JATO Blog
July 3, 2017 by Mikka Rautioaho

Connectivity in Cars: best brands and models

Connectivity Rate is a numerical value that represents the amount of connectivity items available for a vehicle. The purpose of this value is to allow quick comparisons between automotive makes and models. The items that affect Connectivity Rate are Bluetooth, Telematics, Apps control, Built-in apps, Internet connection, WiFi network and Mobile integration. The definition of these items can be found in more detail by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article.

For calculating the Connectivity Rate for a particular model, any trim level may contain the item and options are taken into account. For each connectivity item, a model scores one point if the item is standard on any trim level and half a point if the item is only available as an option. The sum of standard items and options is then divided by the total number of compared connectivity items (seven in this case) and this average is then multiplied by a hundred to give a percentage of available connectivity items.

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How Connectivity rate is calculated?

For this comparison we will be calculating the current Connectivity Rate for every car model (comms will be excluded) available to the public in Finland for each make, for a total amount of 267 compared models, based on JATO’s data. The Connectivity Rate for each make will be the average score of all the models for that make.

As an example, we will calculate the Connectivity Rate for Volkswagen based on their top 3 selling models in 2015: Golf, Passat and Polo. The Golf has Bluetooth, telematics, apps control, built-in apps, WiFi network and mobile integration standard on some trim level scoring it 6 out of 7 connectivity items. We will mark a standard item with the number 1 on the chart below for these three Volkswagen models. A zero indicates that the item is not available for the model and a 0.5 would indicate an item being available as an option.

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To calculate the Connectivity Rate for each model, we will divide the total number of standard connectivity items for the model by seven and multiply the resulting number by 100. For Golf this is (6 / 7) x 100 = 85.7%. Similarly for Passat this number is 42.9% and for Polo 14.3%. To get the Connectivity Rate for the make we calculate the average of all Connectivity Rate values for each Volkswagen model and divide by the number of models: (14.3 + 42.9 + 85.7 + 35.7 + 14.3 + 42.9 + 14.3 + 57.1 + 57.1 + 14.3 + 50.0 + 14.3) / 12 = 36.9%. This is the Connectivity Rate for Volkswagen.

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As seen above, the top 5 makes in terms of Connectivity Rate are:

  • Tesla (85.7%)
  • Porsche (76.8%)
  • Honda (67.9%)
  • BMW (57.6%)
  • Subaru (57.1%)

In addition to this, the top 11 makes retain a Connectivity Rate of 50% or above while the rest drop below 50%. The average Connectivity Rate for all makes is 39.9%.

 

Connectiviy comparison between models

Differences within a make’s model range can be large, for example Peugeot’s models range from a Connectivity Rate of 14.3% on the 308 and 5008 to 71.4% on the 3008. In the chart below you’ll find the top 75 models in terms of Connectivity Rate.

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As seen above, the top 5 models in terms of Connectivity Rate are the Porsche Cayenne, Panamera and Mercedes G-Class with 100% each, the Volvo V90 Cross Country with 92.9%, and the Aud SQ7, Opel Astra, Insignia, Zafira, Porsche 911, Tesla Model S and X, and the VW Golf, with 85.7% each. A total of 105 models hold a Connectivity Rate of 50% or above.

 

Connectivity comparison between top selling models

Based on our volume database, the top 10 selling models in Finland in 2016 were Skoda Octavia, Nissan Qashqai, Volkswagen Golf, Toyota Auris, Opel Astra, Ford Focus, Toyota Avensis, Volkswagen Passat, Ford Fiesta and Kia Rio. The Connectivity Rate for each is presented in the chart below.

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Many of the top selling models in 2016 are currently well-equipped with connectivity items. Most notably the top selling model, Skoda Octavia, has made great improvements on connectivity recently and gone from only having Bluetooth standard from all connectivity items researched here to a Connectivity Rate of 64.3%. The same can be said for Kia Rio which has improved in the past few months to a Connectivity Rate of 42.9%. It should be noted that the sales figures are from 2016 during most of which neither of these two models came with many connectivity items as standard, but with the implementation of connectivity technology the success of Skoda Octavia continues as it leads the sales charts in Finland in February 2017 while Kia Rio is still popular and holds the 14th position.

Jumping into the top 10 selling models in 2016 from the 22nd position in 2015 was Opel Astra which comes with a vast amount of connectivity items as standard.

 

Click here to see the full tables

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