Car sharing on the rise

A snap SMS poll conducted in March by Roy Morgan Research (RMR) has found that around a third of Australians are now aware of ride-sharing services such as Go-Get and Flexi-Car.

Over 1100 respondents were asked whether they recognised either company by name, to which 43 per cent of men and 29 per cent of women answered in the affirmative. Victoria is the state most familiar with the two companies and the car-sharing concept, according to the poll, with nearly half of Victorians surveyed (49%) answering yes, versus 43% in New South Wales.

Curiously, it's not necessarily millennials at the forefront of this cultural shift. Across age groups, 43% of 35-49 year olds had heard of car sharing and the two companies mentioned, compared with roughly 35% in other age brackets – and as few as 26% for those over the age of 65.

RMR CEO Michelle Levine is convinced the poll findings reveal a changing attitude towards car ownership.

“Our cars sit idle for 23 hours a day, on average, and the car in the Aussie garage is not always the right car for the right job,” Ms Levine was quoted saying in a press release.

“Car-sharing enables Australians to have a large SUV when they need to move people and things around, or a small car for that quick trip into the city – one size does not fit all.

“All traditional models in the automotive industry are under siege – this is just the latest avenue of ‘attack’ from alternatives to the ownership model Australians have held onto for several decades.”

RMR's recent 'State of the Nation' Report, which included a 'Spotlight on the Australian Automotive Industry', makes the observation that 2025 will be a 'tipping point' for peak digital disruption. Industry players that aren't saddled up by then for the new age of ride-sharing, autonomous motoring and online sales will be left behind, the report boldly declares.

To put what this 'digital disruption' will mean for traditional car companies and their respective dealer networks, RMR draws parallels with booksellers, music vendors and media companies – all industries that face extinction at the hands of the digital juggernaut.

It's well established that Gen Y is not buying cars, not obtaining driving licences and often living at home with parents well into their 20s. As they mature, according to the report, and look more towards ride sharing as a viable alternative to private vehicle ownership, that groupthink will flourish and even trickle upwards to earlier generations.

Autonomous electric cars will become a necessity in this future paradigm, offering the benefits of convenience, improved travel times, relatively low cost, ecological sustainability and reduced road trauma.

RMR's findings indicate 62 per cent of Australians would pay more for a car that produces zero emissions. That is averaged out across 75 per cent of millennials and 51 per cent of baby boomers.

Fewer Australians are ready to accept autonomous cars, however, with 54 per cent of RMR's respondents declaring they're not ready to be transported in a self-driving car. That figure is at the intersection of men (51% in favour of autonomous motoring) and women (just 41% in favour), and 62% of millennials versus 26% of baby boomers.

The RMR polling indicates the Australian market for new cars will grow in the short term, as the population increases. However, from the next decade the shift in how we move around our cities and suburbs is likely to affect the market drastically. This will be driven to a very great degree by millennials, as baby boomers age. The millennials have shown more of a willingness to adopt ride-sharing services such as Uber, and almost half (96,000) of the 200,000 Australians who have used car-sharing services are the younger generation.

According to RMR, the race is on to see whether new-car ownership can overtake used-car ownership before the ride-sharing singularity arrives in 2025. Currently seven million Australians own new cars, in contrast with 9.2 million who own used cars. The statistics indicate that our record-breaking sales over the past few years are putting more Australians in new cars than ever before, and there may come a time when there are more new-car owners in Australia than used.