Carmakers' next problem: Generation Y (Generation Public Transit?)

[marmar]

from MSNBC:




By Allison Linn Senior writer
msnbc.com msnbc.com

updated 11/4/2010 9:41:49 AM ET 2010-11-04T13:41:49





Meet Natalie McVeigh, the auto industry’s latest headache.

At 25 years old, McVeigh lives in Denver and has two good jobs, as a research analyst and an adjunct professor of philosophy. What she doesn’t have — or want — is a car.

A confluence of events — environmental worries, a preference for gadgets over wheels and the yearslong economic doldrums — is pushing some teens and twentysomethings to opt out of what has traditionally been considered an American rite of passage: Owning a car.

“There’s kind of almost every force working against the young driver right now,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst and editor-at-large at Edmunds.com, an automotive research website. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39970363/ns/business-autos

[nxylas]

1. Could there be a connection to the last story you posted?

The one about the corporations using their useful idiots, the teabaggers, to stoke up hysteria about a UN plot? Seriously, though, I can't imagine this really taking off outside the really big cities like NY, SF, Boston, Chicago etc. There are very few American cities with a population of less than half a million that have anything more than a skeleton service. It's one of the reasons why I was glad to move back to England.

[marmar]

2. Absolutely.

nt