Where Cars Are Most and Least Dispensable

According to a 2022 survey published by financial services provider BNP Paribas, most car owners in the 18 countries surveyed still want to retain a passenger car for personal use. The countries with the highest share of respondents willing to give up on personal motorization are Brazil, Norway and Japan with 36, 35 and 35 percent, respectively, while Austria takes the bottom spot with 22 percent. However, most respondents who can imagine not owning a car haven't completely decided yet.

The share of participants surveyed by C-Ways and Harris Interactive for the automotive edition of BNP Paribas' annual consumption barometer L’Observatoire Cetelem who were sure about giving up on a personal car vary between seven and 14 percent, with Germany (14 percent), Turkey (12 percent), Norway (11 percent) and the United States (11 percent) taking the top spots in the split.

Contrary to anecdotal evidence, being completely willing to give up on owning a car is not necessarily connected to the availability of reliable public transit. For example, only six percent of car owners in Japan could definitely imagine not having a personal car in the future, even though the country is known for its high urbanization rate and well-connected transit network. 

Germany, on the other hand, made international headlines during the Euros due to its public transit not being able to handle the increased passenger load, according to a report by Deutsche Welle. Even without the additional influx of passengers, 90 percent of regional and 64 percent of long-distance trains arrived on time in 2023 per official Deutsche Bahn statistics. Figures for long-distance connections have declined almost every year since 2016, while regional connections saw a three-percent drop between 2021 and 2022.

Survey results notwithstanding, the market for new passenger cars has expanded in the past year. According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association ACEA, car sales were up ten percent year-over-year reaching 72 million in 2023. Half of these new cars were sold in Asian countries and 31 percent in China alone. So while some countries' inhabitants might think about not owning a car, for some residents of burgeoning economies with a perception of increased upward mobility a personal car might still be seen as a desirable status symbol.