It is no secret that gearheads do not lead the Millennial generation. You will see the occasional twentysomething aggressively driving through a subdivision in a souped-up 2006 Ford Mustang, but this is an instance rather than a representation. If you run into a Millennial in an automotive museum, the odds are that they are with family moseying around jewels from Lancia, Aston Martin, and Porsche with eyes glued to the screen of an iPhone X.
Baby Boomers and Gen. X’s tend to hang their heads in shame in the face of such disinterest, especially when discussing the future of automotive culture. However, this is understandable. The driver’s license was arguably the keystone of the teenage social construct from the 1950s through the 1990s. It was like a rite of passage when an adolescent reached 16 years of age, as obtaining a driver’s license signaled a new-found sense of freedom from the grip of parents. Yet, this lack of dedication towards car culture may also be understandable.
Today your average millennial drives an inexpensive small to mid-size foreign-made car. The Honda Accord leads the list followed by the Nissan Altima, Honda Civic, Toyota Camry and Hyundai Sonata. The majority of the cars they drive are in the $20,000 to $25,000 range. Why do they drive cheaper cars? Debt. Millennials make more money than ever for people in their age group at any given generation. The problem is on average they carry $36,000 of debt.
Sure, a Millennial may not want to spend the weekend fixing the transmission of a ’66 Pontiac GTO. However, that does not mean Millennials are reluctant to driving. Millennials drive, on average, around 2,200 more miles than Baby Boomers per year. Granted, few of these miles are cruising down Woodward Avenue in a souped-up ’56 Bel Air, but cars are still vital to Millennials.
Is this generation of car owners “into” cars? Of course they are, just in a different way compared to the kids of the Boomer generation. As with previous generations, Millennials are buying and upgrading the cars they admired in their youth. Just as the Boomer generation was souping up their Dad’s ’57 Chevy, the Millennial is tuning their Nissan 300ZX to take it to track day. The older generation cannot expect the younger generation to like the same cars they did or vice versa. Every generation has different tastes in what they own and drive.
Millennials get a bad rap from older generations for lack of appreciation towards classic cars and the subsequent motoring culture. Young adults aren’t spending free time attending classic car auctions and exhibitions. Nor are they spending hours in the garage fixing up the “old girl.” However, this residence outside the vintage car lifestyle appears as a byproduct of rapidly evolving times rather than deliberate ignorance.
Every generation of car owner appreciates a different style or type of car. Generational differences are as common in life as they are in automobile appreciation. The Millennials are not killing car culture, they are just evolving it to meld with their influences and lifestyles.
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