The Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs FBHVC who have partnered with Cambridge & Counties Bank released the results of a new poll carried out in 2018. The results of which indicate that interest from the UK public in historic cars has grown significantly since 2016. In 2016, the poll indicated that just over 8 million people had an interest in historic vehicles, but this 2018 survey shows that number has grown to nearly 10 million.
The national survey of over 16-year olds took place over the first weekend in November and was undertaken by Kantar on behalf of the FBHVC, using their Omnibus survey. The survey was split by geographical area (north, midlands and south) and by age group. The age groups were:
• The Silent Generation born 1925 to 1945
• Baby Boomers born 1946 to 1964
• Generation X born 1965 to 1980
• Millenials born 1981 to 1997
• Generation Z born 1998 onwards
Findings also show that more people now claim to own a historic vehicle, 2.5 million regularly read about them and those who know someone who owns such a vehicle has grown by half a million to almost 8 million since 2006, suggesting that not only have the vehicles increased in popularity amongst owners but there is also an increase in awareness around heritage transport. This is all good news for the historic vehicle industry that generates £5.5 billion a year for the UK economy.
The research shows that overall, a significant proportion of the population believe that historic vehicles are part of the country’s heritage, that they should be maintained in as original condition as possible and that they are an important part of our culture. Worryingly however, amongst younger people that enthusiasm is much less marked. The younger age groups, Millenials and Generation Z, are only half as likely as the older generation (The Silent Generation and Baby Boomers) to share their views about heritage and historic vehicles.
The encouragement of these younger age groups into the historic vehicle movement is something that Cambridge & Counties Bank are keen to address through our involvement with the Heritage Skills Academy providing bursaries and training for young apprentices enrolling on the Heritage Engineering apprenticeship.
This national poll is intended as a scene setter for a much larger survey of historic vehicle enthusiasts which was launched at the November 2018 Classic Motor Show at Birmingham’s NEC, by Research Director, Paul Chasney who commented:
“‘It’s good news for our clubs, commercial partners, trade and museum members that interest continues to grow, but we urgently need more detailed and accurate information about the behaviour of the millions of enthusiasts that sustain this very popular hobby. The survey we are now carrying out looks in detail at cost in use, and will analyse how much and on what historic vehicle enthusiasts spend. The completely anonymised results will help clubs in their recruitment, commercial partners in honing their marketing plans, in fact a closer understanding of our hobby benefits the whole community.’”
Cambridge & Counties Bank are proud to be finance partners with the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs and we will be sharing some of the more detailed outcomes relating to classic car finance and values from a full survey into the costs and habits of classic car ownership the coming months. This new, in-depth survey, has already seen responses from some 3,400 individual classic car owners since its launch in November at the NEC Classic Motor Show.
