Not only a……s drive Mercedes

Friday, 31 January 2020

As far as car-based cliches go this one's about as old as they come: 'Audi/BMW/Mercedes drivers are jerks'.

Everyone has a story about being carved up by a Mercedes-Benz, tailgated by an Audi or the classic 'BMW's don't have working indicators' witticism…

So ingrained is this perception that even the companies themselves will unofficially acknowledge it: once at a launch many years ago BMW's local boss joked 'Yes, we know people think BMW drivers are  w*****s. But as long as those w*****s keep buying them, I don't care!'

But why do BMW and Audi owners often seem to drive like idiots? Is it the car that makes them behave aggressively behind the wheel, or are specific types of people drawn to such cars as well being more likely to break traffic regulations?

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Well, a new scientific study from the University of Helsinki has provided some answers. Yes, that's right: somebody actually studied it.

Jan-Erik Lönnqvist, professor of social psychology at the University of Helsinki's School of Social Science had made the same observation in traffic as many others: Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz drivers seemed much more likely to ignore traffic regulations and drive recklessly and aggressively.

'I had noticed that the ones most likely to run a red light, not give way to pedestrians and generally drive recklessly and too fast were often the ones driving fast German cars,' says Lönnqvist.

Lönnqvist explained that previous research has confirmed that the drivers of expensive cars are more likely to break traffic regulations, with this particular phenomenon being explained by the common assumption that wealth has 'a corrupting effect on people, resulting, for example, in high-status consumption and unethical behaviour in various situations.'

But Lönnqvist says he approached the question from a different angle by asking whether specific types of people are drawn to high-status cars regardless of their financial assets and also have a tendency to break traffic laws. In other words 'are jerks attracted to BMWs?' rather than 'are rich people jerks?'

To gain answers, researchers carried out a study of Finnish consumers - a total of 1,892 car owners answered not only questions about their car, consumption habits and wealth, but also questions exploring personality traits. The answers were analysed using the 'Five‐Factor Model', which is the most widely used framework for assessing personality traits in five key domains: openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness.

The answers were pretty much what everyone was thinking in the first place: self-centred men who are argumentative, stubborn, disagreeable and unempathetic are much more likely to own a high-status car such as an Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz.

'These personality traits explain the desire to own high-status products, and the same traits also explain why such people break traffic regulations more frequently than others,' says Lönnqvist.

'We also found that those whose personality was deemed more disagreeable were more drawn to high-status cars. These are people who often see themselves as superior and are keen to display this to others.'

But there was an unexpected twist in the research - it seems that conscientious people are also drawn to high-status cars.

Lönnqvist says that people with this type of personality are, as a rule, respectable, ambitious, reliable and well-organised. They take care of themselves and their health and often perform well at work.

'The link is presumably explained by the importance they attach to high quality. All makes of car have a specific image, and by driving a reliable car they are sending out the message that they themselves are reliable.'

As such, Lönnqvist rather brilliantly titled his research 'Not only assholes drive Mercedes. Besides disagreeable men, also conscientious people drive high-status cars'.

Interestingly, but probably not surprisingly, the link between conscientious personality traits and attraction to high-status cars was found among both men and women, while the connection between self-centred personality traits and high-status cars was only found among men.

Lönnqvist says he has no clear answer as to why this is the case, but one possibility he suggests is that cars simply do not have the same significance as status symbols for women.

Little research using the Five-Factor Model has actually been done on the consumption of luxury products, but Lönnqvist believes that more research could lead to an increased understanding of the reasons behind this kind of consumption.

'It would be great if consumers had other, sustainable ways of showing their status rather than the superficial consumption of luxury goods that often has negative consequences. We are already seeing that driving an electric car is becoming something of a status symbol, whereas SUVs with their high emissions are no longer considered as cool.'