EuroWire March 2015

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Mr Kazanjian explained the variance between the MTV ndings and those of other recent studies in terms of the age spread within the Millennials. The youngest of them may indeed have to content themselves with bicycles rather than cars. But the oldest are now in their early 30s and, as the American economy improves, they are earning more than they did in the immediate wake of the recent recession. † Mr Kazanjian believes that the spending choices of these Millennials should be of intense concern to the automobile industry. “This generation is almost 100 million strong,” he told Mr Gardner. “They have close to a trillion dollars in buying power. It’s not something to sneeze at. [And] there are signi cantly more of them than Gen Xers.” Elsewhere in automotive . . . † CEO Mark Fields of Ford Motor Co told the Detroit Free Press (29 th January) that his company had overcome most of the obstacles to the launch of its 2015 F-150. Analysts estimate that the F-Series line accounts for as much as 90 per cent of Ford’s automotive pro ts, explaining the company’s decision to shut down its Dearborn (Michigan) and Kansas City (Missouri) plants for 13 weeks last year in preparation for building the new-model F-150. As noted by auto/business reporter Alisa Priddle, the production intermission “cost the automaker 90,000 pickups.” In his Free Press interview Mr Fields also took issue with Edmunds.com over its report of having received a high repair estimate on an F-150 purchased for purposes of comparison with a steel-bodied truck. The Ford CEO said the shop chosen by the automotive website was not among the 750 dealerships certi ed by the company for work on the 2015 model, and that the repair time estimate was double what it ought to be. † Nissan said on 26 th January that it would sponsor about 1,000 high-speed charging stations for electric vehicles in the USA by April 2016. High-speed chargers can ll up a vehicle’s battery in roughly 20 to 30 minutes. The Japanese automaker already has charging stations in 13 metro areas including San Francisco, Dallas and Washington, and plans to expand that coverage to 25 cities by the end of the year. The construction and operation of many of the new locations will be assigned to third-party networks like NRG eVgo. Days earlier, German automakers BMW and Volkswagen had announced that they would be teaming up with ChargePoint to develop an American network of fast-charging stations for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. By the end of 2015, the trio of companies plans to have opened almost 100 ChargePoint ports along heavily tra cked corridors on the East andWest Coasts. Only about 120,000 vehicles that require a plug-in electric charge were sold in the United States last year, an increase of 20 per cent over 2013 but a tiny fraction of the 16.5 million vehicles sold overall. Analysts say the sudden urgency to install high-speed charging stations across the USA re ects an acknowledgment by the makers of electric-powered vehicles of a mistake they made ve years ago. When mass-marketing commenced, American consumers were expected to charge their cars at home for use over typically modest distances. But it has become apparent that the constraint on mobility is strongly resented, irrespective of driving habits. The phenomenon is known as ‘range anxiety.’ If it can be eased by the new charging stations, this might mean the breakthrough for electric cars that has proved elusive to this point.

And nearly three-quarters would expect to be more productive if their agency were to provide technology that improves data access. When asked to name the three tools that would have the ‘greatest impact to improve workplace performance,’ nearly 67 per cent of the respondents put remote access to work systems in rst place. That was followed by an agency-issued smartphone, which got the vote of about 65 per cent of the respondents. And about 39 per cent said agency-provided online sharing tools would help improve collaboration. Additionally, about 20 per cent of respondents said that personally owned smartphones and agency-issued tablets would help improve their work e ciency. Among recommendations regarding workforce training, recruiting and retention, the ICF report said that a blended approach to technology-related training should mix classroom with online courses, mobile learning, and on-the-job training. The survey was conducted between 28 th August and 26 th September 2014. Out of the nearly 9,000 federal workers who received the survey, 510 responded for a response rate of 5.7 per cent. The overall margin of error was ±4.2 percentage points. American Millennials deliver a surprise: they may be keener on car ownership and driving than automakers tend to believe “Our main point is that Baby Boomers have the nancial power to drive more sales, but there is a tremendous opportunity to work with Millennials and the industry needs to do better at reaching them.” Berj Kazanjian, vice president for ad sales research at MTV , was responding to the results of a survey conducted by the New York-based cable and satellite network in the spring of 2014 and published this January. The responses collected from 3,600 Millennials [aged 18-34], about 400 Generation Xers [aged 35-49], and 400 Baby Boomers [aged 50-68] challenge some entrenched convictions about the preferences of the youngest cohort of the American spending public. In ndings that would puzzle Traditionals [those born before 1946] but are dense with meaning in the year 2015, MTV reported that – rather than relinquish their cars – 75 per cent of Millennials would give up social media for a day and 72 per cent would give up texting for a week. In an interview with Detroit Free Press business writer Greg Gardner at the annual convention of the National Automobile Dealers Association (San Francisco, 22 nd -25 th January), Mr Kazanjian cited this as proof that Millennials are more interested in driving and buying cars than much other research has led automakers to believe. And he believes that the auto industry ignores the MTV results at its peril. “This is the rst generation in history that can literally kill a brand with the push of a button,” said Mr Kazanjian. His message to automakers, dealers and advertisers: they need to speak to the Millennials’ transportation needs and respect their easy access to comparative pricing information. (“MTV: Millennials Want Their Cars, SUVs, Pickup Trucks,” 26 th January) † Mr Gardner of the Free Press noted that the contrary view of Millennials – that they can take cars or leave them – is held by a great many respected analysts and observers. Only in October the US Public Interest Research Group released a study showing that the generation born after 1980 is less focused than older Americans on owning cars and trucks. Automotive

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March 2015