“The Demographic Threat to Detroit’s Automakers,”

The future of Detroit ’ s automakers, even if they survive the current recession, looks grim. Cohort analysis of 24 years of US consumer household data suggests that the younger the head of the household, the more likely it is that the household automotive fl eet includes foreign automakers ’ vehicles. Furthermore, preferences for foreign vehicles increase slightly as heads of households age. A regression model confi rms and extends this fi nding. The risk to Detroit automakers is that their US customer base is dying out.