Generation Y the entitled ones
Millennials we've been called everything
from tech-savvy and motivated to lazy
and plain egotistical we also state
level radicals all right sorry but a new
media trend has emerged centered around
blaming Gen Y for killing great pillars
of American commerce like casual dining
real estate diamonds and even napkins
are you really gonna miss napkins I mean
really today on wheelhouse we're asking
our Millennials killing college
generally people use millennial to refer
to people in their 20s right now but the
term millennial was actually coined in
1987 by authors William Strauss and Neil
Howe they used it to describe kids who
were born in 1982 who'll be graduating
high school in the year 2000 generally
if you were born between 1980 and 2000
your millennial I guess that means
someone who's 38 is technically a
millennial well I wonder what I'll be
like when I'm 38 by now I think we've
all heard from online publications that
Millennials are killing cars that
they're just not as into them as their
parents and grandparents were I mean
look at this picture from TrueCar I
don't think you can find a more cliched
depiction of the Millennial archetype
for some reason this lady is wearing a
fedora which were on their way out by
2008 and her friend is wearing a flat
rim cap and she's in the backseat for
some reason even though they look like
friends there's a lot going on here and
I feel like I'm getting sidetracked so
is it true that Millennials are driving
less the first statistic we should look
at is Generation Y's car ownership it is
true that Millennials as a group owned
fewer cars than their parents did when
at the same age one hypothesis as to why
this is is that demographically younger
people are starting to move to more
population dense areas since these
bigger cities have public transit
systems you don't really need a car to
get around a Transit Center study found
that Millennials don't attach as much of
a stigma to public transportation as
older Americans do the same goes for
ride-sharing services like lyft or uber
but in that case it's just that their
parents can't figure them out and won't
share their credit card information
because they saw a post on your answer
Facebook page that their account was
hacked it makes sense that with
increased access to these driving
alternatives Millennials are fine with
not owning a car but there are other
factors at play let's look to a car
company who actively tried to court the
elusive millennial buyer in 2014 Toyota
revealed their u squared concept car
apparently designed to reflect the
lifestyle and needs of an
entrepreneurial urban driver
it was super practical but frankly
pretty ugly which shouldn't be a
surprise considering Toyota had an
entire brand centered around ugly but
practical cars for young people fifteen
years ago scions lineup was composed of
just two models the compact XA and the
boxy is all hel xB but the xB was a big
hit the Cubist hated her Leavitt styling
was polarizing for sure but no one could
say it was boring
despite the bizarre marketing campaigns
and genuine attempts to foster assigned
community a growing segment of their
sales weren't the millenials it was old
people it turns out that the xB was the
perfect car for old folks it was
practical economical and most
importantly easy to get in and out of
the driver's seat was positioned so you
barely had to crouch to enter all he had
to do is plop your blood onto the seat
and swing your legs in when the economy
tanked that kept a lot of younger people
from buying new cars and when sales did
recover scions brand perception sifted
from young people mobiles to Toyotas B
team the brand never achieved the
stranglehold on the Millennial market
that they wanted and was eventually
folded back into Toyota in 2016
rest in peace Scion I'll never forget
senior sheeple commercial on g4 tech TV
and thinking what the hell was that
so even when automakers try their best
to appeal directly to Millennials it
doesn't really work out but again that
doesn't answer
if Gen Y is really killing the auto
industry so what's going on well like
most questions the answer is all about
money according to the Federal Reserve
economic factors rather than preference
are behind the decline in millennial car
ownership the Fed compared the finances
of people aged 25 to 34 in 2013 and
people in that same age group in 1989
what the study found is that when
adjusted for inflation the younger group
earns 20% less than the older group
that's
quite a bit and that's not all they
found the rate of home ownership dipped
while the cost of living has gone up
that's crazy
young people aren't killing the auto
industry at least not intentionally
Millennials just don't have any money to
keep the industry healthy with what
Millennials do have a little money for
at least is used cars according to The
Wall Street Journal demand for used cars
was at an unusually high level this
summer nearly 40 million used cars were
sold last year which is double the
amount of new cars according to
edmunds.com near new vehicles offer
greater savings now than they ever have
before
buyers looking at three-year-old
vehicles would save $13,000 on average
compared to a brand new car that's
significant there's also been a cultural
shift from car ownership to leasing a
car this means more gently-used
off lease cars are available as used
cars from original dealers
unless automakers do something to make
their cars cheaper they can expect to
lose new car sales to the used market
but it's not entirely their fault either
because cars aren't cheap to make and
unless something is done about those
tariffs we talked about a few weeks ago
that's not gonna change either look it's
easy to blame Millennials for a lot of
things every generation looks down on
the one that succeeds them in fact I'll
bet the Greatest Generation thought baby
boomers were gonna kill cars too because
those kids weren't building rad hot rods
in the garage like they were it's a
vicious cycle we all need to calm down
Millennials aren't just selfie obsessed
ego maniacs concentrated in big cities
like we're led to believe millennial
only refers to when you were born and
there are millions of Millennials just
like the ones I grew up with in my small
town that love and need cars too and we
don't want to see them go any less than
anyone else thanks for watching
wheelhouse we take a look at the issues
that affect you in the car world every
week so hit that yellow subscribe button
spread about here I mentioned tariffs
earlier check out this episode right
here check out this sick episode of up
to speed awesome follow me on instagram
at nolan j sites for a doughnut at dona
media be nice see you next time