Auto Trends for 2019 & Beyond

There are some new trends in the auto industry that may shape the future of the industry. These potential inclinations could change how cars are made, sold and used over the next 5 to 10 years.

Vehicle Sharing

With services like Lyft and Uber, ridesharing is already becoming pretty common, but car-sharing is breaking into the market is well. This can work a few ways. You can essentially “rent” someone else’s car to drive, or there would be fleet services that have cars standing at the ready for local use. It would be like a version of Hertz for a quick trip to the grocery store and back.

These services are expected to be mostly utilized in urban areas, especially big cities like New York and Chicago, where most people utilize public transit rather than owning a vehicle. Customers would pay by the minute or by the mile. These services could vastly impact how vehicles are used and how often they would need replaced.

Autonomy

It started with Ford’s park-assist. Now we have blind-spot detection, lane assist, adaptive cruise control - the list goes on. All of this is moving toward completely autonomous cars. This means you would enter your destination, get in your car, and the car would just take you there.

While some safety experts think this sounds great, most people surveyed aren’t all that interested in autonomous vehicles. Not to mention, some of the scary accidents that have resulted from autonomous cars that would deter customers. Fully autonomous vehicles are a ways off but not too far away.

It’s Electric!

No surprise – electric cars will become increasingly popular, especially as younger, more earth conscious buyers hit the market. As battery technology gets more advanced allowing for more efficient charging and longer ranges, more people will be interested in the technology.  EV prices are pretty high. As used electric cars hit the market and technology changes, EV will become attainable for more buyers.

These projections could change with the times, but as of today, they seem pretty accurate. The future is electric, automated and cooperative.