How much a car was the key social enabler went unnoticed until now
when it is suddenly clear that the smart phone has taken over that
role and freed the youth in particular from the pressing need to own
a car. Hey, it is now optional and becoming more so every year from
now on.
People are turning out to be quite capable of minimizing their usage
and rather suddenly they are in fact doing so. A real decline in
demand is underway and obviously impact the auto industry, although
there this is offset by the quickly expanding global economy.
Also the conversion to the EV protocol is almost upon us and that
will swiftly shed the massive inventory of gas fueled cars in
exchange for progressively cheaper EVs. Add in the self driven
option and suddenly personal transport changes radically.
Soon you will call up a car to come around with your smart phone,
step out the door and walk to the curb were a car pulls up out of the
cloud of available vehicles to take you to your destination. Once
there, you step out of the car and it takes off. Your personal
involvement is just that and no more.
Teens not driven to
get licences
By Grace MacAluso
Windsor Star – 18 hours ago
Driving doesn't
"thrill" Erica Dionisi.
At the behest of her
parents, the 18-year-old Walkerville high school graduate is spending
part of her summer in a driver's education class.
"My parents
enrolled me in this," said Dionisi, who is accustomed to taking
the bus. "They want me to get the best preparation. It's a huge
responsibility to have a driver's licence."
Unlike previous
generations, today's teenagers aren't exactly in love with the idea
of driving, let alone owning a car - a North American trend that
presents challenges for automakers.
"The world has
changed," said Mary Baracco, director of the Young Drivers of
Canada Centre for Windsor and Leamington. When baby boomers were
growing up in the 1960s and '70s, "16-year-olds were more apt to
get their licence right way," Baracco said. "Today it's not
as high as a priority for many young people." Dionisi put off
getting a driver's licence to focus on school. Now that she's
completed high school, she can concentrate on getting her licence -
"a timeconsuming process," she said.
Locally, annual
enrolment in the Young Drivers of Canada's program has fallen by
about half from about 800 to 400, Baracco said. The numbers began to
plunge after the 4½-month strike in 2009 by Ontario's drivers
examiners, and hasn't recovered, she said.
A U.S. federal study
showed that in 1978, 50 per cent of 16-year-olds in the United States
obtained their first driver's licence. In 2008, that figure plunged
to 30 per cent.
While lingering
unemployment and turmoil in the European economies are contributing
factors, shifting attitudes toward driving among millennials means
annual vehicle sales in the U.S. and Canada are not likely to exceed
16 million, at least through 2015, according to a study by
AlixPartners' Automotive Practice, a consulting firm based in
Southfield, Mich.
"The American
auto industry is about to see the rise of Generation 'N' - as in
'neutral about driving,'" said Mark Wakefield, a director in
AlixPartners' Automotive Practice.
"This cohort,
which is as big as the baby boomer cohort and which grew up on the
Internet and not so much on cars, could well present the industry
with an even greater challenge in the area of reduced fundamental
demand."
Those who get a
licence now drive less, too. Figures from the U.S. Transportation
Department show that 21-to 30-year-olds now drive eight per cent
fewer miles than they did in 1995.
Automakers have taken
note, said Sheryl Connelly, global consumer trends and futuring
manager at Ford Motor Co., in Dearborn, Mich.
"In the '50s,
'60s, '70s the car was a really important status symbol,"
Connelly said. "It was the gateway purchase into adulthood. It
had this image of freedom and independence.
"In modern times,
the car has been displaced by the cellphone.
"It is a symbol
of freedom and independence, and it's happening much earlier than
16."
Digital devices
"transcend time and space. You can feel you're with your friends
even when you're not with your friends," she said.
"You are able to
connect with people and have a meaningful engagement even if you're
not physically together."
The growing costs of
obtaining a driver's licence as well as car insurance are also
impediments, said Connelly, noting that a driver's ed program can
cost anywhere from $200 to $800, while adding a teenager to a
parent's car insurance policy can mean an additional $2,000 a year.
As part of its
strategy to entice the young car buyer, Ford offers features aimed at
keeping teens connected inside the vehicle, Connelly said.
"The car has to
become much more than transportation and we know that, for this
generation, it's about constant connectivity."
Ford's Sync and MyFord
Touch systems will make phone calls, play music from your phone, run
smartphone apps, read text messages aloud (a feature not yet
available in Canada) and allow you to manage almost all of it via
voice activation, she noted.
"We have become a
culture of constant connectivity, and when we're without it, we feel
like we're being deprived."
This year, Ford of
Canada announced a partnership with Zipcar, a car-sharing network in
Canada and the U.S.
"We see Ford's
role as a car company that enables mobility," Connelly said.
Targeting university
students, the partnership will help introduce young drivers to Ford
vehicles.
"We're hoping the
exposure to the Ford line will make them more interested in our cars
when they're ready to buy one," Connelly said.
Even when the economy
rebounds, there's no guarantee that young people will flock to car
showrooms, she said.
"There's no
silver bullet. It's making sure we understand their lifestyle and
we're building vehicles that are akin to those priorities."
2 comments:
Cars are expensive. You have to have money to support traveling by car. You can thank the banksters and government for contriving to remove your money from you. It's all part of the elitist's plan to shut down humanity.
Check your tyre pressures regularly - at least once a week. Bad tyre pressures can affect fuel economy very noticeably. It's easy to do and there is no excuse not to.
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