Fears that young people no longer view learning to drive or owning a car as a rite of passage appear to be unfounded according to a recent study.
Estimates from Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book show that most of the teenagers belonging to Generation Z (born starting with the late 1990s) are car owners or plan to buy a car in the near future.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
With the Generation Z making up approximately 23% of the world's population, these youngsters are some of the clients with the highest potential for profit, for automotive companies.
Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book show that 92% of the Gen Z representatives interviewed own cars or plan to own a vehicle and 97% of them have or plan to get a driving licence. From these responders, 32% said driving makes them feel free, 29% go for responsibility and 23% are excited. Also, most of the responders said a car represents freedom, as well as convenience (29%). Regarding the actual costs for purchase and/or ownership, teenagers are willing to give up spending on social media (72%), new clothes (62%) and cell phones (33%), for an entire year.
Estimates also show that these teenagers will account for around US$3.2 trillion of all car sales, by the year 2020. Isabelle Helms, vice president of research and market intelligence for Cox Automotive, Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book's parent company, said: "What worked for marketing to Millennials will not work for Generation Z because some of the defining traits of Millennials do not hold true for the next generation of car shoppers. The best news from this research is that auto sales are not going to take a hit because of this generation. In fact, it may prove to be quite the opposite. Their love for cars and driving is very much alive."
