Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

Meanwhile, the percentage of people with a driver's license who are 70 or older has increased from about 55% in 1983 to 80% in 2010.

Brent Snavely - USATODAY - July 22, 2012

As automakers increasingly try to market their cars to young drivers they will find themselves fighting over a shrinking percentage of teenagers who want to drive.

General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler are all vying for a larger share of the youth market with cars such as the Chevy Sonic, Ford Fiesta and Dodge Dart.

But the percentage of 19-year-olds in the U.S. who have driver's licenses dropped from 87.3% in 1983 to 69.5% in 2010, according to a study conducted by the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute.

"It reflects mostly the increased use of the Internet," said Michael Sivak, research professor and the head of the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. "The virtual contact that is possible through electronic means is reducing the actual physical need of contact among young people."... [Read More]

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

Unemployment has hit teens and young adults harder than most of the driving population added to the rising cost of owning a motor vehicle ( capital cost, insurance, taxes/fees/tolls, parking, fuel, maintenance) and the current trend towards less young people driving and wanting to live closer to urban areas with mass transit options is understandable.

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

Under-employment .....



"A study of 4 million Facebook profiles found that, after the military, the top four employers listed by twentysomethings were Walmart, Starbucks, Target, and Best Buy. The restaurant industry in particular is booming; one in 10 employed Americans now work in food service—9.6 million of us. Those numbers are growing each year. Even though more and more laid-off, middle-aged Americans are turning to restaurant jobs, as of 2010 about two-thirds of food service workers are still under age 35. And the industry’s workforce is more educated than it was just 10 years ago.

Food and retail jobs usually don’t pay a living wage—let alone enough to pay back student loans—and they’re supplanting jobs that do. The average restaurant worker made $15,000 in 2009, compared to $74,000 for a manufacturing worker. Factory work, once the default employment choice for many newly minted adults, was backbreaking and monotonous. But, if unionized, it was also stable, full-time, and decently paid."


Minimum Rage: College Grads in the Service Industry
http://www.utne.com/politics/college...z12jazwar.aspx

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

My son, who is 24, does not have a license. He had actually gotten a learner permit, and i taught him to drive. He picked up on it pretty quickly, and drove petty well. He took the driving exam 3 times, and failed it 3 times. Low level bureaucrats on power trips are kind of a pain.
Since he was going to The University of Pittsburgh, he had no real need for a car, so he didn't bother renewing his permit. He still hasn't. He realizes that when he finally does get a job, he will need to get his license, but until then he doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry.
Even though i am a huge car enthusiast, neither one of my sons really care about cars at all. My oldest got his license at 16 for the freedom and mobility it provided him. He really doesn't much care about cars though. He has a Corolla and a Dakota 4x4.

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

It's hard to get the under-25s interested in cars when there are no jobs.

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

My 21 yo son specifically wants a job with no car ownership, meaning big city or europe, etc. If he reaches that goal, we'll be selling a Honda. He prefers living environments fostering walking, biking, and mass transit, pretty much in that order.

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

I look forward to the day when I don't own a car. More specifically, I look forward to living where I don't have to depend on one.

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

one nephew just turned 21, doesnt have a car, in college.
another nephew 16, no license, no car, little desire to learn to drive.

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

Whoops! I should include have included *under-employed, * too. :rolleyes: BTW -- Recently I was reading that there is a trend within the US manufacturing sector to use H1-B visa workers instead of training American citizens/resident workers to do the job. :(

Re: Fewer teens want to drive yet automakers court them
 

Of course, that needs government really to care. The trick is to advertize a job requiring experience paying below market rate with poor working conditions. Then the company can go crying to immigration that they can't get anybody. Then bring in an H1B.

Or another way is to hire H1B supposedly for unskilled labor and then use them for semi-skilled work.

Just occasionally they'll jump on a company that's obviously target at H1B.