The world of car shopping is filled with stereotypes, and few of them are accurate. Whatever your mental image of Jeep Wrangler shoppers, BMW owners, or Mazda MX-5 Miata drivers might be, odds are pretty good that it’s wrong. A new report from CNBC says that it’s time to update another perception.
Millennials now buy more pickup trucks than any other generation.
The data come from J.D. Power.
Tyson Jominy, J.D. Power vice president of data & analytics, tells CNBC, “Millennials took over in April during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. We thought it was kind of a blip, but it’s only increased since then.”
Millennials – roughly speaking, the generation born between 1980 and 2000 – were once famously not fond of driving. But, in 2021, according to J.D. Power, they were the largest buyers of midsize, full size, and heavy-duty pickups.
What’s Driving the Truck Trend?
The force behind the truck surge may be the simplest explanation. Jominy explains, “It’s a coming-of-age story for millennials and maturing and getting promoted in their jobs and coupling and procreating and moving to the suburbs.”
Nothing will make you trade in your old Civic for an F-150 like more parking space and a weekend full of projects that require a trip to Home Depot, it seems.
Big Implications for Electric Trucks
Millennials are also the ones most likely to buy an electric vehicle (EV). J.D. Power reports that Millenials bought 35% of new EVs sold in 2021. Baby Boomers bought 29%. Generation X came in third, at 26%.
That may be big news for builders of electric pickups. Illinois startup Rivian delivered the first electric truck into a customer’s hands in September. Ford, meanwhile, has filled the order books for its upcoming F-150 Lighting EV pickup all the way into 2025.
In January, Chevrolet will join the electric truck rush in a few weeks, unveiling an electric version of its best-selling Silverado at the CES consumer electronics show.
Car Sales Going Online
As younger buyers take over car sales, they drive another trend – car shopping is moving online. Our studies have shown that buyers are increasingly happier when more of their shopping experience takes place virtually. That may be happening, in part, because people who grew up with online shopping are now the ones buying cars.
So, What Are Boomers Buying?
Millennials have outpaced Boomers and Gen-Xers in 17 of the 27 market segments J.D. Power tracks in 2021. But there’s one type of car Boomers still buy far more than anyone else – luxury cars.
“The higher the price the vehicle, the more likely we are to see Boomers in it,” Jominy said.
