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Page added on September 16, 2015
People can’t imagine life without cars
A majority of people around the world could not imagine living their lives without a car, according to a study released Wednesday at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The findings by the International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (OICA), a group that defends the various interests of the car industry, revealed that 57% of people globally would find life harder or more challenging without access to four wheels.
OICA concluded that that 78% of people in Africa cannot imagine living their lives without a car, 63% in the Americas, 56% in Europe and 48% in Asia. The Paris-based organization surveyed 14,000 people in 18 countries.
“The conclusions are quite clear and positive, with the car seen as an object of desire, providing many important advantages compared to any other transport mode: globally, consumers view the car as comfortable, practical, fast, safe, and future-oriented,” said Matthias Wissmann, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry and an OICA vice-president, in a statement.
“Also the industry itself scores extremely high and is largely considered as an industry that can be trusted and is innovative,” Wissmann said.
The study concluded that global consumers generally believe that the car industry is “doing its job” when it comes to investing in technologies that reduce carbon emissions and support renewable energy sources.
“There’s been a lot of effort by different companies bringing different technologies” to the emissions problem, Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn — who is also president of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) — told reporters in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
“We will we do what we can to get results at COP21,” he added.
COP21 is a United Nations-sponsored conference on climate change that will take place in Paris in December. Reducing long-terms carbon emissions from cars and other major infrastructure is one of its goals.
Erik Jonnaert, ACEA’s secretary-general, said Wednesday that the car industry is currently responsible for a 5% reduction in total global emissions. He said that was ahead of other industries.
The OICA study found that the car industry also largely enjoys a positive reputation despite a spate of highly publicized vehicle recalls involving nearly all major manufacturers.
That’s in large part because today’s cars are safer and more reliable than ever. In the U.S., road fatalities have dropped sharply, while vehicle dependability ratings are at all-time highs.
The car’s reign may still nevertheless be under threat, as a growing number of people live where car ownership is difficult, unnecessary and even dangerous.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 54% of the world’s population lives in urban centers — and that number is expected to grow to 66% by 2050.
In dense, city areas, congestion often means that owning a car is both inefficient and cost prohibitive, and urban dwellers regularly turn to public transit and car-and-ride-sharing services to get where they need to go.
In cities such as New York and Tokyo, the automobile is often the slowest way to get from one place to another.
Further, the regions where the OICA survey showed car ownership to be most coveted — in Africa, at 78% — correspond to places where public transit infrastructure is least developed.
Even as urbanization increases in Africa, inadequate access to mass transit and growing sprawl means that even city-dwellers depend on private vehicles. Road fatalities have also sharply increased in the developing world, as more individuals have access to cars.
According to the WHO, car accidents are now the fifth leading cause of death in developing countries, and vehicle-related air pollution is an increasing threat to human health.
Meanwhile, in the U.S. car sales have risen as the economy has rebounded and gas prices have dropped.
According to Autodata, analysts project that Americans will buy 17.8 million new vehicles in 2015, and new car sales in August were the best they’ve been for any month in a decade.
Globally, demand for new passenger cars was up 1.4% to 36.1 million in the first half of this year, with that modest rise driven mainly by consumer demand in China where rapid economic growth has slowed in recent months.
79 Comments on "People can’t imagine life without cars"
marmico on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 10:25 am
Who gives a shit about your anecdotes.
GregT on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 10:43 am
Who gives a shit about reality, when there are freddy fluff charts.
marmico on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 10:47 am
Move to Moncton, fuctard.
GregT on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 10:53 am
I have no desire to move anywhere marmi, I am very content where I live now. TYVM 🙂
marmico on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 11:05 am
I was talking about your kids, dimwit.
Priortize location and the ability to purchase. Obviously your kids think that location matters more than ability to purchase.
Who gives a crap.
You are such a fuctard, that you think the next generation should be able to buy in the same location as the last generation for the same inflation adjusted income.
Davy on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 11:06 am
Marmer, you give away your feeling so easy. It is plain to see you are upset because your message is a failure. If there were any validity in your message you would be peachy. Instead you are an obnoxious blowhard no one on this site cares to read. Go somewhere you can be liked or maybe you are a S&M freak. I will add that to the sexual perversions you suffer from you failed piece of shit.
GregT on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 11:35 am
“Obviously your kids think that location matters more than ability to purchase.”
Wrong marmi. Their decision is based on availability of employment.
apneaman on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 11:57 am
Poor widdle marmy is getting a scared-ed because everything that is happening should not be – according to the faith. Doomers must be viciously punished. Marmys vicious tongue lashings increase in lockstep with all the bad news.
Poor widdle marmy
BC on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 1:14 pm
The future for a growing share of the bottom 80-90% is likely to be auto-less immobility and unaffordable mass transit.
The growth and lifestyles for the complex, high-entropy, high-tech mega-cities in the US (NYC-Boston-Philly-DC, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Phoenix, SoCal, SF Bay Area, and Seattle) are prohibitively costly for the bottom 90%+ and thus unsustainable apart from increasingly affluent enclaves in and around these metro areas.
Once accelerating disruptive automation of services employment (education, health care, financial services, law, and gov’t) and resulting loss of paid employment and purchasing power reaches critical mass, deflation in goods will spread to services, which will result in falling tax receipts, fiscal constraints, public budget cuts, and pensions and retiree benefits being slashed.
The prohibitively costly fixed costs of the built urban infrastructure will render most areas unaffordable, reducing business activity and tax receipts.
We are already seeing rents increasing faster than real, after-tax incomes for Millennials, which I suspect will soon result in a peak in rents and increasing vacancies during the next recession, leaving another housing bust in its wake.
Fat Lady on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 1:53 pm
Greg T my point is that in the U.S. Driving is thriving and no one gives it up wilfully in any significant numbers. Oh and my gender is none of your damn biz.
Apneaman on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 2:06 pm
Here’s Why the Status Quo Is Doomed
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.ca/2015/09/heres-why-status-quo-is-doomed.html
GregT on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 2:43 pm
“in the U.S. Driving is thriving and no one gives it up wilfully in any significant numbers.”
I wouldn’t go as far as saying ‘no one’, but other than that I would agree with you. Most will not give up driving wilfully. Which is going to make matters much more tense when they have no choice.
“Oh and my gender is none of your damn biz.”
My apologies for the above comment.
BC on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 3:54 pm
We’re gender-sensitive and -neutral doomers here, but some of us take offense at the use of gender-specific, self-deprecating monikers that refer to disparaging body image stereotypes. 😀
Hormonally and horizontally challenged, self-identifying, gender-specific female person is much more palatable, I’m sure we can all agree. 😀
GregT on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 4:37 pm
🙂
Fat Lady on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 4:58 pm
May I sing now? Tra Laaaaaaaa!
Go Speed Racer on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 8:25 pm
Why all you guys hate each other? Lotta ranting going on. Take some anger management? Read self help books? Might as well be happy while the oil runs out.
Davy on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 8:34 pm
Speedie, why do you bop in after many many months and tell us what we should or shouldn’t do? Maybe if you became a regular we will listen to your petty advice but has you stand now you are just another fly by nighter.
James on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 8:51 pm
Where I live, the Amish manage very well without cars. I only wish I had the means to own a horse so I could do it like the Amish. If we had a reliable rail system like back in the 50s. We could go just about anywhere a car could take us. We just need to slow down.
Makati1 on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 9:05 pm
James, I lived in Amish country for most of my life. Yes, they are much more self sufficient than the rest of America. BUT… They are more and more integrated with modern tools and services than you may believe. They do not smelt the ores to make their machinery any more. They buy machinery factory made. They may use horses to pull their equipment, and their buggies, but I suspect that they too will be hurting when the time comes that those items are not available. They heat their homes with wood or coal and how long will that be available?
I admire their convictions, but do not see them as having a big advantage when the SHTF.
Makati1 on Thu, 17th Sep 2015 9:12 pm
BC, the country went “politically correct” and dumbed down even more of our culture. That we took shortcuts in describing someone is not new nor can it be legislated away. The ‘N’ word will always be used, especially in the South. The fat will always be fat. The stupid always stupid. Retarded, slut, bitch, whore, grifter (antique word not used much today) etc. will always be used somewhere by someone. We have become a nation of whimps when a few words hurt our feelings or prompt us to go to court. But, what can you expect when you live in a country that has a lawyer for every 300 people?
Kenz300 on Fri, 18th Sep 2015 8:18 am
Bicycles are an inexpensive way to travel short distances.
Cities need to provide more safe bicycle and walking paths that connect homes, schools, businesses and jobs.
Businesses need to provide safe places to lock and store bicycles when shopping or at work.
Schools need to encourage children to ride a bicycle and parents need to stop driving their children to school. The children would be healthier and would get more exercise. It just might reduce the obesity epidemic in the world.
The air would be cleaner, people would save money on transportation costs, we would use less fossil fuels and we might just make a small impact on Climate Change.
Kenz300 on Fri, 18th Sep 2015 8:26 am
Adoption of bicycles as a primary transportation option can be done. It is a safe, clean and inexpensive way to travel. Cities needs to become more bicycle friendly. It can be done.
Groningen: The World’s Cycling City – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWf5fbSUNAg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWf5fbSUNAg
Go Speed Racer on Fri, 18th Sep 2015 9:29 pm
Davy, your gramma wears army boots. How’s that fr fighting words? Hey let me get this straight, if I post regularly I get to flip you abuse, but since I was laying low fr awhile, you get to dump krap on me? Cant we all just get allonng?
GregT on Fri, 18th Sep 2015 9:44 pm
My gramma wore army boots, and was the lone teacher in a one room school house. Grades 3 to 13. An absolutely amazing woman. She was still going strong up until two weeks before she passed away at 96. They sure don’t make em like they used to.
Go Speed Racer on Fri, 18th Sep 2015 10:04 pm
Ya that was a heavy duty gramma. Congrats your sturdy family tree. Inhad a Great Aunt like that. Tough as nails until 99.
GregT on Fri, 18th Sep 2015 10:09 pm
She was five foot nothing, and not somebody that anyone wanted to mess with. A real survivor.
Makati1 on Fri, 18th Sep 2015 10:09 pm
GregT, maybe we just didn’t do what grandma did in her life? Work hard, consume balanced, healthy diets, get educated about real things, etc. I have such a person in the form of my uncle. School teacher, sports coach, jogger, weight lifter, healthy diet, non-smoker/drinker, etc. He just turned 92 and still lives by himself in Delaware.
My great grandma lived a similar lifestyle and died at 94. Her mind went before her healthy body.
Davy on Sat, 19th Sep 2015 4:38 am
Fair enough Speedie. You will find we enjoy our confilicts. Men like drama to.
Go Speed Racer on Sun, 20th Sep 2015 2:23 am
Hi Davy, kool. Yeah I think the guys can do better drama than the gals. I’ll try and check in more often. :O)
This economy was beating me up again, so I didn’t post awhile. But I got my engines re-started, and I’ll visit peakoil more often. :O)