Have we hit 'peak car'?

[DiscoMick]

Is it the end of the road for Australia's love affair with the car? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Have we hit 'peak car'?
With so many young people more interested in their smartphones than in cars, with inner city people deciding they don't need a car of their own, with a third of the workforce not being able to get fulltime jobs but instead being forced into casual employment meaning they don't have the money, security and ability to get loans, and with people deciding to travel, is the attraction of the car fading?
Apparently this trend is also happening overseas. Sales of new cars per head of population have peaked and are falling. With a car for every two Australians, do we just not need any more cars?
Interesting trends...

[trog]

Well not interested in the smart phone but the ( lack of ) Is putting us into the thought that one vehicle will go, and the suburban house. easier to be in town within walking distance of public transport

[JDNSW]

I think that there are an increasing number of people living in or near the inner city of Sydney and Melbourne who find that they do not need a car, and many of them look to never needing one. However, it is easy to forget that even though this number is increasing, it still only represents a tiny proportion of Australians, and may not even be increasing as fast as the population overall is growing.

For the majority of Australians to become free of the need for a car, either the population distribution, the infrastructure distribution, or public transport, or all three, need to be radically different to what it is today. None of these changes are likely to happen in the next generation.

On the other hand, the actual number of cars sold can, and may well do, change either up or down for unrelated reasons - let's face it; most cars are sold to people who could do quite happily with the one they have already.

John

[UncleHo]

Aah! but you need a new car every couple of years just to keep up with the "Joneses"

[JDNSW]

Aah! but you need a new car every couple of years just to keep up with the "Joneses"

Yes, of course, but this is a 'need' that could change overnight! The need for a new car every couple of years is only felt by a fairly small proportion of the population, and this proportion could quite easily change, and this change, if down could produce a false "peak car", or if up, could mask a real "peak car". Which is what I was trying to say.

John

[jonesfam]

I would like to meet the bloke that recons us Joneses have all this money &
high living?
Wouldn't take much to keep up with me.
Jonesfam

[AndyG]

Cars are not the status symbol they once were, now its the MacMansion and SMSF.

Plus they mostly all look the same, so how do you compete.

[Ausfree]

My fathers generation used to show there new or "new" second hand car to all their friends and family after they bought it. Taking people for a drive to show off the new car was normal practice.

I have bought quite a number of new or "new" second hand cars and not once have I taken them around friends and family to show off. I bought my last new car in 2012 and I think half my friends and family haven't seen it yet.

The novelty of the car is definitely waning, we make do with one car whereas in years gone by, I had a car and my wife had a car also.


So yes, it would not surprise me that cars have "peaked".

[gossamer]

Aah! but you need a new car every couple of years just to keep up with the "Joneses"

Not always the "joneses" some people change cars for tax purposes
My wife now works in the city and her work supplies a discounted yearly public transport ticket. We have a bus stop just near the end of the street and she gets off 2 k's from work so she can get some exercise. We now find ourselves with a spare car although we still need a 2nd car for the odd occasion. When my generation hit 18 we pretty well got our license that day, i know of 2 blokes between 18 and 20 who don't have a license and don't seem to be in a hurry to get one They both live at home with their parents though.

[Mick_Marsh]

Have we hit peak car?
No.

There are still a few more I'd like to buy.