Electric vehicle adoption attitudes: Exploring prospective market segments in the automotive industry

Wolf, Gábor and Kovács, Tamás (2024) Electric vehicle adoption attitudes: Exploring prospective market segments in the automotive industry. HUNGARIAN STATISTICAL REVIEW, 7 (1). pp. 23-40. ISSN 2630-9130

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Abstract

The near-future customers of the automotive industry are currently young and differ from previous consumers. Generation Z is the first native digital generation, and their attitude towards brands and their behaviour towards consumption are extremely different from those of previous generations. Generation Z is shortly becoming a relevant customer segment of the automotive sector; hence, their values, priorities and factors of decision are considered invaluable information. Climate change is currently one of the paramount challenges that many countries face. The related environmental concerns, including air pollution, became a major driver and priority for the electric vehicle (EV) transition to secure the survival of the human population in a sustainable way. In this regard, the automotive industry has been developing various alternative solutions to market-reduced and zero-emission vehicles, including EVs. Regarding this, the transition to EVs as the main mobility solution and proposition at this stage will allow us to largely reduce greenhouse gases based on significant maturing technological innovations. Therefore, the automotive industry is in a period of transition as EVs are replacing traditional internal combustion engine cars step by step. This study aims to identify potential future market segments in the EV market. As a starting point, previous literature suggests that environmental concerns, perceived risk, ease of use and enjoyment may be among the most relevant drivers of the EV transition. To examine these questions, we performed cluster analysis on our respondents’ data, and based on the empirical findings, we conclude that three clusters with unique features may be distinguished based on their focuses and priorities regarding enjoyment, perceived risks, ease of use and environmental concerns. We concluded that the description of these clusters may contribute to explore prospective market segments in the EV market.

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