A clear desire to drive

Are young people disconnected from the automotive world? Not at all, on the contrary. As soon as they are legally able to do so, they can’t wait to get behind the wheel and they do so with unabashed joy, albeit with varying degrees of financial ease. Cars are seen as the centrepiece of their mobility mix and essential to their daily lives, both now and in the future.

THE YOUNG CAN’T WAIT TO GET THEIR DRIVING LICENCE…

Given their cost and size, cars are rarely considered as products whose purchase alone can bring total satisfaction. Buying a car is great, but using it is even better. However, this is dependent on whether one holds the golden ticket to motoring freedom: a driving licence.

Thus, future drivers tend not to wait until they are no longer young to pass their test. 85% of this population do so before the age of 25. The Chinese are the most likely to fall into the “late adopters” category, with 4 out of 10 passing their test after turning 25. At the other end of the scale, the British, and even more so the Americans, race to pass their driving test as early as possible. Indeed, more than half of US drivers obtain their licence before the age of 18 (Fig. 1).

BUYING ONE’S FIRST CAR: A LOGICAL PROGRESSION

Obviously, the earlier people pass their driving test, the sooner they tend to buy their first car and the keener they are to get behind the wheel quickly. Around 7 out of 10 Americans acquire their first vehicle between the ages of 16 and 20. The same is true for 1 in 2 French, German and Italian motorists. In contrast, 1 in 3 Japanese and Chinese motorists don’t buy a car until they have turned 25.

While being in a relationship is not a determining factor on the whole, geographical location has an altogether greater influence. 1 in 2 under-20s who live in towns of fewer than 20,000 inhabitants have already bought a vehicle.