For Gen Y Cool Cars = Exterior Style, Affordability, Green

by Robert Farago

Published: January 12th, 2009

for gen y cool cars exterior style affordability green

Of course, that’s complete horseshit. You can no more reduce a “cool car” to a formula than you can pick a hit song by analyzing the notes. Certainly, if you’re looking for mainstream success, both car and song needs a “hook” or two and must work within a certain prescribed range (price, length). But it’s hard to take any survey on cool cars seriously when it’s conducted by people who push pencils for a living, based on a poll of “1,006 participants aged 17 to 28… randomly drawn from a panel of individuals who agreed to participate in online surveys.” Anyway, here goes nothing: “ Deloitte’s survey discovered that the majority of Gen Y respondents felt a vehicle reflects a person’s style, status and values, and the factors named most often as among the top three reasons that a vehicle is cool were exterior styling, affordability and being environmentally friendly. Among survey respondents, 44 percent said exterior styling was the most important factor in selecting a vehicle, 40 percent said affordability and 35 percent said environmentally friendly. These statistics are important as they represent an opportunity for auto manufacturers and suppliers to be creative and turn their new business models into customized programs tailored to reach this diverse market.” See what I mean?

Robert Farago

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4 of 36 comments

DearS on Jan 12, 2009

I'm 24 and have a bunch of friends guys and girls. All want a different car. They all think BMW, Mercedes, Lexus, Audi etc etc. and Performance cars are cool. Still they are all poor. In there current financial state their tastes can still be seen. One drives sporty and reliable, Accord coupe 90, one a Crown Vic, One a Cutlass Supreme 96, another wants a 2004 Maxima, Another a GMC SUV 97, Another a Camry, Another anything that is new and cool. Accord coupe, Maxima, late model used luxury car etc. etc. Another a fast, luxury, and reliable import. an Acura, really. Another the same thing but more sporty. I want a comfy, reliable, affordable, fun car. My friends also now a bit about cars, or ask atleast. They now HP, but they focus less on raw performance numbers, they drive any and all cars/minivas/trucks/land yacht faster than I'd try sometimes. I Went from Accord 92, to Integra, to 240sx To BMW E30 now looking at a used older Merdeces or BMW. Still like sport, but more luxury. I'm the only one that really goes for best of the best. They look for what is best for them, but use a lot of different criteria, a lot of it word of mouth or the butt dyno and/or handling experience without crashing.

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F8 on Jan 12, 2009

"Yeah man! We get young people! Scion nation! Wooo!" *sells a bunch of Scions to 50-year-olds*

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Cdotson on Jan 13, 2009
carlisimo : January 12th, 2009 at 7:00 pm We young people aren’t any more homogenous than anyone else, so why does everyone keep trying to figure out what we’re like? We’ve got artsy people, green people, drag racing people, playful people, aggressive people, sensible people… I disagree. Young people entering the age where some may be purchasing (or directing the purchase of) a new vehicle are the most homogenous market any manufacturer is likely to encounter. They're going to be at or around high school graduation age; they've spend the majority of their life living in the same town or area, going to school with largely the same friends and sharing the majority of their life experiences centered around their education. The majority will have gone to public school where they've been fed a predetermined level of information to pass tests and have been packed in too tightly to have picked up the ability to effectively think independently. The necessity of orderly discipline without the capability of genuine punishment has brought on an atmosphere where questioning authority has been actively discouraged. Almost all young people at this stage will effectively seek to achieve the same thing with their automotive purchase: peer acceptance. They will all do this differently using different methods but that is what they are buying. They don't want a car for themselves; they want it for what others think of it. Affordability/economy and reliability will narrow down the pool but those are just realistic enablers of the transaction. Having spent most of my short career (I too cap the tail on Gen X at just about to turn 30) in product design/engineering I can say the best marketing types I've worked with don't "do" marketing but product management. The best I've worked with all have the attitude that people don't know what they want and if you give them exactly what they ask for you're guaranteed to screw it up. A customer is a fickle bitch and you have to give them what they will buy, not what they "want." People are stupid and really don't know what they want. There, I guess I really am a Gen-X'er. I don't get the opposition to "Gen-Y" but I guess that opposition is somewhat inherent in the generalized personality traits of someone in the age group. I had a buddy in middle/high school whose garage band was "Generation Why?" which is itself endemic of the sterotype.

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Psarhjinian on Jan 13, 2009
We young people aren’t any more homogenous than anyone else, so why does everyone keep trying to figure out what we’re like? Three reasons: * The wild ride that was Boomer consumerism is going to grind a screaming halt really soon. When the Boomers go, their comparatively poorer sucessors are going to be a much harder sell. * Gen X and especially Gen Y much harder to market to. Have a look at advertising from the 1950s and 60s: do you think for an instant that said pablum is going to work on a cynicism-steeped GenX'er, or a Gen Y who has been marketed to death at? * X and Y are incredibly fickle. It's hard to woo them and not nearly as easy to keep them. Marketers face an uphill battle, and press-releases like this are a sign of both desperation, and the self-delusion that they're still in control.

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