Resonante: Economic woes keeping milennials from buying more cars

Published October 21, 2013 by Jessica Sabbath

A McLean-based marketing and political research company says fewer millennials are purchasing fewer cars because of the weak economy rather than because of environmental or other concerns.

Resonante reports that 10 percent of those in the millennial generation are unemployed, and 14 percent of those are underemployed, factors making it difficult to purchase a car. Studies show that 14 percent of millenials don’t own cars.

Resonante also found that environmental factors did not top millennials’ list of importance when buying cars. Fifteen percent fewer millenials than people over 35 said fuel economy is important to them.

Instead, millennials were more concerned about dependability (53 percent) and cost effectiveness (39 percent). They were also interested in value innovation (15 percent) and fun/excitement (14 percent).

Resonante's research also found that millennials are more likely to own Toyotas and Hondas than any other vehicles.

Resonate's data came from two online surveys conducted in the last 12 months. The surveys included a total of 19,046 respondents.