News & Views

Over the past couple of years, we've heard a lot about decreased mobility (i.e. people working from home with their car spending more time sitting in the garage. Various data sources support this, demonstrating that overall levels of movement have been down through the pandemic, with more localised activities (e.g. trips to neighbourhood parks) becoming more common. 

With End Of Financial Year sales under way, many small business owners are considering bringing forward purchases to take advantage of instant asset write-offs. Given this increased level of activity, we thought now would be a good time to take a look at sales trends within the commercial van market.

From the VCR in 1970 to the Oculus Rift in 2013, the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas has been at the forefront of tech trends.

Every year, around 170,000 people flock to see the new gadgets and concepts that have been dreamed up by over 4,000 exhibiting companies. Although CES originally focused on home appliances and computers, recent years have seen the increasing emergence of vehicles and vehicle tech in the show.

The lesson of Nokia 

“We didn't do anything wrong, but somehow, we lost.”

-Nokia CEO Stephen Elop

Before Apple’s iPhone came along and spoiled the party, Nokia reigned supreme. The Finnish phone maker began taking over the mobile phone world in the late 1990s and peaked with sales of over USD$51 billion in 2007. 

Younger Americans tend to be comfortable relying on ride services and foregoing car ownership. BeyondDC, CC BY-NC-ND

Every day there’s more news about the inevitable arrival of autonomous vehicles. At the same time, more people are using ride-hailing and ride-sharing apps, and the percentage of teens getting their driver’s license continues to decline.

Given these technologies and social changes, it’s worth asking: Should Americans stop owning cars?