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The access of rural societies to welfare opportunities and resources is at the core of policy and research agendas. The persistent ruralurban gap increases the risks of exclusion and is a challenge that rural dwellers tackle by bolstering their mobility to access labour markets, resources and services. The car has become a vector in the connections and transformations that sustain rural life; however, this mobility is also a source of new fractures in social and territorial cohesion. This paper explores how the rural mobility system has been shaped and analyses its impact on these societies. The results suggest integrating the issue of mobility into rural policies from a more complex sociological perspective, addressing demographic challenges, regional development and territorial cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]