SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Auto manufacturers today are scratching their heads, trying to figure out why the millennial generation has little-to-no interest in owning a car. What car makers are failing to see is that this generation's interests and priorities have been redefined in the last two decades, pushing cars to the side while must-have personal technology products take up the fast lane.
It's no secret the percentage of new vehicles sold to 18- to 34-year-olds has significantly dropped over the past few years. Many argue this is the result of a weak economy, that the idea of making a large car investment and getting into more debt on top of college loans is too daunting for them. But that's not the "driving" factor, especially considering that owning a smartphone or other mobile device, with its monthly fees of network access, data plan, insurance, and app services, is almost comparable to the monthly payments required when leasing a Honda Civic.
...
With recent studies showing a huge decline in auto sales among the millennial marketplace, it's no wonder auto manufacturers are in a mild state of panic, realizing they're missing out on a generation that wields $200 billion in purchasing power. Numbers don't lie, and over the last few years statistics have shown a significant drop in young people who own cars, as well as those with driver's licenses—and that decline continues among the youngest millennials, meaning this is not a trend that's going away anytime soon. From 2007 to 2011, the number of cars purchased by people aged 18 to 34, fell almost 30%, and according to a study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, only 44% of teens obtain a driver's license within the first year of becoming eligible and just half, 54% are licensed before turning 18. This is a major break with the past, considering how most teens of the two previous generations would race to the DMV for their license or permit on the day of their 16th birthday.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 14 2016, @01:41PM
I don't know what crack you're smoking, or if you have some super secret knowledge that no one else knows, but all that happened with those grants and scholarships was that colleges raised their tuition rates accordingly to soak up the entire pool of available money. And those grants and scholarships were never for non- non-white people to begin with, and even if you managed to land one they never covered anything close to the cost of your college. I had a National Merit Scholarship, which are pretty hard to get, and it covered about $5K/yr for tuition that cost $25K. Super great, guys, thanks!
I have also no idea what you're talking about having your student debt forgiven, because in the mid-90's they changed the bankruptcy laws in the United States to make it impossible to ever get out from under student debt. Or perhaps you're talking about something like ROTC. Yeah, you know what happened to my friends that took that route? One narrowly escaped being stop-lossed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan after giving 4 years' active duty and then 8 years reserve duty (the deal when he signed it was 4 years active duty or 8 years reserves, not both, but they decided to alter the deal...), and the others are still there in Afghanistan, in their 40's!
Real incomes have been on an uninterrupted 40-year slide. Wealth inequality is greater now than it was the era of the Trusts. You're arguing that things are great?
I'm not a boomer or a millenial, but I can observe that you have industrial sized blinders on, or have lived an incredibly charmed life that you have not experienced the vicissitudes of late 20th- and early 21st-century America.
The rage is justified, because it is based on reality. And "figure out how to fix it?" Maybe he should just work & study really hard and watch the rewards roll in for his diligence...? You're the one who is more guilty of believing in fairytales of self-righteousness.
Washington DC delenda est.