????2002年，日本汽車廠商本田汽車（Honda）推出了一款名叫“Element”的箱型SUV，希望能吸引二十來歲喜歡戶外運動的年輕人。這輛車后座上方有個天窗，是專門用來裝沖浪板的。后備箱非常寬敞，足夠放下山地自行車。

????但不管本田怎么努力想抓住年輕車主，結果都無濟于事。相反，Element很快在40多歲、50多歲乃至60多歲的嬰兒潮一代中迅速走紅。對本田來說這當然不是壞事，能賣出產品固然好，只是這種情況使美國汽車業面臨的一個更大、也更嚴峻的困境凸顯了出來：怎么才能把車賣給千禧一代呢？

????汽車廠商和多數消費品公司一樣，也喜歡設法盡早吸引年輕人。它會幫助年輕人建立品牌忠誠度——也就是說，如果你買的第一輛車是本田，那你可能今后一輩子都喜歡買本田。不過現在要想做到這一點變得越來越困難了。并不是說年輕人不買車了——有研究表明，他們只是會推遲了購買而已。這些情況都讓人難免擔心，汽車廠商現在對千禧一代投入這么大精力到底是不是值得？

????早就有報道稱，大蕭條讓年輕人債務累累、找不到工作，使他們不太可能買包括汽車在內的成年人專屬用品。專業汽車行業網站Edmunds.com稱，去年55歲及以上的購車者占全部新車銷售對象的比例超過40%，比2008年的33%上升了不少。年紀較大的購車者一直就是汽車銷售對象的主力軍，但買車的年輕人卻更少了。去年，18-34歲的購車者僅占新車購買人數的12%，比五年前的14%略有下降。

????面對這種情況，汽車廠商已通過創新營銷方式來積極應對。比如道奇（Dodge）和現代汽車（Hyundai）就推出了“眾籌”項目，旨在幫購車人從親戚朋友那里籌集資金來支付首付。這種做法可能有助于提振一點銷量，但有研究表明，現在汽車廠商面臨的困難遠遠超過大蕭條的后續影響。

????并不僅僅是因為汽車對囊中羞澀的年輕人來說顯得更加昂貴了，還因為開車已經不像以前那么酷了。

????上周三，密歇根大學（University of Michigan）發布的一項最新研究指出，不開車的年輕人中超過三分之一表示，他們太忙了，沒時間考駕照，超過五分之一甚至根本就沒打算學開車。

????一項針對618位沒有駕照的40歲以下人群所作的調研中，密歇根大學交通研究所（Transportation Research Institute）再次證明了2010年一項調研的結論，即開車的魅力一直都在減退。受訪對象中，37%的人表示自己太忙或沒時間考駕照；32%的人表示擁有、保養汽車太貴，31%的人則可以通過拼車的方式解決交通問題。

????有一些其他因素有助于說明這種趨勢背后的原因：一些大城市正在推廣自行車共用項目；這項研究稱，很多年輕人離開了郊區，前往有公共交通的城區。

????不過更讓人震驚的是，互聯網可能也已讓開車成了負擔，而不再是便利。如果能在家里工作，干嘛還開車上班呢；如果什么都能在網上買，干嘛還開車去購物中心呢？

????密歇根大學這份研究報告的三位作者之一、布蘭登?舒勒特表示：“在開車的問題上已出現了一種文化轉變?！?/p>

????When Japanese carmaker Honda launched a boxy SUV called the Element in 2002, it hoped to draw outdoorsy twenty something buyers. The vehicle sported a sunroof in the backseat -- room for your surfboard. The trunk was plenty spacious, big enough to haul your mountain bike.

????However Honda (HMC) may have tried to hook in young drivers, the company learned it wasn't working; the Element quickly became a hit with baby boomers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. This wasn't exactly bad news for Honda. A sale is a sale, after all, but the outcome highlights a bigger -- and growing -- dilemma for the broader U.S. auto industry: How to sell to millennials?

????Like most consumer companies, automakers like to appeal to young people early on. It helps them build brand loyalty -- the idea that if your first car was, say, a Honda, so might your last. That job, however, is becoming increasingly difficult. It's not that young adults aren't buying cars -- studies suggest they could just be delaying the purchase. All this makes it hard not to wonder if all the attention automakers pay to millennials is even worth it.

????It has been widely reported that the Great Recession has hobbled young people in debt and joblessness, making them less likely to buy some of the staples of adulthood, including cars. Last year, buyers 55 and older accounted for more than 40% of all new car sales, up from 33% in 2008, according to Edmunds.com, an online auto industry information provider. Older drivers have long dominated sales, but fewer young people are buying cars. Last year, 18- to 34-year-olds represented only 12% of new car purchases, down from 14% five years ago.

????Carmakers have responded in innovative ways. Dodge and Hyundai have launched crowdfunding programs geared to help buyers round up contributions from friends and family toward down payments. The effort might help generate some more sales, but studies suggest the challenges automakers face go well beyond the residual effects of the Great Recession.

????It's not just that cars have become less affordable for cash-strapped young adults, it's also that, well, driving simply doesn't seem as cool as it once was.

????More than a third of young adults who don't drive say they are too busy to get a driver's license, and more than a fifth don't plan to ever learn to drive, according to a new study released Wednesday by the University of Michigan.

????In a survey of 618 adults under 40 years old who don't have a driver's license, the university's Transportation Research Institute reaffirmed a 2010 study and found that the allure of driving has continued to fade. Of those surveyed, 37% say they are too busy or do not have enough time to get a driver's license; 32% say that owning and maintaining a vehicle is too expensive and 31% are able to catch a ride with others.

????A few other factors explain the trend: There's the growth of bike share programs in some major cities; many young adults have ditched the suburbs for urban areas with public transportation, according to the survey.

????What's perhaps most striking, however, is that the Internet may have also made driving more of a hassle than a convenience. Why drive to work when you can work remotely from home; why drive to shopping centers when you can order virtually anything online?

????"There's been a cultural shift," says Brandon Schoettle, one of three authors of the University of Michigan study.