How older drivers became the future of auto industry - The Seattle Times
Richard Emmons, 83, likes to spend his weekends cruising around in a 1995 Jaguar convertible with a big 12-cylinder engine. , where he works full time as a jet engineer. I just like cars and investing. 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. From 2003 to 2013, the number of licensed drivers over the age of 65 surged by 8. 2 million, a 29 percent increase, according to U. S. Census data. There are now about 3. 5 million U. S. drivers over 84, a staggering 43 percent 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 percent. In the past five years, the number of new cars registered to households with a head age 65 or older has risen 62 percent, according to IHS. Drivers over the age of 75, meanwhile, registered about six times as many new cars as those age 18 to 24. The children may well be the future, but the fogies have the cash. Source: www.seattletimes.com
