{"id":36428,"date":"2026-10-06T12:34:50","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T10:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/?page_id=36428"},"modified":"2026-10-06T12:34:50","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T10:34:50","slug":"technology-provides-an-edge","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/lobservatoire-cetelem-de-lautomobile\/observatoire-automotive-2027-country-or-price-motorists-have-made-their-choice\/technology-provides-an-edge","title":{"rendered":"Technology provides an edge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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AN INNOVATION PREMIUM FOR PIONEERING BRANDS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Recent years have brought a wave of technological advances unmatched in recent automotive history. These innovations have seen software, and now artificial intelligence, become core components of the modern vehicle, while electric powertrains have established a firm foothold. Motorists are naturally responsive to these shifts. Overall, 1 in 2 drivers would choose a more innovative car over an equivalent domestic model. A granular breakdown reveals sharp national contrasts. The China-USA-Japan trio stands out for preferring domestic cars. For Japan, it should be noted that consumers consider their country a world leader in innovation, so no trade-off exists. Germany and France are the only other two markets where national origin wins out over innovation. Consumer behaviour remains broadly consistent across both new and used markets. (Fig. 44)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\n Fig. 44.1 \u2013 Choice between a less innovative domestic car and a more innovative foreign car, current car purchased new (%)\n <\/p>\n \n \n Download this infographic for your presentations\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \"Stacked\n \n Stacked vertical bar chart. Question: “Ideally, if you were o\ufb00ered the two equivalent models below, which would you choose? (Domestic\/less innovative vs Foreign\/more innovative)” Base: all respondents, in %. Filter: current car bought new (NC, new car). Two answers: Car A (domestic, less innovative) and Car B (foreign, more innovative). Source: Observatoire Cetelem de\nl’automobile 2027. For all countries combined, 52% choose Car A and 48% choose Car B.\nData by country, in the form Car A domestic \/ Car B foreign:\n\u2022 Germany 56% \/ 44%\n\u2022 Belgium 53% \/ 47%\n\u2022 China 60% \/ 40%\n\u2022 Spain 42% \/ 58%\n\u2022 United States 59% \/ 41%\n\u2022 France 56% \/ 44%\n\u2022 Italy 42% \/ 58%\n\u2022 Japan 82% \/ 18%\n\u2022 Netherlands 43% \/ 57%\n\u2022 Poland 44% \/ 56%\n\u2022 Portugal 34% \/ 66%\n\u2022 United Kingdom 49% \/ 51%\n\u2022 Turkey 42% \/ 58%\n\u2022 Europe average 48% \/ 52%\nJapan stands out with a very strong preference for the domestic car (82%). Portugal has the highest share for the more innovative foreign car (66%).\n <\/span>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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\n Fig. 44.2 \u2013 Choice between a less innovative domestic car and a more innovative foreign car, current car purchased second-hand (%)\n <\/p>\n \n \n Download this infographic for your presentations\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \"Stacked\n \n Stacked vertical bar chart. Question: “Ideally, if you were o\ufb00ered the two equivalent models below, which would you choose? (Domestic\/less innovative vs Foreign\/more innovative)” Base: all respondents, in %. Filter: current car bought used (UC, used car). Two answers: Car A (domestic, less innovative) and Car B (foreign, more innovative). Source: Observatoire Cetelem de\nl’automobile 2027. For all countries combined, 51% choose Car A and 49% choose Car B.\nData by country, in the form Car A domestic \/ Car B foreign:\n\u2022 Germany 57% \/ 43%\n\u2022 Belgium 45% \/ 55%\n\u2022 China 66% \/ 34%\n\u2022 Spain 45% \/ 55%\n\u2022 United States 63% \/ 37%\n\u2022 France 57% \/ 43%\n\u2022 Italy 46% \/ 54%\n\u2022 Japan 84% \/ 16%\n\u2022 Netherlands 42% \/ 58%\n\u2022 Poland 47% \/ 53%\n\u2022 Portugal 41% \/ 59%\n\u2022 United Kingdom 49% \/ 51%\n\u2022 Turkey 42% \/ 58%\n\u2022 Europe average 49% \/ 51%\nResults are very close to those of new-car buyers (Fig. 44.1: 52% \/ 48%). Japan again has the strongest preference for the domestic car (84%), followed by China (66%) and the United States (63%).\n <\/span>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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AI, INTELLIGENCE IN PURCHASING<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n
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While artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually taking over vehicle interiors, it already serves as a significant external decision-making tool for buyers. Nearly 4 in 10 motorists have turned to AI for information and comparisons when choosing a car, a figure that rises to 6 in 10 among younger drivers. Seeing China top the rankings comes as no surprise, given how deeply digital tools are woven into everyday consumer habits there. More surprising is Turkey\u2019s position as the only other country where a majority of drivers report using AI to guide their choice. Japan\u2019s position at the bottom of the AI usage rankings is less surprising. The country\u2019s strong brand loyalty reflects a firm belief in its domestic automakers and their capacity for innovation; AI, therefore, offers little added value when assessing products already perceived as intrinsically high-quality. Ultimately, AI adoption serves primarily to validate an existing decision rather than spark a new one. Its impact is also far more pronounced when shopping for a new vehicle than a used one (46% vs 34%). This is a logical divide, as buyers are naturally less familiar with newly released models.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\n Fig. 45 \u2013 Use of artificial intelligence to inform, compare and choose a car brand (% of “yes”)\n <\/p>\n \n \n Download this infographic for your presentations\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n

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\n \"Bar\n \n Vertical bar chart. Question: “Have you ever used artificial intelligence (Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, etc.) to research, compare or choose a car brand?” Base: all respondents, in %. “Yes” groups, “Yes, and it confirmed your choice” and “Yes, and it made you change your mind”. Source: Observatoire Cetelem de l’automobile 2027.\nAcross all countries combined, 38% have used AI for this purpose. China is the highest (64%), followed by Turkey (59%). Japan is the lowest (24%).\nData by country: Germany 38%, Belgium 35%, China 64%, Spain 37%, United States 42%, France 31%, Italy 28%, Japan 24%, Netherlands 30%, Poland 43%, Portugal 35%, United Kingdom 30%, Turkey 59%. The European average is 34%. The total is 38%.\n <\/span>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AN INNOVATION PREMIUM FOR PIONEERING BRANDS Recent years have brought a wave of technological advances unmatched in recent automotive history. These innovations have seen software, and now artificial intelligence, become core components of the modern vehicle, while electric powertrains have established a firm foothold. Motorists are naturally responsive to these shifts. Overall, 1 in 2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1945,"featured_media":0,"parent":36450,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"t-etude-chapitre.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36428","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36428"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36442,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36428\/revisions\/36442"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/36450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoirecetelem.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}