This Is the Car of the Future According to Eight and Nine-Year Olds

Ford then put the ideas together and got the company's Senior Exterior Designer, Nedzad Mujcinovic, to create a concept car. The result was dubbed the Ford Future Generation Concept Car, and you can see it in the photo gallery.

According to the study made by Ford, seventy-nine percent of today's youngsters are looking forward to learning how to drive a car. Even though the United Kingdom plans to have electric vehicles the only ones sold new in 2030, the youngsters were asked if they had a preference for what will power their first car.

The survey revealed that forty-nine percent want an electric vehicle. Just 17 percent want a combustion-engined vehicle, out of which ten percent claimed to want a diesel, while seven percent wanted a gasoline-engined car.

So yes, Ford has managed to get confirmation that the next generation still wants to drive cars and that almost one in four would still want a car that runs on something other than electricity.

But what about features? What does the dream car of youngsters has to have? Well, the most common reply noted comfortable seats, with 36 percent of respondents wanting those.

That makes a lot of sense, as they probably heard adults complain about seats and comfort for as long as they can remember. We can also relate to the need for comfortable seating, so all manufacturers should take note.

Over a quarter of all respondents asked for a good sound system, which also makes sense today, as it will probably will in the future. Almost a quarter of the youngsters replied that they want their dream first car to have a self-driving ability, which might become possible in 2030. Others requested cars that could fly, vehicles that never got stuck in traffic, as well as cars that could be transformed into a plane/boat/rocket.

Some youngsters wanted a unicorn body shape, four exhausts (we can guess their preferred fuel of the future here), a seat for their cat, racing numbers (that is easily attained), as well as a cooler to keep drinks chill, the ability to go anywhere, TVs in the seats, or even an ice cream machine.

Some kids just said they dreamed of having a car with stripes, a fast car, one with big wheels, or one that has purple, black, and red.

Ford's Senior Exterior Designer went ahead and drew a concept vehicle that is meant to blend as many desired features as possible. Therefore, we observe big wheels with black spokes, a red body with silver accents that seem to allow the vehicle to fly, an unconventional passenger compartment with indistinguishable features, and a rather traditional front fascia with headlights, air vents, and the Blue Oval.

The concept does not look half bad, but we are surprised to see it miss out on stripes, racing numbers, and the color purple. It has no exhausts because it is electric, but it could take the owners anywhere (with bigger ground clearance and proper tires, though).

The same study showed that kids view David Attenborough as the leading trailblazer for a more sustainable future. Greta Thunberg, Prince Charles, Swampy (Daniel Marc Hooper), and Caroline Lucas complete the top five.

We are not surprised to see how today's kids view the future of transportation, and it is nice to see that automakers are struggling to learn more about their hopes and expectations. With that being written, we have made a mental exercise to remember what we dreamt of our first cars when we were their age.

While flight was somehow out of the option, TVs in the seats, four exhausts, a red, or black exterior, and going fast were on our list if we think about it. Stripes and racing numbers would have been a big plus.

So, a future generation of petrol heads is coming, but their status as petrol heads might not be explained by the “petrol” in their description, but rather by their passion for cars and their desire to drive them.

We might need a new term for petrol heads once most cars will become electric, as well as one for when most cars will be self-driving. Hopefully, someone comes up with a term that is just as catchy as petrol head.