Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) sales are up, and one unlikely demographic is driving this trend: millennials. According to a survey from Ford, older millennials actually prefer medium and large SUVs over smaller vehicles like compact and mid-sized sedans.
The mainstream media constantly boasts that millennials are greener than Kermit the Frog, backing up their claims with university polls. One UT Austin poll, for example, estimated that 91 percent of those under age 35 say climate change is occurring. Another poll from the Harvard Institute of Politics found that three in four millennials believe global warming is fact. Some have even speculated that environmental issues have pushed millennials to become politically active against President Donald Trump.
Despite these claims, millennials are always more complicated than the mainstream media makes them out to be. The millennial American Dream was delayed by the slow economic recovery under the Obama administration, and now they want their piece of the pie.
After suffering through years of lackluster opportunities and college debt, older millennials are finally starting to settle down, get married, and make some babies. With these important milestones come a heavy dose of reality — chaotic city life and small cars are no good for growing families.
As such, millennials are beginning to ditch cities and Civics for suburbs and SUVs. Sure, in theory, energy efficient cars sound like a good idea, but compacts don’t exactly have much wiggle room or storage space when the family starts to multiply. Family decisions ultimately hold more weight over any climate scientist’s dramatic (and often-changing) predictions.
Ford is reporting an 11 percent uptick in large SUV sales and a nine percent rise in midsize SUV sales this year. This number is expected to grow even more over the next few years. According to a forecast by researcher LMC Automotive, sales of large SUVs like the Ford Expedition and Chevrolet Tahoe will jump 25 percent between now and 2022, and sales of midsize SUVs will grow by 16 percent. Meanwhile, Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co Ltd have reported that sales of sedans have plummeted in the United States, forcing them to quickly manufacture more SUVs and trucks.
“There’s going to be an extra 25 million people passing into and through the 35- to 44-year-old demographic over the next 10 to 15 years,” said Erich Merkle, Ford’s U.S. sales analyst. “That’s going to lead to a gradual increase in the growth of large and midsize SUVs that’s already starting to happen.”
While environmentalists are likely foaming at the mouth over the news, aging millennials have reason to celebrate. Despite all their earlier challenges and setbacks, they have finally arrived.
