A cars green crudentials are now critical to the purchasing decision according to new research from the latest Concerned Consumer survey by Populus for The Times.
Only 34% of consumers believe that car manufacturers are doing enough and taking environmental issues seriously. There were also some clear brand leaders emerging, with those surveyed placing Honda, Volkswagen and Audi as leaders in company behaviour and image terms. Toyota, despite success with the hybrid Prius came in at fifth place. When asked who should take responsibility for the disposal of vehicles, 43% thought it should be down to the car manufacturer (versus the car owner – 34% and Government – 23%). Interestingly when people were asked what they would be driving in ten years time, 27% said that they probably wouldn’t have a car. 21% said a hybrid car was likely where as current petrol and diesel cars were still seen as a future possibility for 13% and 12% of those surveyed.
Toyota and Honda were the clear leaders (24% and 22% respectively) when individuals were asked about manufacturers that they thought were doing the most to minimise the environmental impact of driving and local authority initiatives to link parking charges to emissions appear to have gained widespread support with six in ten saying that they support the initiative.
This is certainly another very interesting piece of research that proves half the UK population to be concerned consumers. The fact that environmental initiatives now have significant consumer pulling power should be fully recognised by manufacturers. With brand support being sufficiently effected by environmental issues it will be interesting to see how car manufacturers react and how customer opinion develops in time.
