Expect more tech features and low-emissions cars as demographics change
As Gen Z makes up more of the car-buyer market, manufacturers will likely cater more to their tastes. Massive SUVs and pickups have fallen out of favor with Gen Z, who prize fuel efficiency. Car brands known for their heavy-duty gas-powered vehicles, like Chevrolet and Ford, recently introduced more EVs, including the Chevy Bolt and Ford F-150 Lightning.
But EVs don’t currently rank among the 10 most popular cars for any generation, showing deterrents like too few public charging stations and higher-than-average vehicle costs are still major barriers to EV adoption.
Despite the hype, self-driving cars might not be the next big thing. In an Insurify survey, 28% of Gen Z-ers said they don’t like the idea of giving control of their vehicle over to technology. Another 17% said they’d never buy one because they love driving.
That said, driver assistance technology, like lane-keeping assistance, is almost standard in new vehicles, and those systems will become more sophisticated over time.
New technology doesn’t just benefit young drivers, says Beneke. “Tech is more foreign to [Boomers], but most are willing to embrace any advanced technology features that will increase their comfort and make their driving experience easier.” Assistance features like collision sensors and emergency braking “can help prevent accidents and make driving less stressful for older drivers.”
Car manufacturers aren’t mandated to have side airbags, but nearly every brand includes them to meet federal side protection requirements because they reduce the risk of death in driver-side crashes by 37%, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Drivers could see a similar reduction in traffic fatalities as automakers introduce smarter features.
Methodology
Insurify analyzed the rate of car ownership per generation by brand and by model from more than 4.5 million customer applications made in the Insurify database between Jan. 1, 2023, and Jan. 31, 2024, in the United States.
Insurify followed the Pew Research Center’s definition to categorize four generations according to their year of birth:
Baby boomers: 1946–1964
Generation X: 1965–1980
Millennials: 1981–1996
Generation Z: 1997–2012
Our data science team ranked the popular makes and models by generation, both nationally and by U.S. state. Insurify also isolated the car model with the most uniquely popular ownership per generation, based on a model having the highest rate of ownership among a generation vs. the national average for that model.Visit Insurify’s Auto Insurance Data Center to view or download more car insurance data.