Ask a group of seventh graders if they’d rather have a new phone or a car, and roughly 76.7 percent of them will want the phone.
Okay, I made up that percentage, but according to my experience, phones have become a bigger gotta-have to kids than automobiles.
I have a seventh grader, and thanks to the gods of good upbringing, he’s already planning what he wants as his first car. (A used Toyota FJ Cruiser.) His friends, though, would rather interact with friends through technology than at a common physical location that requires transport.
That’s a sad commentary on society itself, but since this is a car blog, I’ll refrain.
The challenge for carmakers is going to be how to get kids interested in cars as they become adults. Without the ingrained passion for driving and need to go places, automakers will struggle with getting young people to drop tens of thousands of dollars on what they feel is nothing more than a portable tech accessory.
With 2015 here and the seventh graders of the world getting closer to driving age, automakers are going to have to make cars even more enticing to young folks.
How will they do it?
Transportation will be a need for young people as a means to get to work rather than the want it has been for so many previous generations. Because of that, maybe we will see a return to cheap, non-flashy basic transportation, but with the tech features needed to keep young people engaged and connected with the people closest to them.
Cars will always be an integral part of our society, but their position in our lives will constantly evolve. As it does, you can rely on CarGurus to be here and help navigate through the ever-changing car culture of this country and the cars that are available here.
Thank you so much for reading all these years, and have a happy new year!
-tgriffith
I think a lot of the talk about the bottom falling out of the car market in future years as this generation grows up is a little bit of chicken little and a lot of angst over what the future will look like. I am sure we will see a lot more ride sharing operations pop up, autonomous livery services, and a slightly more utilitarian view of transportation as a whole, but to entertain the idea that the days of cool vehicles is over is just foolhardy. In my opinion. Happy New Year!