Have we reached the time of "Peak Car".

As long as there are vast rural areas that need to be crossed, there will always be cars. They may be dramatically different in 20 years than they are now, but there will always be cars.

I UBER LURVE MY MUSTANG!!!!!!

That should be enough to make up for all the heretics. lol

But seriously, I think it may have to do with a growing concern with the enviroment, plus the gas price. But as @WestRiverrat said, we’ll need them as long as we need to cross distances of significant mileage.

We have long since gone past the day when any car made will be worth remembering. They all are pretty much the same, some with more features. If there is a need to go from place to place there will always be cars, or whatever a wheeled vehicle will be called.

I live in America and have been in the retail car business for a decade, I might be biased but I can’t imagine Americans falling out of love with the car anytime soon. Before “Sex, Drug and Rock & Roll”, there were Hamburgers, Coca Cola and cars.

Not here on the west coast.

I’ll never leave driving unless I have to, although I totally understand why this is happening. If I moved closer to the city, I wouldn’t need a car. And car insurance in NJ is way higher than most places.

Maybe in parts of the U. S. – New Yorkers have been without cars for decades. When my husband was growing up there, only one member of their extended family had a car, which was shared among the rest. Otherwise, they used public transport.

Here in California, it’s practically unthinkable.

Thank you for the article. In my area of the US, I’ve seen a very slight shift. When the recession hit, there started to be less talk about purchasing a new car. A handful of people started car-pooling for the first time. Several purchased a motorcycle in lieu of a car. Within the company I worked for, there were more people being allowed to work from home, but it depended upon what their responsibilities were.

Despite these small efforts, as several above have mentioned, vehicles are still in much demand in many parts of the US. It is the only viable form of transportation unless we all move to a location within walking distance of a job or where public transportation is offered. The costs saved by giving up a personal vehicle would not be offset by moving for at least a few years. Gas prices have been on the rise, but they are still much cheaper than in many other countries.

The UK is a different story. The government has made some efforts to encourage using public transportation, which in my opinion, is pretty darn good. Groceries can be ordered online, and there is typically a local convenience shop within a short walking distance. With the amount that they pay in petrol and other expenses for owning a car, it’s a bit surprising that more people haven’t given up owning a car sooner.

If the west means “only Los Angeles,” then maybe. But most of California is alot more rural, and you NEED a car b/c there are vast expanses of land that need to be crossed to get ANYWHERE. And there is no public transportation that’s good enough to actually be worth a damn.

And most of the country is like that. I live in South Florida, the 4th highest populated state in the country, and you can’t get anywhere without traveling at least 15 miles. While 15 miles may not seem like alot, it would take you 1.5 hours in a bus each way, and most places (again) don’t even have the public transit near where it would need to be!

I was talking with a friend just yesterday about this topic. Her daughter is (reluctantly) learning to drive and my son will soon be driving age but just doesn’t seem particularly interested in driving.

Heck, when I was growing up driving was a right of passage, you were down at the DMV on the morning of your 16th birthday to get that long awaited prize. These days many kids seem to be pretty ambivalent about the whole driving thing.

I don’t see any sign of the decline. And I’m no enthusiast, I bike more miles than I drive in the summer. In the winter I prefer the train where I can read the paper on the way to work.

I think it will only happen if if gas becomes a lot more expensive, like $10/gallon.

People love being able to get on or into a vehicle and take off to no where in particular. Particularly Americans. Until that spirit is crushed by the government or a ruined economy (maybe the same thing), there will always be people wanting cars. Cool cars at that.

I have trouble walking. I’d have to rely on the kindness of others to get anywhere and I’d hate that. I’d be one unhappy hermit without my car.

Every time I see this question I read Pear Cat

We like to drive around and just enjoy scenery. I don’t think that desire will ever die out for us.

We live in a ‘burb. However, when we go to a city for fun, we use our feet, public transport or a cab.

Me too @faye !
I live in small rural town and need a car for necessities and to explore other places for leisure. I hope my old car keeps running for a lot longer.

Like the stagecoach the car will simply get replaced with something better… like a flying car.

@talljasperman , My dad was saying that 50 years ago. No flying car yet!

@Judi

Actually, there are a couple.

There is the Terrafugia and the Skycar.

@talljasperman Actually some “smart” cities are looking into trying rent-able cars

@SpatzieLover – Austin has something similar with Cars2go

I see quite a few of them around town.

@YoBob , I guess I was talking “practical.” If you’re going to buy one of those, you might as well keep a volkswagen and buy one of these. or one of these .

Practically speaking I think electric or hybrids will take off before we even look into the possibility of “flying” ;)

@Judi actualy a flying car is called a airplane…you just need to perfect the taxing capabilities… or you can say a helicopter is a flying car… but anyway the “Discovery Channel” says that the flying car has all ready been invented by some guy in the United States…and that it just needs to be perfected.

Actually some “smart” cities are looking into trying rent-able cars

We have two car sharing companies in town. I-Go is a local non-profit. Zipcar is a private company with cars in 50 cities in the US, Canada and the UK.

They have normal cars, from Mini Coopers to pickup trucks. You rent by the hour. Insurance and gas are included. Cars are parked all over the city, and you make reservations over the Internet. You have a smartcard, and it unlocks the car if you have a reservation.

Rates vary by day and time, and are highest on the weekend.

It’s cost effective for running errands. You have to make a round trip – the car has to be returned to its own parking spot.

It’s only suitable in dense areas where lots of people don’t need a car every day. But where it works, it works very well

In our area cars are more or less a necessity. Public transportation is sufficient but it limits convenience significantly (though we and others have lobbied for defined improvements). However many people we know are one-car households where their parents would have likely been, or are, two-car households. Additionally economics has played a clear role in our social group. We know several people who have traded to hybrids, sold their second vehicle, purchased a less expensive model than their previous car, or in more than a couple cases changed employment/arranged to work from home or moved downtown and forgone cars altogether.

Specifically to us we’ll probably always have a car or, more likely, a truck because of the convenience and our “local” travel style. But like some of our friends, if we moved into the city it would be hard to justify owning a car and would be significantly cheaper just to rent as needed.

As far as the US, I’ll believe we’ve reached the peak when the same declining trends are evident in a booming economy. As far as the world, urbanization can cause a real drag, particularly when urban areas are poorly planned/maintained, but I’d say car sales/ownership are likely to increase as china, india, africa, brazil become richer. I don’t know enough about the ratios and percentages to say if it will be a net increase or not but hopefully they will decide with an approach of greater moderation and less “status symbol”.