How old drivers became the future of the US car industry - Sydney Morning Herald
His weekday drive is either a 2009 Volkswagen Eos or the $US82,000 ($111,000) Audi A8 sedan he bought in November. At the same time, cars have never been crammed with more features to safeguard drivers with fuzzier vision, slower reactions, and stiffer necks. Those forces have created a powerful economic engine for car manufacturers. "Honestly," says Harley-Davidson Chief Marketing Officer Mark Hans-Richer, "we sell new bikes to guys in their 80s all the time. From 2003 to 2013, the number of licensed drivers over the age of 65 surged by 8. 2 million, a 29 per cent increase, according to US Census data. There are now about 3. 5 million US drivers over 84, a staggering 43 per cent increase over a decade ago. On the other end of the age spectrum, teenagers no longer have the income or inclination to own a car. Over that same 10-year period, the ranks of drivers under age 20 declined by 3 per cent. Don't drive slowly into that good night Not only are seniors staying on the road longer, they also aren't coasting into the sunset in clunkers. In the past five years, the number of new cars registered to households with a head age 65 or older has risen 65 per cent, according to IHS. Source: www.smh.com.au
