Millennials Don’t Hate Cars As Much as Everyone Thought

It turns out millennials are buying cars. Elise Amendola/ AP

By Megan Turchi @meganturchi

April 21, 2015

2 minutes to read

In recent years, there has been some talk about how millennials no longer want or need cars.

But it seems the doomsday predictions may have been premature.

In fact, the number of millennials buying cars since 2010 has been increasing quite a bit, according to J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information services firm.

J.D. Power analyzed car buyer data to come to the conclusion that millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y, accounted for 27 percent of new auto sales last year.

In 2010 they only accounted for 18 percent, Bloomberg reported — now they are the second largest group of buyers, right behind the baby boomers.

“There is a lot of press out there talking about Generation Y and that they are going to shy away from large ticket purchases,’’ said John Humphrey, senior vice president and general manager of global automotive practice at J.D. Power. “We refute that from the data.’’

He seemed to think that just the large number of millennials (almost 80 million of them) contradicts past speculation that they don’t want cars. There are so many that some are bound to want cars.

“The sheer volume of people would suggest that economically they are going to have a profound impact on any industry.’’ Humphrey said. “And the auto industry is no different.’’

Humphrey attributed some of the sales increase to changing life stages. As millennials grow older and get married, some are going to move to the suburbs and need cars.

He also said Gen Y’s earlier disinterest in buying cars had to do with the recession.

“Even coming out of recession,’’ Humphrey said, “credit was almost non existent. As credit loosened, there was pent up demand and some people that weren’t able to get credit for new cars were concerned about how long it would last.’’

But he said now that millennials are getting older and the economy is getting better, they are receiving more income. He said the issue is no longer if millennials want cars, it’s whether car manufactures can figure out how to sell to this generation.

“The challenge is far different from other generations with how they consume information,’’ he said. “The issues that drive interest in vehicles are changing. Technology is the leading thing that gets people excited.’’

MTV also recently conducted a study that showed millennials do want cars and are actually more willing to give up their cell phones than their wheels, but wish the buying process was easier.

Non-traditional car suppliers, like Google, may also play a role if they decide to make vehicles.

“The Googles – they aren’t car companies,’’ Humphrey said. “But they are forcing things quickly and that could be a good thing or a challenge for the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).’’