For the automaker, the question isn’t what drives millennials — it’s what millennials drive. This generation has given a collective shrug to car ownership, and luxury carmakers like Mercedes have been in the particularly unenviable position of trying to sell a product that young adults don’t want and — thanks to their disproportionate joblessness during and after the recession — can’t afford anyway. “Owning a car is thought to be very stupid by Generation Y and they are moving from car ownership to renting,” an automotive analyst told the Detroit News. So at this year’s Super Bowl, Mercedes recruited model Kate Upton to help change their minds when it announced a new lineup of lower-priced cars. The CLA class goes on sale this fall, with a sleep appearance and a sticker price starting at around $30,000. Kelley Blue Book says the company hopes to “strike a resonant chord with individuals who never before even wanted to drive one of its cars.”
Millennials Wanted: 10 Classic Brands Being Tweaked to Appeal to Young Consumers
With a nip here and a tuck there, Madison Avenue is putting new faces on old brands that young shoppers tend to disdain as, well, just too old-fashioned.