Boomers Still Buying Cars
Posted On May 15, 2012
The love affair between Baby Boomers and their cars has never grown cold. Boomers, the first generation with a car in the driveway for every driver in the family, continue to be automakers’ steady date. While Millennials have been relatively reluctant to embrace their own sets of wheels, carmakers have had no trouble wooing their parents back into showroom time and time again.
According to a study by JD Power and AARP, older generations now account for 6 in every 10 new car purchases. For American carmakers, Boomers make up over two-thirds of all their customers. On the flip side, Millennials are only 13% of the new-car market. In 2001, the same age group (18-34) accounted for nearly twice that percentage of the market.
While Millennials have not been as enamored of cars as Boomers were, part of the explanation is economic: cars are expensive, Boomers have money, and Millennials don’t. “Boomers can afford to buy new vehicles. Millennials cannot. The numbers don’t lie,” said Mark Bradbury of AARP Media.