Europeans have postponed their plans to buy a new car and their interest in engines with alternative propulsion systems is temporarily declining, Deloitte reports.
Among the European countries, Italy has the highest percentage of those who postponed the purchase of a new car due to the pandemic (32%), followed by Spain (29%), UK (20%) and France (17%).
Regarding the preferred type of engine, in Italy, a country leader in Europe last year in terms of interest in cars equipped with alternative powertrain technology (electric or hybrid), the percentage increased from 58% to 61% this year.
Spain is in a similar situation (62% prefer alternative systems and 34% the classic ones).
In contrast, in Germany, the interest in clean cars has fallen from 51% in 2020 to 41% in 2021.
In other European countries, too, consumers’ preference now leans more towards cars with conventional engines – Belgium (61%), Austria (58%), United Kingdom (54%).
When considering buying a new car, consumers put safety first
Thus, Belgians, Germans an Austrians are the first who want to be equipped with a blind spot alert system (71%, 65% and 66% respectively)
Meanwhile Spanish, Italians and French are more interested in the automatic emergency braking system (84%, 83%, and 76%, respectively).
