Cars can mean a lot to their owners. They may be considered a prime example of vintage heritage, for example, or seen as a status symbol. Yet most people in Switzerland do not have a particularly strong emotional attachment to their vehicles – they are more likely to view them as a practical item for everyday use. What’s more, new forms of mobility are opening up all kinds of convenient alternatives to cars that are becoming increasingly popular, especially amongst city dwellers.
Has the car lost its shine as a status symbol?
Commuting to work, travelling to shops or leisure venues, going on weekend trips to the countryside or driving to the station to avoid the rain are all part of everyday life in Switzerland, where 80% of people own their own car and usually have it readily available to them at any time.(1) However, personal car ownership is not their only option. The most well-known alternative is carsharing, but taxis and individual ride providers like Uber are also examples of shared road transport services.
In cities, more and more people are moving away from cars. Instead they are turning not just to public transport, but also increasingly to other forms of mobility and micromobility, such as bikes and scooters. In rural parts of the country – which are home to a third of the Swiss population – 50% of people claim they would use public transport to get to and from work if the infrastructure were better developed. At the moment, however, the car is still the most popular means of transport in rural areas.(2)
What is remarkable is that while the number of car-free households in Switzerland has grown since 2005 (mostly in towns and cities), so too has the number of cars registered. Studies have also surprisingly revealed that the number of people obtaining a driving licence in industrial and service-oriented societies like Switzerland has stayed at the same level, or even dropped in some cases.(3) The same goes for car ownership. This is due partly to changes in mobility behaviour, particularly amongst younger generations, and partly to urbanisation itself: trying to fit a lot of cars into a confined space soon leads to traffic jams and parking problems.
The impact of digitalisation
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic and people’s fears – now dispelled – of catching the virus on public transport, a new form of private transport was emerging. E-bikes have enjoyed a rapid rise in the bicycle market in recent years, while other small-scale means of transport such as e-scooters have become widely available as electrification has progressed. As a result, it is now possible to travel short stretches even without using public transport, or to reach places within walking distance more quickly and flexibly. Advances in digitalisation have also made it easy to book a whole range of micromobility options, right through to carsharing. Linking up the various services available has made planning travel so much more straightforward, and largely within the user’s control. You could say that the smartphone is actually the main driving force behind new mobility.
Buy or subscribe?
With this extensive range of mobility services available at any time, it makes sense not to bother spending a lot of money on buying and maintaining your own car. Of course there is also the option of owning your own e-scooter, or buying or leasing an e-bike. However, younger people in particular tend to choose between different mobility solutions depending on what they actually need at the time. Car subscriptions with monthly fees, predictable cost structures and tailored packages are similar to leasing deals, but offer much more flexibility and shorter terms. This is quite different to carsharing, where individual journeys using different vehicles are booked on demand. Micromobility solutions like e-scooters or e-bikes are based on a similar business model.
A fifth of people living in urban areas use carsharing regularly, while just under one in ten people do in the countryside, and the number of car subscriptions is rising steadily too.(4) Uber and similar services are also used by a third of the people surveyed at least once a month. However, micromobility is proving more popular still: almost half of city residents and a third of the people surveyed in rural areas use options such as e-bikes or e-scooters on a pay-per-use basis, or else travel on their own bike or by foot.(5)
Subscription services do not just offer more flexible terms than purchasing or leasing options; based on a worldwide comparison, they also come out on top in terms of convenience, availability and predictable cost structures. Other advantages cited include straightforward contracts and completely digital services. Put simply, the easier it is to use a car on subscription, the more likely customers are to do so.(6)
Conclusion
Cars may still be the frontrunner for the foreseeable future, but they won’t necessarily always be owned by the people using them, or always be the first choice for every journey. They will be one of many equally valid options within new integrated mobility and transport systems.
Sources:
1) Sotomo, Astara: Schweizer Mobilitätsbarometer, Auto und mehr: Mobilität heute und morgen [Swiss Mobility Barometer, Cars and more: Mobility now and in the future], 2023
2) McKinsey & Company: Future of Mobility in Switzerland, 2021
3) Federal Office for Spatial Development, ARE: Transport Outlook 2050: Final Report, 2022
4) Sotomo, Astara: Schweizer Mobilitätsbarometer, Auto und mehr: Mobilität heute und morgen [Swiss Mobility Barometer, Cars and more: Mobility now and in the future], 2023
5) McKinsey & Company: Future of Mobility in Switzerland, 2021
6) Deloitte: 2024 Global Automotive Consumer Study, 2024
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