Japan: Here, Kid, Take The Wheel notes that Japan’s car-makers are facing a demographic crisis, because there are fewer and fewer young people to buy cars:
People over 65 now account for more than 20% of the population, vs. 15% in 1997. Meanwhile, the share of those aged 20-29 will likely fall below 12% this year, compared with 15% a decade ago. That means some 4 million people of prime auto-buying age have been replaced by pensioners, who are less likely to buy cars—and, as they get older, less able to drive them.
The young generation also sees cars as an expensive waste rather than a sign of success, so car-makers are trying hard to excite them:
Toyota Motor Corp. says it’s trying to create cars that give customers more wakuwaku, or excitement (see BusinessWeek.com, 6/7/07, “Toyota, Take the Wheel”). Toyota’s latest Prius ads feature cartoon characters originally drawn by Osamu Tezuka, the father of anime. Nissan, meanwhile, has gone into the music business, and in January formed its own record label with Warner Music Group Corp. Winding Road, a song featured in a Nissan ad, has been downloaded 2 million times and is on a compilation CD that has sold 400,000 copies. And in June, Nissan launched a model, the Dualis, with a spot showing the vehicle transforming into an animated robot to leap over traffic.Young women have become a prime target for the carmakers. In January, Nissan began selling a kawaii — or “cute” — version of its Pino minicar, featuring hubcaps shaped like snowflakes and an owner’s manual drawn in a manga style. And Hello Kitty is now a “Happy Drive Ambassador” for Mitsubishi Motor Corp. The character makes cameo appearances in ads, and last summer Mitsubishi sold a $17,000 limited-edition “Princess Kitty” version of the i minicar that featured Hello Kitty-shaped headrests.