Thanks to the economy and other factors, Americans are holding onto their cars for and average of 10.8 years, up from 8.4 years in 1996. What does this mean in terms of individual cars? 10 million fewer cars sold between 2008 and 2011. Toyota among other automakers sees this as stored energy in the car market: “The economy, unemployment are still going to be stubborn, but there’s so much pent-up demand I think the industry is going to have an awesome year,” said Toyota’s US sales director, Jim Lentz.

According to Polk, a marketing research firm, last year was behind that of the early 2000s, but there was still an increase of ten percent from 2010. If we break this down even further, passenger cars increased to an average life of 11.1 years, up from 11; light trucks and sport utility vehicles increased by three tenths of a year to 10.4.

The vehicle retention is not just the economy though, manufacturers are offering better warranties and according David Cole, emeritus chairperson of the Center for Automotive Research, cars are made better too. Rust proofing among other things is better, and Americans are driving shorter distances than they used to.

- By: Sawyer Sutton

Source: The Detroit News