(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
I didn’t expect to read an uplifting story from the big auto show going on in Detroit this month.
Fortune Magazine editor Alex Taylor spoke with an executive from Nissan who says that worldwide, people are losing interest in cars.
Here’s a snip from the story:
“He notes that consumers in Japan are losing their mojo when it comes to cars. The population is aging, and younger drivers would rather spend their money on new cellphones and Internet access.
‘Japan is increasingly not interested in new cars,’ he says.
…As car ownership becomes more expensive and cities increasingly impose congestion pricing on car usage in center cities, he sees car owners switching to mass transit for their daily commute, and then renting cars for longer trips.
‘The U.S. is headed that way,’ he says. ‘The challenge for us, going forward, is a more interesting offer. Doing a better Sentra or an Altima isn’t going to do it.'”