Boomers a better bet as car buyers

By Bill McLauchlan

Hip young consumers have had advertisers lusting after them since the term Baby Boomers was first coined. But there's an intriguing shift shaping up that today's automotive marketing mavens better bear in mind.

Young buyers are a dwindling market.

Cars, once icons of youth and freedom, no longer get the pulse of Millenials, Gen-Yers, or whatever they're called nowadays, racing with the lure of the open road. Electronic gadgets, gaming smart phones and other gizmos turn them on instead.

The chances of a 25-year-old buying a new car are about 25 percent compared to today's 65-year-old car shopper. That disturbing revelation comes from a recent study by the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute. And it's only going to get more troubling for those marketers fixated on the young car buyer.

Right now, there's a pretty even split between licensed drivers in North America. Roughly 48 percent are 45 years and older and around 52 percent are made up of those between 16 and 44 years of age. But, within a decade, a tidal wave of middle-aged drivers will turn 45 and send car makers scurrying to revise their marketing plans. By then, almost 70 percent of licensed drivers will be 45 or older.

So, when it comes to buying new vehicles, older consumers are the way to go for smart automakers. Even these days, it seems.

The Institute's study compared car, pickup truck, SUV and minivan purchases for 2007 and 2011. True to the trend, it found Boomers – born between 1946 and '64 – are buying more new cars while young drivers are buying fewer.

In 2011, those aged 55 to 64 years old, were most likely to buy a new car. That marks a shift from 2007's top segment, the 35 to 44 age group.

To reinforce that shift, the study also determined most vehicles are currently being bought by 45 to 54-year-olds (26 percent of new owners in 2011), followed by those in the 55 to 64 age bracket (23 percent).

To put it another way: in 2011, one vehicle was bought for every 14.6 drivers aged 55 to 64. A rate that hardly differed for those between 45 and 54 (15.0) and the 65 to 74-year-old car shopper (14.9).

And where were the so-called desirable young buyers? A mere one vehicle bought for every 35 drivers between 25 and 34 years old and a paltry 221.8 for the youngest 18 to 24-year-old drivers.