It’s time to change the way we buy cars.

3 or 4 years used to be a short time in the car industry. With a mid-model refresh every 5 years, and 10 years development time of a new car, as a buyer, you could be pretty sure that when you were ready to change, not a lot had changed. Maybe a slightly more aerodynamic shape, a CD player instead of a tape player, and a new range of sexily named colours. Fundamentally a car was still a car. You wouldn’t be scared to commit to what was the largest purchase you’d ever make after a house.

With the lowest car sales in March being blamed on a range of different reasons, mainly focused around supply problems, there might well be deep routed, human behaviour at play. A social phenomenon, known as the Osborne Effect after an infamous computer company that went bankrupt, in which people cancel or defer purchases of current, soon to be obsolete products, when a shiny new toy is just round the corner.

Could the growth of EVs be contributing towards low car sales as potential buyers keep their hands firmly in their pockets, nervous to commit to a longer-term finance deal by the end of which the car could be fundamentally different?

Are people waiting for longer range, improved charging networks, lower costs?

One thing’s for sure, we aren’t going to see a slowdown in the rate of change. The need to get people buying again isn’t changing either. We have seen the next phase play out in the telecoms and tech industries, and there are precedents and learnings to be taken from these.

The switch from an ownership to usership model is one solution, reducing consumers' perceived risk of spending their hard-earned cash. This will require new business models, revenue streams, and operational structures. It’s a huge task ahead, but we, as a society, and governments need to find solutions to effectively help legacy automakers transition to the new world of mobility in a smart manner that keeps their competitiveness and recycles their workers.

For sure we will see some of them disappearing and some merging, as they have been doing in the last years, but it is crucial for our economy that they mostly survive this inevitable transition.

David Dent, Planning Director at April Six (Mobility)