Despite fears to the contrary, the emergence of the sharing economy might not lead to the death of Detroit, Michigan, after all, according to a new study from automotive researcher Kelley Blue Book Co.
Car-sharing services such as Avis Budget Group Inc’s Zipcar and ride-hailing services like Uber Technologies Inc are to remain substitutes for rental car companies and taxis, with little impact on vehicle ownership, according to the study conducted by Vital Findings for Kelley Blue Book.
More than three-quarters of people who use ride-sharing services said they intend to purchase or lease their own vehicle within the next two years, according to the survey of 1,900 US residents.
HEDGING THEIR BETS
As the sharing economy rolls out, automakers have viewed it as a threat to sales if car ownership falls out of fashion.
To hedge against that, automakers are getting in the car-sharing business.
In January, General Motors Co invested US$500 million in Lyft, the second-largest US ride-hailing company. GM also created its own car-sharing business, Maven. Daimler AG, BMW AG and Ford Motor Co have also created similar ventures.
CAR STILL SUPREME
“Ride and car-sharing services are getting a lot of attention these days,” Kelley Blue Book senior analyst Karl Brauer said in a statement. “While there are numerous benefits to ride-sharing and car-sharing, our data reveals that owning a car still reigns supreme.”
The study follows similar findings in a report by the Boston Consulting Group last month. That report found that car-sharing would reduce vehicle purchases by 792,000 worldwide in 2021, slightly more than 1 percent of projected sales of 78.4 million in markets where car-sharing is available.
Car and ride-sharing is not yet pervasive, the study found. While almost three-quarters of those surveyed were aware of ride-sharing, only 16 percent had actually used it, mostly young people and city dwellers.
Car-sharing was even less popular, with just 43 percent of those surveyed aware of it and 7 percent using the services.
Car ownership was viewed as more reliable by 81 percent of those surveyed, safer by 80 percent of respondents and more convenient by 74 percent polled.
Ride-sharing still has some security concerns to overcome. Just one-third of those surveyed found ride-sharing safe and almost half (48 percent) said they would not be comfortable riding alone with a ride-share driver.
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