This report examines innovations in the automotive industry, and provides insight into how today’s innovations are changing the market.

Innovation has always been a big part of the automotive industry, but unprecedented innovations are happening now as the development of new technology continues to accelerate. There are plenty of mechanical innovations fueling horsepower wars as automakers race to claim that they offer the best performance cars for the money, and of course there are plenty of innovative ways in which OEMs are working to reduce fuel consumption as they work to create “greener” cars. Not to mention, there are many innovations focusing on creature comforts for drivers and passengers, and on safety, and on autonomous driving…the list goes on. Additionally, automakers are concentrating heavily on ways in which smartphones can be further integrated into automobiles.

This report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Automotive Innovation – US, May 2012. Mintel defines automotive innovation as any process or technology that advances the market or industry.

Types of vehicles referenced in Auto Innovations include the following: all cars, station wagons, sedans, pickup trucks, vans, minivans, crossover utility vehicles, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

Regarding in-car innovations, categories discussed include but are not limited to comfort/convenience features, technology/audio features, and safety features.

For the purposes of this report, Mintel commissioned exclusive consumer research through GMI to explore consumer attitudes and behaviors toward Auto Innovations. Mintel was responsible for the survey design, data analysis, and reporting. Fieldwork was conducted in November 2014 among a sample of 2,000 adults aged 18+ with access to the internet.

Mintel selects survey respondents so that they are proportionally balanced to the entire US adult population based on the key demographics of gender, age, household income, and region. Mintel also slightly oversamples, relative to the population, respondents that are Hispanic or black to ensure an adequate representation of these groups in the survey results. Please note that Mintel surveys are conducted online and in English only. Hispanics who are not online and/or do not speak English are not included in the survey results.

While race and Hispanic origin are separate demographic characteristics, Mintel often compares them to each other. Please note that the responses for race (White, Black, Asian, Native American, or other race) will overlap those that also are Hispanic, because Hispanics can be of any race.

In addition to quantitative consumer research, Mintel also conducted an online discussion group among a demographically mixed group of 21 adults aged 18+. This discussion group was asynchronous (i.e., not run in real time), functioning like a blog or bulletin board, with questions remaining posted for a predetermined period of time. This method allows participants to respond reflectively, at their leisure, or to log off to think about any issues raised, and return later to respond. Participants were recruited from GMI’s online consumer panel. All quotes are included verbatim, and as such, include typos and other grammatical errors as they originally appeared.

The following abbreviations are used in this report:

Generations, if discussed within this report, are defined as:

* also known as Generation Y or Echo Boomers