Editorial: Goodnight, Sweet Prince

Earlier this month, Toyota announced that it was giving the axe to its youth oriented Scion brand in August of this year. What happened? This is supposed to a brand that is marketed towards the millennial generation which, in theory, should have been a very profitable gamble. Scion also prided itself on a very straight forward pricing plan (what you see on the window sticker is what you pay), which also meant that Scion vehicles were generally very well equipped without having to spend all day negotiating with a salesperson. People hate dealing with shady salespeople, so this should have been great, right? I will tell you what happened that led to Scion's demise, or at least what I believe to be the reasoning behind Toyota's decision.

Editorial: The conundrum of the millennial car buyer

It is not exactly news that millennials have a very different approach to many things. Whether it is how they choose places to live or conduct themselves on the job, the younger generation that is now making their mark on adulthood have made it clear that they like to do things their way. This also applies to driving and car ownership. Much has been made in the last year about how the automotive industry continues to struggle to find ways to attract a younger generation of drivers to the dealers to make car purchases, new or used. Some of that has been attributed to a whole different attitude towards driving, others posit that graduated licensing laws have made the desire to drive less imperative, while yet still others theorize that the recession and its lack of job opportunities means that the younger generation simply has less disposable income to spend on a luxury purchase. Research dollars continue to pour into the subject, but with seemingly few tangible conclusions. As a member of the millennial generation, as much as I would like to deny it, allow me to offer a few of my own thoughts on why automakers are continuing to struggle to appeal to younger buyers.

Editorial: The changing American attitude towards driving

Americans are slowly changing their attitudes on driving. As the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement age, they naturally spend less time behind the wheel when they give up the commute. Young Millennials are waiting longer to earn their licenses and even when they do, often are choosing not to own a vehicle, instead relying on car sharing services when needed and other forms of transportation otherwise. Those of us that fall between these two categories, fed up with traffic in the urban environments in which we live, have started to take advantage of other options if they are available or even working remotely if our jobs allow it. All of this adds up to fewer miles driven and fewer hours behind the wheel.

Image courtesy of GreaterBostonSuburbs.com

Driving is increasingly seen as being a chore and who can blame Americans for thinking this way. Traffic continues to increase in most metropolitan cities, snarling the roads with an endless stream of cars that just sucks away at our now precious time. As a result of the time suck, people feel it is ever more necessary to try to multi-task in the car to try to eke out efficiency from every last second - eating their meals, personal grooming, even catching up on the morning paper. This then leads to distracted drivers who drive erratically, forcing traffic to flow around them as opposed to them assisting in making traffic flow smoothly. The end result is a tortuous slog every day that seems to be getting worse and worse.

Image courtesy of StreetsBlog.org

And those Millennials, who are increasingly using other means of transit, do still drive sometimes because often the sense of adventure takes one somewhere that cannot be reached by public transit. However, precisely because they do not regularly drive, they are less experienced behind the wheel and thus less confident, taking longer to make critical decisions that are then interpreted as being erratic behavior and increasing the frustration of other drivers around them. To further add to the ire of the other road users, many of these younger drivers also waited to get their driver's licenses in the first place, thus in many cases avoiding the graduated licensing requirements that many states have put in place to allow teen drivers to build increased skills and gain experience in less dangerous and distraction-prone situations. The result is a driver that might be less well prepared for the challenges that they can face and one who might simply spend even less time behind the wheel.