Especially among younger people

Austrians’ love for their cars is growing!

The great days of the car as a cult object, as an irrevocable family member, as a vehicle for freedom and as an emotional factor in life seem to be coming to an end, films such as the "Fast and Furious" series seem somehow out of place and the freedom and adventure ride of "Thelma & Louise" in their '66 Thunderbird was more than 30 years ago. However, for most Austrians, the emotional significance of the car is apparently increasing.

This is the result of an Integral survey of 500 Austrian drivers for AutoScout24. For 84 percent of them, the car is important or very important.

"We are facing the major challenge of reconciling personal mobility and climate protection. Alternative drive systems are an important component of this. But our survey also shows that not only do two thirds of Austrians rely on their car in their everyday lives, but that it also has great emotional significance for many. This fact must not be ignored in future planning," says Nikolaus Menches, Country Manager of AutoScout24 in Austria.

Continually increasing importance
Not only does owning a car remain important, its importance has actually increased over the years. In 2020, 48% of respondents said that owning their own vehicle was very important to them, in 2023 the figure was slightly over half at 52% and in 2024 a whopping 56% said "The car is very important to me".

This applies more to women (58%) than men (55%). In the 18 to 30 age group, the strong bond has increased from 46% to 59%. However, owning a car is most important to 30 to 50-year-olds: 64% love their car.

As people get older, their attachment to their vehicle decreases. In the 50-plus age group, the car is very important to 49 percent, a figure that has fallen since the previous year (56 percent).

Upper Austria and Salzburg with strongest approval
When looking at the federal states, Upper Austria and Salzburg stand out with a high car importance rating of 68% each, followed by Lower Austria and Burgenland (57%). It is not very important for the Viennese (14 percent). Two thirds of people who commute by car rate the value of their car as very high, as do all those who drive more than 20,000 kilometers per year. People with children in the household also value their car significantly more (62 percent).

Public transport connections influence the importance of the car
Good public transport connections also influence the love of the car to some extent. However, even with a very good public transport infrastructure, every second respondent stated a very high emotional attachment to their own vehicle, with 64% confirming this statement in the case of poor or non-existent public transport connections.

And Thelma and Louise? In times of climate change, they could be seen as a symbol for the world and its inhabitants. The two of them plunged hand in hand into the Grand Canyon in their Ford convertible.

For the trend study, Integral Markt- und Meinungsforschung conducted an online survey for AutoScout24 in February 2024 among 500 Austrian car owners aged 18 to 69, representative of this target group.