A Deloitte 2025 Global Automotive Consumer Study finds that electric vehicle interest remains muted in most markets, vehicle brand defection is on the rise and a high frequency of younger consumers are interested in giving up vehicle ownership in favor of mobility-as-a-service (MaaS). 

Sixty-two percent of U.S. consumers surveyed said they plan to buy an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle for their next vehicle. Twenty-percent said their next purchase would be a hybrid and only 5% were interested in an electric vehicle (EV). 

Consumers in the U.S. continue to have concerns about EVs including driving range (49%), cost (44%) and time required to charge (46%).

Forty-seven percent of U.S. consumers own the same brand vehicle as their previous vehicle, the survey found. Fifty-four percent of consumers in the nation plan to switch brands with their next vehicle purchase. 

When it comes to connectivity, consumers want the ability to connect their vehicle to their smart phones, with 63% of those surveyed in the U.S. saying this was somewhat or very important. 

However, consumers in the nation responded that they are willing to pay extra for certain connected vehicle services such as automatic detection of vehicles and pedestrians (60%), emergency assistance, for example collision detection (62%) and anti-theft tracking (60%). 

Yet, U.S. consumers showed a strong distrust in the management of their vehicle data. Consumers were asked who they would trust most to manage their data and were given the options of OEMs, dealers, financial service provider, insurance company, auto club or association, cellular service provider, cloud service provider and government agency. 

Thirty-one percent of U.S. survey respondents said they trusted none of the options. The next top choice after none was car manufacturers at 19% and vehicle dealer at 16%. Insurers followed with 9% of respondents trusting them the most. 

Younger consumers between the ages of 18-years-old and 34-years-old showed a willingness of giving up vehicle ownership in favor of MaaS. In the U.S. 44% of those surveyed said they were somewhat willing, willing or very willing to give up their vehicles. 

However, a majority (50%) of U.S. consumers use their private vehicle 100% of the time. About 7% said they use MaaS 100% of the time and 9% said they use their vehicle 50% and MaaS 50%. 

Forty-two percent of Americans still expected to be using their private vehicle 100% of the time in five years, according to the survey. 

The survey received 31,000 consumer responses from 30 countries, including 1,002 responses in the U.S.

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Feature image courtesy of 3alexd/iStock. Embedded photos courtesy of DeLoitte.