Japanese consumers root for green vehicle technologies

When it comes to environmental awareness, it seems the Japanese consumer is far ahead of Japan's domestic industry. While the country’s automakers just started to jump on the battery-powered electric vehicle bandwagon, eco-friendliness and fuel efficiency are already the most requested car features according to a survey conducted by Dimsdrive among over 2,700 consumers in Japan.

With the average fuel price just hitting its highest level in 3.5 years, demands for alternative energy solutions within the automobile market are rising. Over the course of ten years, the number of new registrations of (so-called in Japan) next generation passenger cars soared from approximately 109,000 to almost 1.9 million units in 2017, of which the majority were hybrid cars, followed by clean diesel and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Surprisingly, only about four percent of respondents considered the car brand and its status an important feature. These results might highlight an interesting shift in consumer behavior – valuing performance over brand image, which used to be a strong factor influencing purchasing decisions in the Far East.