Shift in national interests means Generation Y less likely to buy cars
Last year a report was released stating that our generation — Generation Y — is becoming less and less inclined to purchase cars for a variety of reasons. While it may be that most cars have been labeled as the polluters of the world, it’s important to remember just how iconic the automobile is to American life. It’d be a shame, and quite the wound to Classic Americana, for cars to die out as a staple of American culture.
While most boys used to grow up with posters of the latest Ferrari, Aston Martin or Porsche plastered on their bedroom walls, today those posters are set aside for those of video game characters or the next “wizard” phenomenon set to take the world.
Technology has become so intertwined with growing up it’s becoming less and less common for kids to grow up absolutely infatuated with the big machine Dad seemingly adores. So instead of growing up dreaming of the day we’ll purchase our own very first car, we’ve become a generation that dreams of the very next tech gadget — be it an iPhone, iPod, Android or laptop, relegating the image of a car to simply another appliance.
But to Americans, cars are more than another appliance in the household. They’re enablers, allowing us to go anywhere the road leads whenever we may choose, letting us become the explorers of the Free World one tank of gas at a time.
Cars need to mean more than the dishwasher, no matter what type of car that may be.
For example, I love muscle cars and how politically incorrect they are in a world of gray, bland, economical transportation. I love lifted trucks with the go-anywhere attitude, the “either move over or I’ll run you over” menace that comes with them. I love exotics for their craftsmanship, beauty and soul they embody. I love the cars that have been run into the ground, so old and with so many miles that keeping one running feels like maintaining a relationship with a temperamental woman. I even love, though I bite my tongue to say so, hybrid electric cars, as they pave the way for the cars of the future on the cutting edge of what’s technologically possible.
For most of our generation, a car will be the largest purchase they make behind a house and an education, so why not let it say something?
If you’re practical, go buy a Honda. Frat star, go buy the staple truck and get a lift on it. Speed demon, a sports car or muscle car. Rich, take a look at Lexus or anything German. Even so-called eco-mentalists, though they’re never happy, should be pleased with the hybrid market.
Sure some practicality and common sense should peep through when purchasing a car, but remember they’re an extension of ourselves, and whether we like it or not, represent what we’re about.