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ALMOST 80 per cent of Australians want to buy their next new vehicle in the traditional way and 61 per cent want to interact with a dealer, according to a global survey by accounting and advisory firm Deloitte.

Its 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study of 23 countries, including Australia, reports that the majority (79 per cent) of buyers want personal contact with the dealer when securing a vehicle.

Source: Deloitte 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study

Deloitte Australia Automotive co-leader Dale McCauley said buying a vehicle remains – and is likely to continue to remain in the foreseeable future  – a face-to-face experience for many consumers around the world and that trend is mirrored in Australia.

He said, however, that some people are seeking a virtual sale experience to maximise convenience, speed and ease of use, and sometimes to avoid the dealer experience altogether.

Source: Deloitte 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study

“Australian dealers have shown they are open to change on the sales experience front in recent years. But with so many consumer transactions now available online, it’s a matter of time before this extends more and more into the auto space,” he said.

“Certain aspects of the buying process remain difficult to digitise, so the in-person experience will remain with us for some time.

Source: Deloitte 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study

“People still want to see, touch, and smell, and drive a vehicle before they buy it.”

Mr McCauley said that many retail sectors had made a major shift to online buying with the automotive industry’s retail business defying that trend.

Source: Deloitte 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study

“Will there be virtual vehicle sales in the future?” he said. “Absolutely. But we don’t need to write off the in-person experience just yet, as most consumers still want it going forward.”

However Mr McAuley warned that as demand for virtual transactions grows, this would most likely result in a more complicated, and potentially costly, set of consumer expectations for dealers to meet.

Electric vehicles

The survey also looked at the impact of electric vehicles and the impact on the retail sector.

Deloitte found that EVs may have a tough time to become accepted by Australians with 70 per cent of Australians expecting their next vehicle to be petrol or diesel, while 18 per cent said they would buy hybrid electric and only four per cent would buy an EV.

It said that the long-term trend towards EVs “continues to solidify” but “consumer anxiety amid the pandemic around the world may be shifting automotive priorities towards familiarity and affordability.”

It found that the cost/price premium of an EV affected the decision of 28 per cent of respondents, while a lack of charging infrastructure was indicated by 22 per cent of people surveyed as being the greatest concerns regarding battery-powered EVs.

Deloitte Australia Automotive co-leader Lee Peters said there was no doubt that issues such as strict future carbon emission regulations means the “motor vehicle torch is slowly being passed from internal combustion to electric.”

Source: Deloitte 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study

“Awareness amongst Australian consumers of, and interest in, all-electric, or at the very least hybrid, is certainly there, and is growing,” he said.

“But, no differently to elsewhere around the world, Australians still require greater assurance around issues such as mileage, robust charging infrastructure rollouts and affordability of the electric segment.”

Mr Peters said however that unlike some other markets, COVID doesn’t appear to have played a particular role in exacerbating apprehension around the purchase by Australians of EVs.

“Rather, in a country where we often need to travel long distances, we shouldn’t be surprised that issues such as range, price and charging opportunities are front of mind, and influencing purchasing choices to largely stay with the technology we all know.”

Deloitte’s 2021 Global Automotive Consumer Study involved more than 24,000 consumers in 23 countries on consumer preferences that impact sales and drive the automotive sector. It involves 1000 Australian respondents.

By Neil Dowling

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