“Tech-savvy teenagers and 20-somethings may have more control over the future of the U.S. auto industry than they realize,” Bob Burgdorfer reports for Reuters.
“Detroit’s automakers, for all their woes, recognize a big potential audience when they see one. Some estimates show that the 16-to-31 age group will constitute the largest class of drivers in the United States by next year,” Burgdorfer reports.
“At this week’s Chicago Auto Show, carmakers said that to appeal to these consumers, their new entry-level or small-car models are emphasizing such features as email capabilities, hookups for iPods (AAPL), laptop computers and other gizmos, many with easy-to-use controls,” Burgdorfer reports.
“When the Boomers, now in their 50s and 60s, bought their first cars in the 1960s and ’70s, the features that mattered to them were horsepower, wide tires and dual exhausts,” Burgdorfer reports. Now, “however, electronics rule.”
“Ford Motor Co. estimates that by 2010 the 16-to-31 demographic will make up the largest chunk of the car-buying public with a 28 percent share,” Burgdorfer reports. “Many of those drivers fall into the so-called Millennial Generation, a term some commentators use to describe people born roughly between 1982 and 2000.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “JadisOne” for the heads up.]
