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US Consumer Voice on Connected Vehicles: Growth Opportunities, Best Practices, and Behavioral Insights


In-car Services and Features: What Consumer Behavior Data Means for Your Connected Vehicle Growth Strategy
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In-car Services Growth Strategy

Today’s in-car services go well beyond infotainment; from basic Bluetooth and navigation support to a richer, always-on digital platform. In the U.S., this shift is being driven by faster connectivity, smarter software, and growing demand for features that make driving safer, easier, and more personalized.

Frost & Sullivan's Voice of Customer (VoC) analysis of US car owners and decision-makers delivers segment-level behavioral data on features-on-demand (FoD) adoption, over-the-air (OTA) engagement, data sharing intent, and connected service willingness to pay, across passenger cars, premium models, new energy vehicles (NEVs), and regional US geographies.

The insights are extremely valuable for OEMs, helping them in creating a long-term growth strategy, based on consumer preferences:

  • Mainstream U.S. consumers overwhelmingly find software-defined vehicles (SDVs) exciting, validating OEM SDV investments. This broad demand reduces adoption risk and justifies accelerated research and development (R&D).
  • Most non-purchasers don't buy due to unclear functionality, not price. OEMs must prioritize use-case education over discounts, demonstrating real-world benefits through demos and tutorials to close the understanding gap and drive subscription conversions.
  • Nearly all consumers will share driving data if trust exists. OEMs with transparent consent frameworks and strong data governance win partnership revenue, making governance a competitive brand advantage that unlocks massive data monetization opportunities.

Top 3 Strategic Imperatives Shaping Connected Vehicle Platform Strategy

Disruptive Technologies

OTA infrastructure is evolving into a consumer engagement channel, driving feature activation, FoD upsell, and platform loyalty across the vehicle lifecycle, not just delivering patches.

Innovative Business Models

FoD and subscription architectures are converting one-time sales into multi-year digital revenue relationships. 78% of post-purchase willingness to pay establishes the commercial foundation across most US segments.

Competitive Intensity

Premium and NEV platforms show the highest FoD conversion rates, raising connected service expectations across all vehicle lines and intensifying competitive pressure on mainstream OEM platforms.

Is your connected vehicles growth strategy aligned with consumer preferences?

Fill out the form to access actionable VoC insights showing how successful OEMs are reducing SDV adoption risk through consumer validation, driving subscription conversions through functionality education, and unlocking data monetization opportunities through transparent governance frameworks.