Les jeunes sont de moins en moins intéressés à posséder une voiture. L’industrie automobile panique.
Chris Sorensen
(…)
Indeed, several studies show many under the age of 35 don’t even bother to get their driver’s licences anymore. Why? The reasons range from the outsized impact of the recession on young people to the rising popularity of car-free urban living. But the biggest factor appears to be the absence of an emotional connection to the growl of a V6 engine or the plastic smell of new upholstery. For the Baby Boomers, who account for nearly 40 per cent of car sales, a set of wheels was a way to connect with friends and define one’s personality. But, these days, teens can just send text messages or update their Facebook profiles. “If you look at a car as a means of establishing one’s freedom, the competition has gotten much stiffer,” says Ken Wong, a marketing professor at Queen’s University.
The average American, aged 16 to 34, drove nearly one-quarter fewer miles in 2009 than the same age group did back in 2001, according to a report last year by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and Frontier Group.
In fact, between 2001 and 2009, per capita driving among employed 16- to 34-years-olds still dropped by 16 per cent, the study found.
A recent study out of McGill University (http://tram.mcgill.ca/Research/Publications/Transit_to_eternal_youth.pdf ) found young people are far more likely to take public transit than other generations—a decision no doubt driven partly by cost, with youth unemployment in Canada still hovering above 13 per cent, or about double the rate for the country as a whole.
A sign of the times: A new 42-storey tower in downtown Toronto recently became the first in the country to be built without a parking garage. An even bigger sign: A developer in Calgary—right in the heart of oil and gas country—is asking city council for permission to do the same.