June 3, 2023: Sales of Our Car, Automatic Cars, Japan、Europe(我が家の車の売却、オートマ車、日本、欧州)
It has been about nine months since our car was sold. For now, it has caused no inconvenience to me. This is mostly because I had not driven it at all and had few chances to go somewhere with my wife driving. It was my wife that drove it the most. Even though she no longer has a car, however, she has no problems and lives her life as usual. Instead, she now cycles a lot and enjoy it very much. Cycling is very convenient for getting around our house on sunny days, but not on rainy or windy days. Rather, it is dangerous on those days. I hope that she does not try too hard to use her bike on those days.
It is worth noting that Japan is the most popular country in the world for automatic cars. Most of the new cars sold in Japan in 2019, as much as 98%, were automatic cars. And it is followed by the United States. So when it comes to cars, automatic cars are very common in Japan and the United States. But we see a different landscape in Europe. In Europe, manual cars are still common and have a much larger share than automatic cars. Germany is the biggest market for automatic cars. Even in that nation, automatic cars account for only 30 percent of new car sales per year.
I do not know exactly why automatic cars are so unpopular in Europe. But I assume that the price is one of the reasons. Automatic cars are always more expensive than manual cars.
我が家の車を売って約9か月が経過しました。今のところ、車がなくて不便を感じたことはほとんどありません。車を一番使っていた妻も、今のところ不便を感じていないようです。今は、自転車で飛び回っています。自転車は家の近所を天気のいい日に飛び回るにはいいのですが、雨が降る日や風の強い日は困ります。むしろ、危険なくらいです。妻が、天気に悪い日に無理して乗らないことを願っています。
話は変わりますが、日本は、世界でオートマ車が一番普及している国です。2019年に新車販売の大半、98%もの車がオートマ車でした。日本についてオートマ車が普及しているのが米国だそうです。ところが、欧州では景色が変わります。欧州ではいまだにマニュアル車が人気です。オートマ車が欧州で一番普及している国はドイツですが、そのドイツでさえ、オートマ車の比率は30%程度です
欧州でオートマ車が普及しない正確な理由はわかりませんが、理由の一つとして価格が考えられます。オートマ車はマニュアル車より高いです。