Are Millennials Killing the Auto Industry, or Just Thinking Green?

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In Noreen McDonald’s research article “Are Millennials Really the “Go-Nowhere Generation?” she asks whether millenials are really driving less than previous generations -- and if so, why. Her piece begins with two possible explanations to the current decline in automobile use among individuals born between 1979 and 1990. The first school of thought centers around millennials taking up driving only when their familial needs require them to do so, meaning later in life when family and employment require a personal vehicle. The second theory is that millennials are choosing to live in areas that do not require the traditional automobile (i.e. where transit and active transportation options are more easily accessible. McDonald compares overall licensure and driving between millennials and Gen Xers at the same age, and uses the data to determine why millenials are ditching the car unlike any previous generation. McDonald’s discussion for the possible decrease in automobile use among millennials resembles many news articles circulating social media these days, with headlines like “How Millennials Killed Mayonnaise” (Hingston, S 2018), and now famous tweets askings questions like “Why aren’t millennials buying diamonds?” Millenials have different priorities from previous generations, and that is challenging for retailers who have been banking on similar sales year after year. Personally, I worry less about vehicle and diamond ownership, and more about consistent employment and a livable wage. Thankfully, McDonald takes time to point out shifting driving patterns among all generations, and recognizes millennials are not the only generation choosing to ditch the car for cheaper, healthier forms of transportation. McDonald concludes that yes, millennials are travelling fewer miles and using fewer forms of transportation than previous generations (whether that’s due to shifting attitudes toward travel or easier online access to various amenities). However, she has an innovative solution to the changing trends: fill the hole that millennials are leaving in the automobile industry with sustainable travel options. If fewer cars are going to be used in urban areas, let us create more transit-oriented cities. While the conversation about millennials can become pointed and often create frustration, McDonald uses millennial-driven trends to make a case for more environmentally centered development. Edited by: Josh Linden McDonald, N. C. (2015). Are millennials really the “go-nowhere” generation? Journal of the American Planning Association, 81(2), 90-103. S. H. (2018, August 11). How Millennials Killed Mayonnaise. Retrieved November 20, 2018, from https://www.phillymag.com/articles/2018/08/11/mayonnaise-industry-millennials/

Comments

  1. AnonymousDecember 1, 2018 at 11:24 PM


    It seems like you enjoyed the paper "Are Millennials Really the Go Nowhere Generation?". I did too; however, I believed it was a bit too optimistic about the transition from the automobiles to other modes of transportation. The researcher takes for granted that Millennial simply drive less either because they prefer urban areas or because they marry less and do not have a steady job. This certainly made sense in the early 2015 when this article was written but it may no longer be true. Take a look at Figure 1, which contains vehicle miles travel (VMT) data up to and including September 2018. (To see Figure 1 follow this Link:
    https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/M12MTVUSM227NFWA)

    As we can see VMT has had significant increases on the last 3 years. If public officials want to somehow decrease VMT they are going to have to come up with new transportation policies. Simply waiting for millenials to "kill" the car is not going to cut it. As the Forbes article "Millennials -- Once Viewed As Auto Market's Lost Generation -- Now Are Its Biggest Growth Driver " states, around half of millenials live in the suburbs and have become a driving force in the automotive market.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/dalebuss/2018/07/27/millennials-once-viewed-as-auto-markets-lost-generation-now-are-its-biggest-growth-driver/#18b0d21c4491

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