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The Great Debate: Do Millenials Want Cars, Or Not?

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by da1, Aug 16, 2013.

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  1. da1

    da1 Member

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    The Great Debate: Do Millenials Want Cars, Or Not?
    By Brad Tuttle
    August 9, 2013

    Why are young people less likely to purchase cars, or even have driver’s licenses nowadays? One theory has it that the generation that came of age with the Internet and smartphones thinks cars are pretty lame. Automakers prefer to see the situation differently — that young people today love cars just as much as any other group, but just can’t afford them right now.
    The auto industry has been in recovery mode over the past few years. Automakers sold 14.5 million new cars and trucks in 2012, a 13% increase over the prior year, and the highest total since 2007. Projected auto-sales totals for 2013 should easily beat last year too, topping 15 million. Even so, the comeback has been called a “subpar recovery,” and a prime reason why sales haven’t truly taken off is that younger consumers today aren’t buying cars like younger consumers traditionally have in the car-crazed U.S.

    Gen Y has been dubbed Gen N, as in Generation Neutral — which is the way some describe how millennials feel about car ownership. Studies have shown that fewer young adults have driver’s licenses, that this group hates the traditional car-buying process more than other demographics, and that they prefer urban living and socializing online and therefore have less need for cars.

    The latest data from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) bolsters the idea that younger Americans are much less interested in car ownership than their older siblings, parents and grandparents. Bloomberg highlighted data from the study showing that while consumers in the 35-to-44-age demographic were the most likely to be purchasing new cars four years ago, today it’s the 55-to-65-age Baby Boomers buying new cars with the most frequency. In 2011, boomers were 15 times more likely to purchase new vehicles than young millennials (ages 18 to 24), and even consumers ages 75 and up have been buying cars at higher rates than groups ages 18 to 24 and 25 to 34.

    The Detroit Free Press focused on UMTRI’s findings regarding young adults who don’t have driver’s licenses. A survey of 600 Americans ages 18 to 39 who don’t drive inquired after the reasons that they don’t have driver’s licenses, and the most popular response (checked by 37%) was that they’re just too busy. Another 32% cited the cost of car ownership as a reason, and 31% said they haven’t bothered to get a driver’s license because of what might be called the “mooch factor”: when necessary, it’s easy for them to catch a ride with someone else. What’s more, 21% of those surveyed said they would never get a driver’s license.

    Overall, the impression one gets is that millennials just don’t have the passion for driving and owning a set of wheels that previous generations have had — at least not to the extent that they’ll devote a significant portion of their income to owning a car. “I have a son who lives in San Francisco; when I get a new car and I tell him what I got, he couldn’t care less,” Michael Sivak, author of the UMTRI study, told Bloomberg. “To him, it’s a means of getting from A to B. He goes into great lengths about taking a BART or bus, even though it takes him an hour longer.”

    So younger consumers just don’t particularly care for car ownership, right? Wrong, say automakers. “I don’t see any evidence that the young people are losing interest in cars,” Mustafa Mohatarem, GM’s longtime chief economist, said to Automotive News. “It’s really the economics doing what we’re seeing, and not a change in preferences.”

    Instead of accepting the premise that millennials see car ownership as “not cool,” automakers are insisting that low rates of driver’s licenses and vehicle purchasing by young people come mainly as a result of car ownership being out of reach financially for this group right now. As the economy improves, and as millennials get a little older and have more need for cars due to work and family responsibilities, auto experts assume that this generation will have to embrace car ownership to a much larger degree. They see the car-ownership alternatives — public transportation, as well as services like ride sharing and car sharing — as having only a negligible impact on the auto-sales business in the future.

    That’s why automakers keep spending millions to market to young consumers at a time when, in the short term at least, the money might be better spent trying to woo customers ages 50 and up. In a Bloomberg story about how automakers aren’t giving up on the millennial market, Ed Kim, an AutoPacific analyst, explained, “It may be a long-term endeavor to appeal to younger drivers because a lot can’t afford new vehicles now, but they will a few years down the road.”
     
    #1 da1, Aug 16, 2013
  2. da1

    da1 Member

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    #2 da1, Aug 16, 2013
  3. da_juice

    da_juice Member

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    Yes we do. Cars are great, unless you live in a crowded city.
     
    #3 da_juice, Aug 16, 2013
  4. Baqui99

    Baqui99 Contributing Member

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    Driving leads to DWIs
     
    #4 Baqui99, Aug 16, 2013
  5. FLASH21

    FLASH21 Heart O' Champs

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    Wrong forum! :grin:
     
    #5 FLASH21, Aug 16, 2013
  6. Dairy Ashford

    Dairy Ashford Member

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    Even then, no one rides public transportation if they don't have to. The demographics on that outside of New York, Chicago and DC are telling enough.
     
    #6 Dairy Ashford, Aug 16, 2013
  7. JuanValdez

    JuanValdez Contributing Member

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    When they get jobs, they'll get cars (or maybe slightly before, given that it's hard to get a job if you don't have a car). I loved the example of the son who lives in San Francisco. That's one of the few cities in the country in which you can get away with having a job and not owning a car. It might not be a fetish like it used to be, but it is a necessity.
     
    #7 JuanValdez, Aug 16, 2013
  8. Phillyrocket

    Phillyrocket Member

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    A huge % of gen y still lives at home. Personally I know several that do and are driving mom and dads cars.
     
    #8 Phillyrocket, Aug 16, 2013
  9. Isabel

    Isabel Member

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    So hard to understand... my guess would be that they couldn't afford it, but strange when they don't even have a license so they can use mom and dad's car when they get the chance, or be ready to buy one when they can. I guess freedom doesn't matter to them. It was the most important thing to me, back in the day... I got my license the day I turned 16 and have always had a car. My only taste of not having one comes from when my car has been in the shop, and I can't imagine wanting to live that way any more than you have to. Not being able to run errands whenever you want, having to depend on others to get to work or appointments...

    In certain urban areas, I can understand it being easier not to have one, but that doesn't apply to most of the country. And if they prefer to socialize online? That's another different thing... for some of us, it's only what we do if there is nothing to do in our Real Lives at the moment, but maybe I'm hopelessly Generation X and don't understand things anymore.
     
    #9 Isabel, Aug 16, 2013
  10. da1

    da1 Member

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    Freedom could also be considered the ability to not be forced to drive everywhere.
     
    #10 da1, Aug 16, 2013
  11. RocketRaccoon

    RocketRaccoon Contributing Member

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    Sad if this is a trend because I just came off 12 days on the bike and you will NEVER see what I consider the best assets of America without owning transportation.
     
    #11 RocketRaccoon, Aug 16, 2013
  12. RC Cola

    RC Cola Contributing Member

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    Guess this describes me...though I do have a car (have a job, not living at home, no problem with funds, etc.). Growing up, didn't really care to get my license (or a car), though my parents were tired of adjusting their schedules for the various events I participated in during high school. Very rural area, so no public transportation. I just stuck to socializing online (including here I guess), or just walking to a friends' house nearby. If I needed to go further, I'd try to get a ride from someone. Even when I got a car and a license, I didn't care to use it.

    In college, I went without a car and just used public transportation when I could. Since getting my job, that was no longer an option, so I've been driving ever since (got my own car instead of using hand me downs from my parents). Don't really care much for it, and I still try to "mooch" off others if I can.

    If I could get to/from work (and other places) via public transportation, I'm pretty sure I would ditch my car in a second.
     
    #12 RC Cola, Aug 16, 2013
  13. peleincubus

    peleincubus Member

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    What you need sir is to install a ps4 in your vehicle. Then you will drive to the end of the earth.
     
    #13 peleincubus, Aug 16, 2013
  14. Mr. Brightside

    Mr. Brightside Contributing Member

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    I have a car, but prefer public transportation. The only thing I see a car useful for is for dates and going to the grocery store. But that's only applicable when I'm in a car friendly city like Houston or Atlanta.
     
    #14 Mr. Brightside, Aug 16, 2013
  15. da1

    da1 Member

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    Explain please
     
    #15 da1, Aug 16, 2013
  16. fallenphoenix

    fallenphoenix Contributing Member

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    i'm 24 and i love my corvette. i don't know anyone who doesn't have or doesn't want a car, but then again my friends are all well off and can afford one.
     
    #16 fallenphoenix, Aug 16, 2013
  17. Dairy Ashford

    Dairy Ashford Member

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    Considering how small a radius you'd have to travel in or how much in taxes you'd have to pay for routes you'd never use, or the complexity, total number of transfers and aggregate wait times for longer or more unconventional trips, it really isn't.
     
    #17 Dairy Ashford, Aug 16, 2013
  18. Nook

    Nook Member

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    In Chicago I have had young associate attorneys work for me and not own or want a car. A few years ago this would not happen. Funds were not the issue, they simply did not see the appeal of a car... I fired them all within a month because they could not do their job properly without a vehicle.
     
    #18 Nook, Aug 16, 2013
  19. Classic

    Classic Member

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    [​IMG]
     
    #19 Classic, Aug 16, 2013
  20. SirCharlesFan

    SirCharlesFan Contributing Member

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    I am in my late 20s. Moved to the northeast for work, left my car at home, loved the freedom. Moved back to mid-America for work, had to buy a car, kinda hate it. Although, when the vehicle is paid off, I think most of my disdain will be gone.

    I just loved living in an area where I can take the subway, bus, or train to get where I need to be. I also loved the extra exercise I got from the walking. I feel much more sluggish/lazy moving back to an area where public transit/walking isn't feasible.

    I naturally stress about bills/money, so I felt so much freedom without a car to worry about. It was very liberating. It's not a political/environmental statement on my part. I just loved the car free lifestyle. But, ya have to live in a city/region where it is feasible. Unfortunately, for most Americans, it's tough to live w/o a car.
     
    #20 SirCharlesFan, Aug 16, 2013
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