That means that more than 60 percent of American households currently cannot afford to buy a new car, based on Census data. For individuals, the numbers are even worse, with 82 percent of people below the $100,000 line.
Did I miss the actual sales figures in this article? Here are some:
Comments
Did I miss the actual sales figures in this article? Here are some:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/total-vehicle-sal...
https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/usa-auto-industry-total-sales-...
You don't see a pronounced long-term decline here. It looks like people are buying them anyway.
52% increase in US population 1980-2023 vs essentially flat growth in total vehicle sales
This might be one case where a very long term look (43 years) is misleading. "Last 10 years" might be more instructive.
Cars have gotten much better. Back in 1980 it was very unusual for a car to go 100,000 miles.
This data suggests Newsweek has a non-story: the number of carless households has not gone up at all.
https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/car-ownership-st...
https://transportgeography.org/contents/chapter8/urban-trans...
Perhaps a lot of car sales were actually additional cars for a household that already had one or more, and now that desire has been satiated.