Capegemini Releases Cars Online Report 2015

Capegemini is one of the world’s foremost providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services. Cars Online 2015 is Capgemini’s annual research into consumer behaviour and expectations across the entire car purchase lifecycle (including interest and purchase through to ownership and re-purchase). It also covers consumers views on the innovation areas of “connected vehicles”, “autonomous driving” and alternative “mobility services”.

     

It’s latest report reveals car buyers expect an increasingly individualised experience, requiring dealers to further communicate and share customer data. The younger generation (18-34 year olds) have a higher affinity with online channels and the study reveals that even digital natives want physical touch-points for purchase, ownership and repurchase so dealers remain crucial to the selling process. Customers demand technical expertise from dealers and expect more personalised and frequent communication between purchase and delivery. The study shows that most consumers (nearly 80%) are interested in connected car features and are prepared to allow access to their data, provided there is transparent information on how it’s being used. Nearly all (99%) of customers feel very informed about the use of their data and are satisfied with their dealer or OEM. 

The report also details a significant appetite for advanced new technologies and connected services, providing OEMs and dealers with fresh opportunities, but also challenges. Half of consumers (47%) want to use or are already using connected car features, with over three quarters (80%) of these saying it is important for their next car. Other key features of the report were the use of wide variety of online resources hen choosing a car, role of the physical dealership, use of instantaneous and personalised services by the customers etc.