Automakers Have One Huge Problem, The Buyers They Need To Attract Can No Longer Afford Their Offerings

With student debt at an all time high, and many young people opting for careers that don't pay well enough to afford the lifestyle they wish. Autos wait until later in life.

When status and stability of working at a top employer, owning a car and a home and being married as been exchanged for a $1000 phone, working for peanuts at a startup and living with roommates and living la vida loca, it is not a surprise there is no money for a car.

But yet the prices keep going up

yup cause the suckers (thats me and you) keep paying

Build a no frills bare bones basic car that plays off their phone built in lowest labor market in the world and sell it for $75 a month.

They have them already. They are called Hyundai and Kia and invented the 84 month financing packages...

trendy features & content are more costly today. consumers will compromise somewhat - on a used vehicle. but for new vehicles - basic & standard expectations are ridiculously sky-high.

the market for a really nicely loaded midsize sedan/SUV in the $25k-$35k is long gone. Remember when you could buy a loaded Chrysler 300C Hemi for just under $40k?

There is also urbanization. Young people are living in cities with expensive rents/mortages. There are two new highrises opening in Chicago that have Zipcars in the parking garage. These people do not see the need to won a car. They either Zip, Uner or Lyft.

That's part of what I love about my current car. I chose not to get all the fancy stuff in it, outside of a strong engine and great suspension. And if I could have deleted even more stuff in it that I don't use, I would have, to drive the price down about $5k further down.
In my last car, it had stuff in it that I either never used, I used only once, or used once or twice in the 3 years I owned it. Yet I paid extra for all of it. So I decided I wouldn't do that again.

Times have changed.

Kids don’t go out/hang out like I used to. They have the internet for social media, online gaming, and shopping... And when they do out to eat, let’s say, they stare at their phones most of the time or take pictures of what they are eating for the other friends that they never met??

Then we have the entitled generation that will only get a brand new car so they can brag about it... online of course... gone are the days when I grew up, I worked hard all summer and borrowed money so I can buy an used POS to have a car in high school...

Times have changed...

I think buying used is the key, why buy a fastly depreciable asset new unless that money is truly pocket change to you, to which this article is not-applicable to you anyway.

Young people cannot afford to buy a house. They cannot afford to buy a car. Why? They are all saddled with crushing debt of hundreds of thousands of dollars from their educational loan debt running about 8% interest.

If young people cannot buy a house or a car, it's because of poor life decisions and where they choose to live.

The simple truth is that the average price of a car today is 35K. That is up significantly from 10 or 15 years ago. People getting out of school do not necessarily end up with a 50K plus salary. Further the cost of insurance for a male or female under the age of 25 is astronomical today. I advise insurance clients shopping for a car for their teenagers to buy an old enough car that does not require "full coverage" on it. A young male driver who gets even a used BMW will still pay 2 grand for full coverage every 6 months even if he does not have any violations. So it is NOT about poor decisions or where they choose to live. Rather it is because they are young people and don't have enough money to afford the cost of a new vehicle or the cost of insurance for a new vehicle. And it appears to be a statistic fact that 60% or more of "all" car loans show people are behind in their payments. The 84 month car loan will morph into the 96 or longer soon.