A weighty tome landed in our office this week: 'The Car in British Society' from the RAC Foundation. It is the latest incarnation of what started out life as 'The Lex Report' latterly becoming 'The RAC Report'. Running to 158 pages, it is impossible to do the 2009 edition justice here, but merely pick out a few uplifting facts for motor retailers.

The RAC Foundation has very different objectives to the authors of 'The Lex Report' who focused entirely on issues of importance to dealers. But then the RAC Foundation was established to protect the interest of the motorists whereas Lex was, at the time, the UK's largest dealer group. Essentially the new report is about the changing nature of car ownership and in many instances the data follow trends over decades. Unlike its distant predecessor, however, this new report is not based on a substantial and original survey but assembles various sources including government statistics. Nevertheless it is an extensive piece of work and many of the key findings and conclusions are crucial indicators for motor retailing.

Unsurprisingly the study finds that cars totally dominate travel in the UK. Quite simply with 85% of individual travel by car, no other form of travel comes even close, which has to be good news for motor retailing. But the report does point out that whilst car use has grown for nearly half a century, this trend now seems to have come to a halt with growth since the early 2000s only in proportion to increases in the adult population. The authors say that the reasons for this are unclear; however it seems to us that their reported 'saturation' of driving licence-holding of 70% of adults might be an important contributor.

Low-income households have experienced the most growth in car ownership over the last ten years. And although there has been some convergence in car use between low income households and the average population the difference is still large. The study confirms that car owners highly value the freedom and independence a car offers. In particular there is reference to the necessity of cars for work, shopping, and even after-school child escort trips for parents. Compelling evidence is provided to suggest that the vast majority of drivers have little interest in public transport and the report points out that between 80 to 90 per cent of people say they would find it difficult or impossible to adjust their lifestyles without a car.

Drivers are, though, not unaware of the costs of owning a car - economically and environmentally. People do adjust car use according to economic pressures, but most cannot envisage a future without their cars and most would go to considerable lengths and expense to maintain their ownership and use.

You cannot help feeling after reading this report that cars are a necessity and it would take events of seismic proportions to change usage patterns, which in the long run has to be good for retailers.

The Car in British Society can be downloaded as a PDF file at www.racfoundation.org.

Written by Trend Tracker director Chris Oakham, this piece first appeared his column in the subscription monthly Auto Retail Bulletin in June 2009. (See www.auto-retail.com for subscription details.)