percent. In Germany it is only 16 percent for public transport and just six percent for alternative mobility concepts.