The Death of Car Ownership?

For several years, analysts have predicted the end of car ownership. Ride-hailing will replace it. Shared mobility will make it obsolete. Autonomous vehicles will render it pointless. However, the car has persisted. Our data, drawn from nearly 24,000 people across 31 countries, confirms this: the car is alive, deeply embedded in daily life, and emotionally cherished. What does global data reveal about the future of Car Ownership beyond just survival?

 In 22 of the 31 countries we surveyed in our 2026 edition of the Ipsos Mobility Monitor, driving is the single favourite mode of transport. Forty-three percent of car owners say a life without their vehicle would be impossible. In the United States, that number reaches 65 percent; in France, 64 percent; in Australia, 51 percent. These are not marginal figures. They describe a world where the car remains the default — not by inertia, but by preference. 

The “Trapped Owner” Phenomenon

Yet within these numbers lies a cohort that tells a different story. Eleven percent of car owners globally told us they would like to give up their car — but they can’t. We call them the “trapped owners”. In Italy, that figure rises to 19 percent. In India and China, 17 percent. In Colombia, 16 percent. 

These are not car enthusiasts. They are people stuck in a system where alternatives are inadequate, unaffordable, or unavailable. When we cross-reference this finding with public transport data, the picture becomes structurally clear: the countries with the highest car dependency are precisely those where public transport accessibility scores lowest. The US, France, and Australia combine high “impossible without a car” scores with relatively low public transport satisfaction. Singapore, by contrast, scores 21 percent on car dependency and leads on transit accessibility. 

This is not a consumer preference story. It is an infrastructure story. And it represents a massive, quantifiable unmet demand for alternative mobility. 

Where the Cracks Are Widening 

Two fault lines are visible in the data. The first is generational. Younger respondents are less likely to view car ownership as essential and more open to multimodal lifestyles. This is not just an attitude shift — it is a structural change in how younger generations relate to mobility, especially in urban contexts where ride-hailing, e-bikes, and public transit are viable. 

The second is geographic. Rural car owners are far more likely to say their car is indispensable: 60 percent describe it as impossible to live without, compared to 37 percent in urban areas and 46 percent in suburban zones. For urban dwellers, one in two prefer their car but acknowledge they could live without it. The rural-urban divide is not merely attitudinal — it reflects profoundly different infrastructure realities.

What this means