A recent column on WardsAuto.com lamented the alleged apathy of Generation Y, or Millennials, when it comes to the car industry. The column asserted that, unlike Boomers and Xers before them, there is little excitement about first car rite-of-passage that used to be a hallmark of the teen years.

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If Millennials are indeed apathetic about cars, does that mean the auto industry is in danger, and if so, what are the reasons behind Gen Y’s indifference?

Dr. Steven Shapiro, chair of the management department at New York City’s Laboratory Institute of Merchandising, recognizes that things have changed. "The Y Generation doesn’t care as much about cars. This generation is much more about ‘follow the coattails of your parents’ than those in their 40s and 50s who were much more of a ‘do it yourself’ generation,” Shapiro, former director of education and training for the Greater New York Auto Dealers Association, says.

“Gen Y drives their parents’ cars or their parents buy them one (safety first). The ‘new car dream’ is secondary to the high cost of living—and is something to postpone until the Gen Yer can afford to move out. Until that time, a pre-owned vehicle or borrowing the car is fine," Shapiro explains.

There are several factors affecting Gen Y’s disinterest. For one, the technological revolution has made face-to-face contact less necessary, as people communicate via text-messaging, Facebook, MySpace, email and cell phone. Another is the high cost of having and maintaining a car, especially in urban areas. And, from an environmental standpoint, Millennials demonstrate a concern for the environment that precludes excitement to get their own wheels.

With advanced technological means to communicate, the importance of getting in a car to meet people in person has faded. “It is true that they have less of a need to get face-to-face with people,” Shapiro says. “Gen Yers don’t need the same mobility to socialize with their peers,” as their predecessors did, meaning that cars just don’t hold the same social value that they used to.

The expenses attached to keeping a car also dampen a potential auto owner’s enthusiasm. “Students have less of an interest in cars. It is easier to rent cars when they need them because of the extraordinary cost of keeping a car, at least in urban areas, where people are punished for driving a car,” Shapiro explains, citing ever-increasing tolls. Furthermore, the cost of living in the city is so high, that having a car has become low priority, especially when young people have such “exorbitant rents, that they can’t even think about gas mileage, insurance rates, or parking. Cars go last on the list.”

Due to all these factors, the high cost of having a car, Shapiro says, “terrifies” Millennials. Additionally, those urban areas where keeping a car proves to be an inconvenience and a financial burden usually offer inexpensive and easily accessible public transportation, of which Millennials readily take advantage.

The wireless generation’s attraction to the latest technological gizmos also influence what defines today’s prestige symbols. “Cars don’t seem to have same status and importance as they used to,” Shapiro explains. “Technological equipment is more of a status symbol than cars” and while flashy new tech gadgets constantly hit the market, “all cars look alike” to Millennials. “Cars are not a way of standing out or asserting personalities for Millennials. There have been no successful new designs that catch on with young people,” Shapiro tells demo dirt.

Not only are tech toys stealing cars’ thunder, parents’ involvement diminishes the milestone into adulthood that car-buying used to signify. With interest rates climbing, buying one’s first car certainly doesn’t lend young people the same sense of independence it used to. As parents help their kids buy their first cars, the “fun aspect” of getting their first rides is sacrificed, since moms and dads naturally put safety, not sleek design, first, Shapiro points out.

For suburban teens who may want a car to drive to high school every day, the “question becomes, ‘Who buys it?’” Sharpiro says. The answer? Mom and Dad. This creates what Shapiro calls a “negative connotation of buying your first car,” stemming from Millennials’ financial dependence on their parents and its accompanying emphasis on mundane features like gas mileage and airbags.

Green-savvy Gen Yers want to make ethical decisions when buying as substantial an item as a new car. And, while the intention is admirable, current prices of hybrids are still out-of-reach for many Millennials. “Those who are eco-conscious and want a hybrid can’t afford it. They are looking to be as environmentally positive as possible,” Shapiro says. Until they can afford to buy the hybrid of their dreams, green-minded young people are content with using public transport or borrowing their parents’ cars.

Shapiro says that some Gen Yers, eager to establish themselves financially, just don’t see the point in blowing their hard-earned money on such a costly purchase at their current life stage.

“Among educated Gen Yers, the kids who are career-oriented and want to make a lot of money will postpone a big purchase” until they can afford what they want, he says.

So what rites-of-passage do newly independent Millennials have to look forward to? Today, Shapiro says, he notices that young adults are exerting their independence and identity in different ways. For instance, he observes, “These days they are joining the Peace Corps.”

Editor’s note: To see the column which inspired this story, go to http://autoindustrynews.blogspot.com/2008/01/new-year-brings-harsh-realities.html