With the first generation Z (generation born between 1995 and 2009) people gradually entering the workplace, and began to have independent economic resources and independent consumption attitudes, China's younger generation has not only become the core consumer, but also the promoter of market trends.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of Generation Z in the mainland is about 260 million, accounting for about 19% of the country's total population. Among them, the "post-95s" account for nearly 40% of this group; while the "post-00s" and "post-05s" account for 63% of the total Z generation.
The rise of Generation Z has stimulated the release of consumer demand in various industries, and has also boosted the rapid development of the new energy automobile industry. From the perspective of products that consumers pay attention to, with the characteristics of environmental protection, energy saving, intelligent and trendy, new energy vehicles have been favored by Z generation consumers. According to relevant report data, young people under the age of 35 have become the most important growth market for new energy vehicles.
A few days ago, the Daily Economic News conducted a questionnaire survey on the consumption tendencies and characteristics of new energy vehicles in the Z generation group. The results show that the Z generation group is very sympathetic to the concept of low-carbon environmental protection, is more willing to buy new energy vehicles, and tends to mainstream independent brands and new forces' independent brands. At the same time, they have higher expectations for the intelligent technology configuration of the vehicle, and prefer intelligent "black technology" such as automatic assisted driving.
Recognize the concept of low-carbon environmental protection
Generation Z consumer groups have a high degree of recognition of the concept of low-carbon environmental protection, and their acceptance of new energy vehicles is also high, and they are more willing to buy new energy vehicles.
Of all Gen Z respondents, 77 percent of consumers said they would be willing to buy new energy vehicles, and 23 percent said they were reluctant to buy them. Among them, 58.3% of Gen Z consumers already own a car, and they have the highest willingness to buy a new energy vehicle at the moment, at 62.6%; followed by consumers without cars, their willingness to buy new energy vehicles is higher, 24.8%; and finally, consumers who already have two or more vehicles, their willingness to buy is lower, 12.5%.
In the choice of vehicle power mode, 68.6% of consumers are more inclined to plug-in hybrid models (including range extenders), and 31.4% of consumers are more willing to choose pure electric vehicles. In terms of specific models, Gen Z consumers prefer SUVs, with 48.1% of respondents choosing SUVs, 29.6% choosing sedans, 15% choosing MPVs, and other models accounting for 7.3%.
Gen Z consumer groups are more inclined to choose to buy new energy models
Generation Z consumers are more familiar with new energy vehicle-related policies such as subsidy decline, and the impact of subsidy decline on their purchase of new energy vehicles is not too large. As for the trend of subsidy decline, 65.4% said they knew about the policy and trend, and 34.6% said they did not know much.
33.6% of the respondents said that the subsidy decline had less impact on their willingness to buy new energy vehicles; 8.2% thought it had no impact; 30.9% thought it had a greater impact, and 27.3% thought it had a great impact. The proportion of consumers who believe that there is no impact or lesser impact has reached 41.8%, which is close to 50%, indicating that the impact of subsidy policies on people's purchase of new energy vehicles is gradually weakening.
The impact of subsidy decline on the willingness of Gen Z consumers to purchase new energy vehicles
The concept of low-carbon environmental protection has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the Z generation group and has become the main driving force for them to buy new energy vehicles. The survey results show that among the factors that promote the purchase of new energy vehicles, the concept of low-carbon environmental protection, the optimistic development of new energy vehicles, and the "privilege" of new energy vehicles (unlimited travel, sending green cards, etc.) have become the top three important factors, and the bottom four are low maintenance costs, sound supporting facilities, car purchase subsidies and good after-sales service.
More inclined to "domestic products"
Among the many factors hindering the development of the new energy automobile industry, the mileage has always been a common topic. Despite the continuous improvement of power battery technology and the gradual improvement of charging infrastructure, Generation Z consumers still have greater mileage anxiety.
The survey results show that when purchasing new energy vehicles, mileage is still their first consideration. Nearly 60% of the respondents said that they expected the cruising range of new energy vehicles to be greater than 500km, of which 31.8% expected the vehicle to have a range of more than 600km, and 26.5% of the respondents chose the range of 501km to 600km. Respondents who tend to have a vehicle range of 401km to 500km accounted for 30.6%, and 11.1% preferred vehicles with a range of 400 km or less.
Gen Z consumers expect the range of the vehicle
From the price point of view, the new energy models in the price range of 150,000 to 200,000 yuan are more attractive to Z generation consumers, with 30.1% of respondents choosing this price point, followed by models of 100,000 to 150,000 yuan, accounting for 26.6%, 24.5% of respondents expressed their willingness to buy new energy models of more than 200,000 yuan, and the proportion of consumers who chose to buy models below 100,000 yuan was slightly smaller, accounting for 18.8%.
The price range that Gen Z consumers expect from vehicles
In terms of brand selection, the Z generation group has shown stronger self-confidence in "domestic goods", and the models of mainstream independent brands and new car-making brands are more favored by them.
The survey results show that when purchasing new energy vehicles, mainstream independent brands (such as BYD, Roewe, BAIC, Changan, etc.) and new independent brands (such as: Weilai, Xiaopeng, Ideal, etc.) have become the first choice of Z generation respondents, followed by German joint venture brands (such as FAW-Volkswagen, SAIC Volkswagen, etc.), ranking fourth is the American new power brand (such as: Tesla), followed by Japanese joint venture, German luxury, Japanese luxury, American luxury, American joint venture, Korean joint venture and French joint venture brand.
At present, with Tesla, "Wei Xiaoli" and other new car-making brands have changed the traditional car sales model, more and more car brands, especially new energy vehicle brands, have poured into the business circle to open direct stores, which also allows consumers to contact the channels of car brands to become diversified.
Judging from the survey results, when Gen Z respondents chose to buy new energy vehicles, they still ranked 4S stores in the preferred position, followed by brand online malls and brand stores in shopping malls. From the perspective of the way to contact a certain car brand, online media (portals, professional automotive websites, car company official websites, Weibo, public accounts, video websites, APP, etc.) are the first choice of the Z generation, followed by brand 4S stores, traditional media (TV, radio, print media, outdoor advertising, etc.), car stores in shopping malls and friend recommendations.
Love intelligent "black technology"
In recent years, with the continuous innovation of intelligent networking and automatic driving technology, car companies have accelerated the introduction of intelligent car products, and the market's recognition and acceptance of such products have gradually increased. According to a Deloitte survey, more than 90% of Chinese consumers are willing to pay for IoV-related technologies, of which 25% to 30% are willing to pay more than 5,000 yuan.
The accelerated popularity of new energy vehicles has also created more possibilities for the landing of intelligent technologies. The data shows that by 2030, 36% of the new cars in China's auto market will be new energy vehicles, and the vast majority of new energy vehicles will be equipped with intelligent hardware and related functions.
In the era of "software-defined cars", automotive software upgrade iterations will be more rapid and important to the consumer car experience. Industry insiders believe that with the popularity of smart electric vehicles, automotive products will have more characteristics of electronic consumer goods.
Smart technology is more affinity and attractive to the Generation Z group of Internet "indigenous people". According to the survey results, 53.7% of the respondents believe that new energy vehicles can achieve more intelligent functions, and 46.3% of the respondents believe that intelligence has nothing to do with energy forms, and fuel vehicles can also be very intelligent.
Among the 11 important factors to consider when purchasing new energy vehicles, Gen Z respondents listed mileage, safety and reliability, price, and intelligent technology configuration as the top five important factors.
For the new energy vehicles to attract the Z generation of scientific and technological functions or configurations, automatic assisted driving, automatic parking, central control of large screen and multi-screen linkage of these three "black technology" ranked in the top three, followed by the in-car entertainment system and voice interaction function.
New energy vehicles attract the technological functions or configurations of Gen Z consumer groups
Driven by the wave of "new four modernizations" of automobiles, intelligent electric vehicles ushered in the "outlet" period, in addition to traditional car companies, new car-making forces have emerged, cross-border players such as the Internet have also entered the market, and diversified car-makers have provided more choices for the market.
At present, China's automobile consumption is in the process of transformation and upgrading, and the new consumer demand is more concentrated in products with higher added value and higher technical content. "Black technology" such as intelligent networking and automatic driving is more valued by the younger generation of consumer groups.
According to IHS Markit's forecast of vehicle networking sales in different regional markets around the world, the sales growth rate of the Chinese market will exceed the global average and is expected to become the largest automotive intelligent market.
Source: Daily Economic News