Canada has passed the tipping point for electric-vehicle adoption, and customer loyalty to specific brands fell sharply in 2022, a recent Google Canada study suggests.
Al-Karim Awadia, head of automotive industry for Google Canada, said tracking the experience of countries such as Norway, China and South Korea shows that five per cent market share for electric vehicles is the “tipping point” where EVs move from being niche products to mainstream considerations for buyers.
He said in the first half of 2022 in Canada, EVs accounted for eight per cent of sales. “EVs are no longer an emerging trend, they are now an established consumer need,” he said. “Are dealers ready to meet this shift, and more broadly, is Canada ready to provide the infrastructure and support to overcome range [anxiety] objection?”
Norway hit six per cent EV share in 2013 and then shot to 15 per cent in 2014, 21 per cent in 2015 and 27 per cent in 2016. In 2020, EV share reached 75 per cent. A major difference between Norway and Canada, however, are punishing Norwegian taxes imposed on internal combustion engine vehicles.
Google, which interviewed 3,015 new-car buyers in the spring of 2022 for its Google Gearshift Canada 2022 study, said consumer intention to buy an EV is on the rise. Referencing its 2021 survey, it said 18 per cent of buyers considered an EV and six per cent bought one. In 2022, 26 per cent of buyers considered an EV and 12 per cent purchased one.
Consumer loyalty is also on the decline. Among mainstream buyers, those who remained within a brand fell to 39 per cent in 2022, an 11-per-cent drop from 2021. Among luxury brands, loyalty fell to 30 per cent, a 22-per-cent drop from 2021.
“Nearly one in four changed brands,” Awadia said. “That’s unique. That’s never happened in our industry before.”
Partially driving that change has been EV adoption, as consumers find EVs that meet their needs outside their current brands, as well as supply chain disruptions, as consumers switched brands rather than wait. “Every OEM should really be thinking about how to nurture loyalty going forward.”
However, Awadia said inventory shortages also spurred some shoppers to wait for their preferred brands.
“Some shoppers decided if they have to wait for anything else as well, they may as well wait for what they want,” he said.
Among brands selling EVs, however, luring buyers from brands less well-stocked in EVs could turn into long-term loyalty, he said. “As people get more connected to their technology and to their cars, they may be less loyal in that first purchase [the switch to a new brand] and more loyal for the next.”
Canadians are also flocking to online sales models, Google said. Its survey showed 54 per cent of buyers intend to go online for their next vehicle purchase, and that percentage rises to 62 per cent among those considering an EV.
