It seems that the car reservation has revealed an evil truth: the lack of trust among buyers. Automotive News reports a recent survey found that electric car buyers who put up a reservation are more likely to reserve more than one. And all because they didn’t think they’d actually get the car they booked.
The survey / research was made via Repeat. The company specializes in providing EV battery health reports to consumers and companies. Repeatedly surveyed over 200 people who booked between April and May. The findings are interesting. The takeaway is that there are some placeholders who don’t seem to seriously consider their purchase. People are booking a lot of room for multiple models. And it varies depending on the brand and model.
Each Tesla model, for example, there are buyers who have 100% intention to buy and buy a car. Chevy Silverado EV? Only 20 percent due to uncertainty about whether or not they got their car. The survey also showed that long waits also drive customers away.
Among buyers who don’t seem serious about some of the brands they’re pre-ordering, their selections are omnipresent. One customer has pre-ordered the Nissan Ariya, Hummer EV, Chevy Silverado EV, VW ID.4 and BMW iX. But they only plan to actually buy the iX. It seems they just had to drive any other EV in case the BMW drove past. Other models, like the KIA EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Subaru Solterra already have pre-bookers ready to wait for those and only those vehicles.
All of this though really highlights how Slippery of a slope car can be booked. The last few years have shown that it’s the right path for most automakers, especially with special editions or “firsts” of models. It allows automakers to PR for free because they can make rounds and tout the thousands of reservations they have for a car: “Let’s see how many people want to buy our products!” But the reality is that many of these buyers don’t have any intention of buying these vehicles because of the uncertainty surrounding the vehicle’s production right now. And until things get back to normal, the actual booking numbers mean nothing.
