In spite of having 3 kids, I never succumbed to the pressures of buying a minivan. Often times, while on vacation, I rented them — but I never took the plunge into buying its convenience because of my ardent belief that they were for faggots.
I’ve always purchased large SUVs, eight-seaters, in order to ferry my children to and fro. In NYC, about 30% of residents do not drive — due to lack of parking spots and convenience of the big city rat’s nest.
But with the Amazon-Whole Foods deal, some are beginning to wonder what it might mean for the auto space, specifically the minivan. About 40% of people use their cars, primarily for shopping for food. What will the future look like, once autonomous cars and Amazon drones take over the grocery space.
It probably won’t eliminate the need for minivans and other large vehicles; but at the margins, it will certainly have an effect.
Interestingly, on the day Amazon announced it was acquiring Whole Foods, the auto dealership space was the worst performer. Large vehicles are the highest margins on the lots.
If Jeff Bezos ends up rendering the minivan extinct, it may very well end up being his best accomplishment ever.
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What’s about UPS drivers?
FedEx drivers?
Santa Clause..?
All extinct?
Yes.
Next question.
You heard it here first, Folks. Short the living shit out of UPS..
How about the Muslim birth rate? Won’t their master plan to dominate the planet via each family having “seven sons to rule the seven continents ” keep the minivan in demand? Even though Western “families” are having like 1-2 kids (and 0.8 kid is a faggot) Muslims will more than compensate.
The declining US birth rate is killing the minivan, not Bezos.
US birthrate isn’t too bad, thanks to illegal Mexicans.
And you should see how they chrome those babies out. lol
This theory would only hold true if grocery getting were the only activity said automotive genre’ is used for. As it stands, MV’s are used and appreciated by a much larger spectrum of buyers than soccer mom’s alone Even the geriatric set values the utility, excellent ingress egress, cargo and grandkid capacity of MV’s They are also immanently useful for the same purpose as the original “sin den” vans of the 60’s and early 70’s.
That being the case…I’m calling the premise posited by the CNBC talking head, horseshit. Road apples in other words.
Concur. Kids still gotta get to soccer practice. I know a few tradesmen that downsized to minivans. That being said, I would not be caught dead driving one.
I think the idea is more to keep people pinned up in their houses and using their devices and become hermits that the NSA can spy on while jerking off to their screens. Full circle.
Full circle jerk.
I think its up to how the millennial generation evolves, and the generation that follows them.
Who knows what kind of world they will eventually settle into and choose; as the market that drives the economy.
I can’t get over the mindset of renting instead of ownership. I think that community is in for a hard fall eventually. But then again, I’m old.
About the SUV…. I heard someone say “I want physics on my side”
Living in a place where you don’t have to drive is true liberation I wouldn’t have it any other way for my family. Suburbs suck ass.
Are you serious?
Your contentment with a tiny little world all wrapped around you does seem to somehow fit the mindset though.
Tiny world for tiny minds.
Americans eat too much food anyway. Fat fuckers. Maybe the solution to our nation’s horrific obesity problem is to mandate that fatsos must drive a Fiat 500 or Mini Cooper. Too fat to get into your car? Then walk to work lardass and burn some calories. Europeans drive small cars and don’t look like Wal-Mart shoppers.
The main reason for that is Euro’s still know how to properly eat a meal and what a true meal consists of.
Hint: not fast food…
Two comments in a row showing how far the individualist mindset pendulum has supposedly swang to dependency and regulation, broad stroked for the entire country.
Wagons are pretty legit though. I’d get a wagon over a minivan
People already moved to SUVs. Look at Porsche, Jaguar, etc trying to cash in now. We got rid of our minivan and got a SUV with a third row.
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I always fantasied having heat seeking Sparrow missiles on my car so I could launch them and hit those damn Caravans!
Not to play devil’s advocate but before worrying about the future of groceries wouldn’t it be great if Amazon made some money? Squeezing margins can’t work forever unless you plan to enslave people to build your products (viable business strategy, look at Apple, Nike… etc) which maybe harder to pull of with agricultural products.