Newly Born Baby Boomers: What Cars Will They Buy?
March 20, 2009
By Michelle Krebs
When he was Toyota's top American executive, Jim Press often cited his visits to the hospital nursery to support his prediction that U.S. motor vehicle sales would hit 20 million units a year.
"What I see in each of those baskets is 20 purchase cycles," Press, now president of Chrysler, would say of the rows of babies -- future car buyers -- in cribs.
Press no longer predicts 20 million vehicle sales; instead he sees 14 million at best for the near future. Nevertheless the hospital nurseries are jampacked with a record number of new babies.
Just this week, the National Center for Health Statistics, reported that more babies were born in the U.S. in 2007 than in any other year in American history. The 4,317,000 births in 2007 just edged out the figure for 1957, at the height of the baby boom, the center's preliminary data shows.
Experts are scrutinizing the data, slicing and dicing it every which way they can. For those in the auto industry, it causes wonder as to whether Press' forecast of 20 million vehicle sales will come true. And what will all of these newly born future drivers buy in the way of motor vehicles.
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:04 AM under Chrysler , Commentary , News , Personalities , Toyota | Comments (0) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
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