Who is more attached to their car? Comparing automobility engagement and response to shared, automated and electric mobility in Canada and Germany

Abstract

The “automobility system” encompasses the prevalence of the privately-owned car in industrialized societies. We apply automobility theory in a novel approach, by investigating consumer engagement with aspects of the automobility system related to car ownership and use in the case studies of Canada and Germany, while also considering openness to new mobility innovations. These countries differ in that Canada has higher levels of car ownership, commutes made by car, and urban sprawl, as well as lower levels of carsharing and electric vehicle adoption relative to Germany. We apply a conceptual framework and 40-item scale of consumer “automobility engagement” to representative survey samples of 3527 Canadian and 2620 German respondents. Exploratory factor analysis identifies five automobility engagement factors: “Driving Enjoyment”, “Car Identity”, “Car Dependence”, “Societal Concern about Car Use”, and “Sustainable Travel Norms”. Mean scores are significantly higher for Canadian respondents on four factors, but not significantly different for “Driving Enjoyment”. In regression analysis, these factors can help to explain consumer interest in carsharing, fully automated vehicles, and electric vehicles in both countries, where “Car Dependence” and “Societal Concern about Car Use” predict interest in fully automated and electric vehicles. Interactions reveal that some patterns differ by country; for example, “Societal Concern about Car Use” predicts carsharing interest among German respondents only. The similarities and differences in country results suggest that the framework can be useful in a variety of contexts.