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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.
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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: 2) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 14 2016, @02:13PM
Why not buy a $10K crackhouse on the edge of a nicer neighborhood? Gentrification doesn't happen by itself, buddy.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday September 15 2016, @01:15AM
If it's anything like Detroit (and that's exactly what it sounds like to me), there is no "nicer neighborhood." It goes almost completely from shitty to super nice with no gradient in between. There are areas where you can find houses in good repair for cheap, with decent neighbors... but the next block over is boarded up traphouses and gangsters, all too ready to come to your block and take your shit.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 15 2016, @03:18PM
Really? My brother has lived in Ypsilanti, MI, for almost 20 years and for 20 years we heard him badmouth Detroit, but he had never actually been in Detroit. Last summer when we visited him, we decided to return to Brooklyn via Canada instead of northern Ohio. Along the way we stopped in Detroit for the day to check out the Eastern Market, the Detroit Institute of Arts, have lunch in Greek Town, and dinner in Mexicantown. The city was not at all the smoking crater everyone says it is. Eastern Market was as charming as anything you'd see at Union Square in Manhattan or Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. The art museum was world class, and I mean better than the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in NYC. Greek Town was better than Little Italy in NYC, and Mexicantown was a lovely neighborhood with great food.
It's not all roses, and the present is freighted with the disastrous policies of the past, but it's not irredeemable.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday September 15 2016, @03:55PM
Downtown is a different animal. I didn't even mean to badmouth Detroit... I would live there myself if I weren't living very cheaply and comfortably in the burbs. However, it IS dangerous, grimy, and a shithole. You would be downright stupid not to own a gun and keep it close while you sleep. You can let your kids play outside and the people are generally friendly and nice, but anyone with a family would not want to raise their kids there. It's not a warzone like some areas of Chicago, but it's nothing nice and I can completely understand why people with assets and attachments scorn it.