Automotive Industry Trends of 2019
Relating to or concerned with motor vehicles.
If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own. - Henry Ford
Introduction to automotive industry trends of 2019
Automotive is one of the industries where the trends change pretty fast. People’s desire for new models, new technologies coming into play, and further legal regulations that force the manufacturers to change things all cause this circulation. So, let's try to look at the automotive industry trends of 2019. What were we expecting, what have we found, and what might be trending soon?
Autonomous and shared vehicles trends
Race for the be the first one to manufacture an autonomous vehicle successfully seems to be very close to ending. Many big companies invest massive amounts of money in this area. In July, Waymo (formerly the Google self-driving car project) was granted California’s first permit to test its driverless vehicles without safety drivers on public roadways. They plan to launch a self-driving taxi by the end of this year. On the other hand, Ford has promised a “fully autonomous vehicle in commercial operation” by 2021. Up to 15 percent of new cars sold in 2030 could be fully autonomous. Simultaneously, many countries are making arrangements on their roads to make them more suitable for self-driving vehicles, the Netherlands taking the lead for the moment. And of course, autonomous shuttles are expected to boom the vehicle sharing.
The problems bring more regulations
The manufacturers want to make cheaper yet better cars. The environmentalists demand these companies be inspected better. And of course, almost everyone wants new technologies to bring a safer driving experience. Governments and other institutions seem to be taking these demands more seriously lately. We have heard about many new regulations in 2019, such as Europe demanding mandatory speed limiters for all cars, China trying to eliminate illegal recycling with new regulations on automotive scrapping, the UK concentrating on the financing aspect of the topic, etc.
Vehicle subscription services seem to have made it
The vehicle subscription service turned out to be an excellent idea. Their target audience, millennials, and Gen Z approached the cars the same way they do to music or movies. They prefer subscribing instead of owning. As a result, 2019 has been a good year for vehicle subscription services, and more than 16.3 million new and used vehicles are expected to be part of this universe by 2025.
More Tesla competitors coming into play
The electric car market has been growing consistently, mostly thanks to Tesla. But of course, their leading role inspired and created competition. Volkswagen has been planning a cheaper electric car, and their MEB Entry model is expected to be in the market by 2023. Chinese startup Byton has already unveiled its SUV M-Byte. China’s Great Wall Ora R1, on the other hand, has the advantage of being the most affordable EV. Volvo will join the race with The Polestar 2 next year, and BMW Vision iNext will the company's first fully-electric SUV in 2021.
IoT will continue to revolutionize
The Internet of Things has already changed a lot in the automotive industry, and it won't stop. Thanks to IoT, self-driving cars will be able to communicate with each other. This will allow them to warn each other about the dangers on the road, and therefore increase safety. The insurance companies, on the other hand, will be able to gain more insights about the driver based on the data provided by the car. Around 381 million smart cars are expected to be connected with IoT devices by next year. So it’s very safe to assume that IoT will continue to be a trend in the industry.
Kimola Can Help You to Keep Up With the Latest Trends in the Automotive World
If you’d like to continue to keep up with the latest trends in the automotive industry, Kimola can help you. “Trends” feature of our Social Research Platform allows you to see what is trending for your target audience.
To know more about Kimola Trends and the ways you can benefit from it, you can always reach us via Contact Sales Page, or you can book a call via Calendly.
