A recent US Nielsen study came up with an unexpected finding that the majority of connected car users are males from the Baby Boomer generation.
Most people would have assumed that younger drivers would have been top of the list, but 58 per cent of connected car users are men, 42 per cent over the age of 55. Less surprising is the finding that 62 per cent are college educated and 37 per cent are earning more than $100,000 a year.
Nielsen surveyed almost 6000 drivers 18 years or over who expressed interest in “connected life technologies” defined as in-car, home or portable devices.
The study also found that 39 percent of respondents who plan to buy a new car within the next two years are “very likely” to buy a connected car with built-in features. Their reasoning was that they’d feel safer with a connected car and ranked safety-related features as most important in their car-buying decision-making process. They ticked crash notification systems, Internet-enabled navigation and safety alerts as very important to them. Also high on the list were vehicle maintenance and repair diagnostics, use of the car as a wireless hotspot, driving analytics, remote-control capability and communications.
Forty three per cent hope that connectivity will improve their productivity while on the road, and 60 per cent indicated their intention to buy a connected car simply to experience emerging technologies. More honestly, 58 per cent admitted they are most interested in entertainment features.
Car connectivity has become increasingly important to buyers and almost every manufacturer is offering increasing technology in the latest models.