July 17, 2025 - US Automakers May be Doomed if they Don't Change Quickly

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for July 17, 2025 and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, Vice President of Market Research for Telemetry.

A new study published by YouGov has some very bad news for the future of American brand automakers and the policy directions from the Trump administration could be the coup de grace for the industry if they don't pivot quickly. 

According to the study, 51% of those that own American brand vehicles are over 55 years old while only 44% of those that own foreign brands fall into this age group. Similarly 25% of those that own non-American brands are in the 18-34 year old group compared to just 18% for American brands. Those that own American brand vehicles also tend to have lower incomes with 38% compared to only 31% for other brands. 

Among the group that owns non-American brands, 51% believe EVs are the future of the industry compared just 39% of those with domestic brands in the garage. 52% of those that own foreign brands think car ownership is too expensive 25% don't want to be tied down with ownership as needs change. The corresponding numbers are 44% and 19% for American brand owners. 

The trend is overwhelmingly negative for the American brands and likely to get much worse quickly if these automakers don't change course. GM, Ford and Stellantis were among the first to abandon smaller, lower-cost vehicles to focus on larger, higher-margin SUVs and trucks, but that market is saturated, and younger buyers seem less interested in adopting those. If the domestic brands follow the lead of the Trump administration and abandon efforts to produce cleaner and more affordable vehicles in favor of bigger, thirstier vehicles, they may get a short-term boost, but will ultimately lose the market to other brands that move forward. There is also no demand for these vehicles outside of US borders, a problem that is further exacerbated by growing antipathy to US companies due to current US foreign policy. 

If the US-based automakers want to remain relevant beyond the next decade, they need to move now to create the sort of products that younger buyers want and that they don't currently offer. 

Thanks for listening.