Mazda produced its one millionth MX-5 Miata this month. Hurrah!
This milestone represents something of a miracle, and is surely cause for celebration and admiration. Mazda continues to have the courage and conviction to embrace lightweight, affordable sports cars – cars that exist purely for the fun of driving – despite the demographic and social trends.
Mazda recently showed the Mazda MX-5 RF (retractable fastback) — the latest addition to the MX-5 family.
Indeed, research suggests that the future market for sports cars — young people — is growing less and less interested in driving, period. Not good news for a Mazda whose brand is wedded to what some might call a quaint notion: “the joy of driving.”
But this can’t be news to Mazda. It’s certainly not news to me. The research shows that young people have for decades grown less and less interested in driving. A recent study by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, found that the percentage of people with a driver’s license in the United States decreased between 2011 and 2014 across all age groups.
Since 1989, Mazda has produced one million MX-5 Miata roadsters.
But the decline in the number of those with a driver’s license is most pronounced and consistent among people aged 16 to 44. In 2014, just 24.5 per cent of 16-year-olds had a license versus 46.2 per cent in 1983 — a 47-per cent decrease. We can be certain that Millennials and Generation Z won’t embrace the MX-5 Miata like their Baby Boomer parents and grandparents have over the decades.
On top of that, some very, very smart people now insist that the future of the auto industry is all about taking the driver out of the equation altogether. Automobile and technology companies from Ford to Google, from General Motors to Uber, from Daimler to Lyft and more are hard at work readying self-driving technology for the masses and pushing government regulators to develop standards and regulations.
2005 MX-5 Miata. Mazda CEO Kogai: the MX-5 Miata offers “customers the joy of driving,” and as such, it “has become a symbol of our brand.”
Fewer and fewer people want to drive, we’re told. Driving is an expensive nuisance. The self-driving car is the antidote to a horrific daily commute. Cars that drive themselves allow everyone on board to nap, eat, play board games, shave, write a novel, paint their toenails…do anything but actually steer a car. Self-driving cars will be safer, too; they take human beings out of the equation entirely. In a world of automated cars, insurance costs will plummet.
What surely must be worrisome to a company like Mazda, J.D. Power and Associates reports that more than half of those born after 1976 say they trust autonomous technology. The younger the person, the more likely they are to trust self-driving cars, says J.D. Power’s annual U.S. Tech Choice Study.
Chew on these numbers: About 59 per cent of Generation Y (born 1977-1994) say they would likely be interested in fully autonomous cars. Meanwhile, 41 per cent in Generation X (born from 1965-76) express likely interest, along with 23 per cent of Baby Boomers (born from 1946-64) and 18 percent of the pre-boomer generation (born before 1946). Overall, about a third of all drivers expressed an interest in self-driving technology.
2011 MX-5 Miata. It’s future is imperiled because fewer and fewer young people want to drive at al. J.D. Power reports that 59 per cent of Generation Y (born 1977-1994) say they would likely be interested in fully autonomous cars.
No wonder autonomous cars are under development by automakers and tech companies including General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Google, Apple and Daimler. Cars that drive themselves are seen by proponents as a way to make driving safer and more convenient, though Power said the results of its latest survey show companies have a long way to go to gain older drivers’ trust.
The evidence is very clear: the joy of driving is becoming an idea and a pleasure as anachronistic as a long-playing 331⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record. Yes, LPs are making something of a comeback, but they’ll never again be mainstream. I suspect that in two decades or less, cars that can be driven only by a human – cars lacking autonomous technology – will be the LPs of our highways. They will be decidedly non-mainstream.
Yet Mazda unabashedly keeps pushing this idea that driving is a very personal and valuable experience. It is the essence of the Mazda brand, says CEO Masamichi Kogai. The MX-5 Miata offers “customers the joy of driving,” and as such, it “has become a symbol of our brand.”
Mazda has long invested its future in this idea that a big chunk of people will always love to climb behind the wheel and just go. Mazda believes there is profitable place for a car company able to find and tap a love of driving – in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary.
Perhaps there is a place in this world for a car company with such a brave business plan. Many of us still love to dance with a good car on an interesting road.
So Mazda, on behalf of all of us, I hope that in another quarter century, you will have produced two million MX-5 Miatas. But I am not betting on it.
Mazda produced its one millionth MX-5 Miata this month. Hurrah!
This milestone represents something of a miracle, and is surely cause for celebration and admiration. Mazda continues to have the courage and conviction to embrace lightweight, affordable sports cars – cars that exist purely for the fun of driving – despite the demographic and social trends.
Mazda recently showed the Mazda MX-5 RF (retractable fastback) — the latest addition to the MX-5 family.
Indeed, research suggests that the future market for sports cars — young people — is growing less and less interested in driving, period. Not good news for a Mazda whose brand is wedded to what some might call a quaint notion: “the joy of driving.”
But this can’t be news to Mazda. It’s certainly not news to me. The research shows that young people have for decades grown less and less interested in driving. A recent study by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, found that the percentage of people with a driver’s license in the United States decreased between 2011 and 2014 across all age groups.
Since 1989, Mazda has produced one million MX-5 Miata roadsters.
But the decline in the number of those with a driver’s license is most pronounced and consistent among people aged 16 to 44. In 2014, just 24.5 per cent of 16-year-olds had a license versus 46.2 per cent in 1983 — a 47-per cent decrease. We can be certain that Millennials and Generation Z won’t embrace the MX-5 Miata like their Baby Boomer parents and grandparents have over the decades.
On top of that, some very, very smart people now insist that the future of the auto industry is all about taking the driver out of the equation altogether. Automobile and technology companies from Ford to Google, from General Motors to Uber, from Daimler to Lyft and more are hard at work readying self-driving technology for the masses and pushing government regulators to develop standards and regulations.
2005 MX-5 Miata. Mazda CEO Kogai: the MX-5 Miata offers “customers the joy of driving,” and as such, it “has become a symbol of our brand.”
Fewer and fewer people want to drive, we’re told. Driving is an expensive nuisance. The self-driving car is the antidote to a horrific daily commute. Cars that drive themselves allow everyone on board to nap, eat, play board games, shave, write a novel, paint their toenails…do anything but actually steer a car. Self-driving cars will be safer, too; they take human beings out of the equation entirely. In a world of automated cars, insurance costs will plummet.
What surely must be worrisome to a company like Mazda, J.D. Power and Associates reports that more than half of those born after 1976 say they trust autonomous technology. The younger the person, the more likely they are to trust self-driving cars, says J.D. Power’s annual U.S. Tech Choice Study.
Chew on these numbers: About 59 per cent of Generation Y (born 1977-1994) say they would likely be interested in fully autonomous cars. Meanwhile, 41 per cent in Generation X (born from 1965-76) express likely interest, along with 23 per cent of Baby Boomers (born from 1946-64) and 18 percent of the pre-boomer generation (born before 1946). Overall, about a third of all drivers expressed an interest in self-driving technology.
2011 MX-5 Miata. It’s future is imperiled because fewer and fewer young people want to drive at al. J.D. Power reports that 59 per cent of Generation Y (born 1977-1994) say they would likely be interested in fully autonomous cars.
No wonder autonomous cars are under development by automakers and tech companies including General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Google, Apple and Daimler. Cars that drive themselves are seen by proponents as a way to make driving safer and more convenient, though Power said the results of its latest survey show companies have a long way to go to gain older drivers’ trust.
The evidence is very clear: the joy of driving is becoming an idea and a pleasure as anachronistic as a long-playing 331⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record. Yes, LPs are making something of a comeback, but they’ll never again be mainstream. I suspect that in two decades or less, cars that can be driven only by a human – cars lacking autonomous technology – will be the LPs of our highways. They will be decidedly non-mainstream.
Yet Mazda unabashedly keeps pushing this idea that driving is a very personal and valuable experience. It is the essence of the Mazda brand, says CEO Masamichi Kogai. The MX-5 Miata offers “customers the joy of driving,” and as such, it “has become a symbol of our brand.”
Mazda has long invested its future in this idea that a big chunk of people will always love to climb behind the wheel and just go. Mazda believes there is profitable place for a car company able to find and tap a love of driving – in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary.
Perhaps there is a place in this world for a car company with such a brave business plan. Many of us still love to dance with a good car on an interesting road.
So Mazda, on behalf of all of us, I hope that in another quarter century, you will have produced two million MX-5 Miatas. But I am not betting on it.
About the Author / Jeremy Cato
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