Drivers Like Connectivity But May Not Know They Already Have It

One-third of European car buyers consider connectivity an important criterion for their next car. But two in five current owners of connected cars don’t know they have such features already.

So says a survey of 3,700 connect-car owners in seven major European markets conducted by TNS/BearingPoint. The poll sampled drivers of Audi, BMW, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Porsche, Renault, Volkswagen and Volvo.

The survey doesn’t specifically define what it means by “connected.” But in other reports, BearingPoint uses the term to cover everything from navigation and in-car Bluetooth connectivity to self-parking aids and car-to-car connectivity.

The study says lack of driver awareness of connectivity features in their own cars ranges from 31% for drivers younger than 41 years old to 44% for older owners. One reason: 39% of drivers say they never had connectivity features demonstrated to them by their dealers.

Respondents say the most relevant connected-car features to them involve navigation (mentioned by 49%) and infotainment (45%). Among the least important are security (3%), maintenance (11%) and safety (14%).