Connected cars to gain traction in Indian market, says Deloitte's survey

India is one of the few countries where willingness to pay for advanced technologies is fairly promising, according to Deloitte’s Global Automotive Customer Research for 2020. 

The survey revealed that two out of three Indians are willing to pay up to Rs 50,000 for connected technologies. By 2025, most cars in India are expected to be connected to users’ homes and offices. Partnerships between OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and insurance companies (that may want to use data from the car to design personalised products) are likely to increase significantly, the survey said. 

Connected car technology in India is still at a nascent stage, with a meagre 5 per cent penetration in the case of infotainment systems and digital cockpits. Connectivity is largely restricted to smartphones and in-car infotainment devices. Rajeev Singh, partner and automotive sector leader at Deloitte, believes that the propensity to adapt to connected technologies is set to gather momentum in the pandemic-hit country. 

“The need for being connected is a lot more now than what it had been in the past. The era of a chauffeur-driven car will be a thing of the past,” said Singh. The pandemic, according to Singh, is also set to bring behavioural changes with regard to the way one would like to get one’s car serviced.