Amid doom and gloom it’s vroom and boom for SA

Amid an overwhelming sense of doom and gloom, cars bring joy to South Africans, more than anywhere else in the world.

This finding of the Ford Trends 2023 survey, based on 16,120 interviews across 16 countries, highlights the country’s love affair with its vehicles. It also aligns with the findings of last year’s Statista Global Consumer Survey, which shows that while cars’ status as an aspirational purchase diminished in many countries, a majority of nonowners in Brazil, South Africa and Nigeria still aspire to buy one.

The Ford study examined consumer attitudes across various issues, from global instability to personal finances. It found that, after three years of a global pandemic, 58% of adults are experiencing feelings of burnout.

In South Africa, that figure leaps to 77%, ranking this country fourth in the world in agreeing with the statement: “I am overwhelmed by all the changes I see taking place in the world.” Only Brazil, Germany and Spain recorded a higher proportion.

The study found most people believe the worst is yet to come and consumers are taking stock of their fears. Still, the majority believes society will be stronger in five years.

Jennifer Brace, trends and futuring manager at Ford, where she leads discussions on long-term thinking, planning and development, told Business Times her team looks outside the automotive sector to understand how consumer sentiment, values and behaviour might affect their business.

“We strive to uncover those connection points and try to connect those dots internally at the company to prepare teams for what it might mean in the future. We’re seeing brands that in the past may have tried to stay neutral on politics and they’re no longer able to do that.

“Consumers are expecting them to take a stance, whether it be on humanitarian, social, government or environmental issues. Consumers are looking to support brands that connect with them and their values.”

South Africa ranked number one in the world, with 77% of respondents saying they expect brands to take a stand on social issues. The US ranked lowest, at 51%.

“South Africa was above the global average on a lot of different questions,” said Brace.

“Something we found across the survey was there are a lot of things we all recognise are out of our control, but people are looking to the things they can control. And there is some kind of power in feeling I can’t control what’s happening in the world, but I can decide where I spend my money.

“What I also noticed about South Africa was that you’re on the more optimistic side of technology. In areas such as the metaverse and Web 3.0, you’re looking to technologies for solutions.

“You were in the top two in terms of expecting that everything you do will be tracked by technology, but there is this recognition that the technology in our lives is a doubleedged sword where we rely on it.

“South Africa also over-indexed the global average when it came to using technology and social media to stay connected.”

However, Brace pointed out that there was a recognition that social media, in particular, is toxic and can be dangerous.

“We know we find it creepy and we know we’re being monitored, but we can’t stop. It’s so ingrained in our lives that we don’t want to get rid of it.”

The study was designed to uncover those aspects of existence that overwhelm consumers and those that help them cope with such feelings. In particular, it found people are “redefining joy and finding it in everyday life”.

Rather than aiming for exceptional wealth, for example, most simply want to earn enough to enjoy the things they like. Here, South Africa stood out.

“When we asked about specific elements regarding finding joy, South Africans put music first ... The younger generations chose music above driving. But South Africans as a whole chose driving their cars,” Brace said.

“That one makes me smile because my car is a chance to listen to music. That’s the type of thing we would take back to our engineering teams and talk about our younger audiences choosing music above driving as a source of joy.

“We need to focus on whether we need to keep making incremental updates to performance or do we need to look at what’s happening in the cabin? If we only have so much money to spend, it might shift the way we choose to allocate it.”

South Africans also relate strongly to their views having an impact on global vehicle design. Asked whether they believe their actions can influence positive change, the country ranked third at 81%, marginally behind Mexico and Brazil.

Advanced nations such as Germany and the UK scored below 60%.