Auto journalists and enthusiasts love buying latest cars, but most people isn’t as hyped concerning the process. A recent study from S&P Global Mobility found that the typical age of vehicles on U.S. roads has continued increasing, reaching 12.6 years in 2024.
That figure, which applies to cars and light-weight trucks, grew two months from 2023’s study. That increase has presented a chief business opportunity for aftermarket parts and repair providers. S&P Global Mobility’s aftermarket practice lead, Todd Campau, said, “With average age growth, more vehicles are entering the prime range for aftermarket service, typically from six to 14 years of age. With greater than 110 million vehicles in that sweet spot – reflecting nearly 38 percent of the fleet on the road – we expect continued growth in the amount of vehicles in that age range to rise to an estimated 40 percent through 2028.”
Owners holding onto their cars means fewer are heading to scrapyards, though the variety of scrapped vehicles has not increased since last 12 months. That said, two cars are scrapped for each latest passenger automobile registration, adding as much as 27 million vehicles leaving the roads since 2020 with just around 13 million latest ones registered.
Even with the pace of scrapping, the variety of vehicles on our roads has grown significantly since last 12 months. As of January, there have been 286 million vehicles in service, two million greater than last 12 months. The variety of vehicles aged six years or less fell from 98 million in 2019 to 90 million in 2024, driven partly by pandemic-related shortages and provide chain issues.
At the identical time, the variety of EVs in service continues to grow, despite some prognosticators’ view that the sky is falling. There have been 3.2 million EVs in operation originally of this 12 months, a rise of greater than 50 percent since 2022. That said, S&P noted that the three.5-year average age of EVs on the roads could increase within the near term as adoption slows.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
