‘No One Wants a New Car Now.’ WSJ Columnist Offers His Take on Why

NEW YORK–That new car smell isn’t quite the intoxicating perfume it has been for a long time, according to one automotive analyst.

Under the headline, “No One Wants a New Car Now. Here’s Why,” the Wall Street Journal’s well-regarded automotive columnist, Dan Neal, observed that “America’s fleet of cars and trucks is also getting long in the tooth.”

Neal’s reference was to a study by S&P Global Mobility that found the average age of vehicles in the U.S. is now 12.6 years, up more than 14 months since 2014, with the average age of passenger cars hitting14 years.

All-Time High Burden

“In the past, the average-age statistic was taken as a sign of transportation’s burden on household budgets,” Neal wrote. “Those burdens remain near all-time highs. The average transaction price of a new vehicle is currently hovering around $47,000. While inflation and interest rates are backing away from recent highs, insurance premiums have soared by double digits in the past year.”

Neal added that many buyers are “now surfing on waves of vehicle depreciation, picking up used and off-lease cars and trucks still under warranty for thousands less than new. That’s smart. Your Dutch uncle approves.”

A ‘Stranger Element’

But now what Neal called a “stranger element” has begun to show up in the numbers, “a motivated belief among consumers that automakers’ latest and greatest offerings—whether powered by gasoline, batteries or a hybrid system—are inferior to the products they are replacing.”

Neal suggested other factors are at work, including fear by some that new, digitally connected vehicles could expose their personal information, dislike stop/start cycling systems that shut off engines to save fuel when vehicles are stationary, and continuously variable transmissions.

‘Touch-Screens Suck’

“Others are just trying to hang on to the good things they’ve got, like three-pedal stick-shifted manual transmissions, virtually extinct in new cars. Or built-in CD players,” Neal stated. “What unites them is the conviction that older cars are not just cheaper, but better—and that touch screens suck.”

Neal said he posed a question on social media: “Name a new car/truck/SUV that is not as desirable as the design it replaces?” The top replies included Toyota Land Cruiser, Mini Cooper, Ford Mustang; Toyota Crown (née Avalon), Ford F-150, and just about every model of BMW.