Climate protection or not – according to a study, Austria wants to continue driving combustion engines. People vehemently reject the 30 limit and CO2 pricing, distrust autonomous driving and demonize climate activists.
It’s great to have arguments at the regulars’ table in the pub about our corrupt politicians (of course the presumption of innocence applies), about various grievances in our schools or the (mostly unsuitable) weather. Where the fun stops, however, is the car. Often seen as a holy grail in the countryside, one would think that the beloved air polluters lead to emotional battles of words and wars of opinion. As the “2024 Motor Vehicle Study” commissioned by Wiener Städtische from the Gallup Institute with 1,000 respondents now shows, there is agreement in the country’s garages. Does the future belong to diesel and gasoline engines? Two thirds of Austrians continue to attach high to very high importance to their cars. For 40 percent of “youth” (17 to 30 years old), the status has actually increased. However, less so than that of the electric car. More than half (55 percent) drive petrol engines, 43 percent diesel. Few people still choose hybrids (five percent) and electric cars (3 percent) – mostly as company cars. A third would still choose a petrol engine and almost a quarter would choose a diesel engine. In the future, only 21 percent can imagine switching to a hybrid car and 23 percent to an electric car. The reasons given are the prices (70 percent), the short range (61 percent) and the lack of charging infrastructure (48 percent). Not unimportant for the producers: 45 percent only want to pay a maximum of 20,000 euros for an electric car on the sales counter. Even young people are not fans of the climate activists. The respondents became emotional when it came to the controversial climate activists. 72 percent rate them negatively, only 15 percent view them positively. There are also very few supporters among the young target group of the protest movement at 19 percent. 91 percent did not change their mobility behavior because of the climate activists – regardless of whether they are car owners or not. And this despite the fact that 79 percent are planning to change their climate-damaging mobility behavior and are switching more to public transport (40 percent), walking (38 percent) or using bicycles, e-bikes or scooters (28 percent). Exciting: just 16 percent want to buy a more environmentally friendly car, while only nine percent are considering doing without a car altogether in the future. No to CO₂ pricing and phasing out combustion engines. The recently ordered relief for mayors to install 30 zones in the town was hotly discussed. 42 percent question the usefulness of the measure (48 percent of the rural population). The majority reject CO₂ pricing, one in two are against it, only 24 percent are in favor. The ban on new registrations of combustion engines planned for 2035 is bringing more than half of those surveyed (51 percent) to the barricades. In rural areas, it is even rejected by 59 percent. The conclusion: a country can quickly become a car driver – according to Statistics Austria, there were an average of 566 cars for every 1,000 inhabitants in 2023 – probably not a country of “climate angels”.
source site-13