General Motors has announced it's shuttering five production facilities and killing six vehicle platforms by the end of 2019 as it reallocates resources towards self-driving technologies and electric vehicles.
[...] North American car production hit 17.5 million vehicles in 2016, and dropped marginally to 17.2 million in 2017. Interesting, but perhaps not significant.
More telling are changes in driver behaviour. In North America, for example, fewer teens are getting driver's licences. In 1983, 92 per cent of teens were licensed, while by 2014, that number had dropped to 77 per cent. In Germany, the number of new licences issued to drivers aged 17 to 25 has dropped by 300,000 over the last 10 years.
Are we over our love affair with cars?
(Score: 4, Informative) by CZB on Wednesday December 19 2018, @06:08PM
The cost of fueling and repairing my old car for the next 10 years is around $10k. So even though I'm getting 15mpg it doesn't make sense to buy something more efficient or fun.
I don't live in an urban area, so all those other transit options aren't available.