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Strategically this gets really obvious when you look at the financial model. A rapidly depreciating asset that has utilization of <10% is kind of insane, but Am
by sulam 9y ago
Strategically this gets really obvious when you look at the financial model. A rapidly depreciating asset that has utilization of <10% is kind of insane, but Americans have managed to pull it off. Many families even have 2 of them! You need wide open spaces, no public transit, and cheap power for them to even be financially feasible/desirable, and the automotive industry has had to work really hard to kill public transit, the country has had to go to war several times for cheap power, and as people migrate from rural to urban settings the wide open spaces have been replaced with commutes from hell.
Cars are probably going the way of planes in the future -- hobbyists will operate them, wealthy people will have luxury models, and most people will just buy time in one. Self-driving technology is the nail in the coffin but it's probably happening without that.
- bkeroack 9y agoInsane for whom? Regardless of rate of depreciation it's still an asset. The relentless drive to push everything to rental transfers value from individuals (as equity) to industry/corporations in the form of operating profit. There's a reason why much of the economy is moving this way and it isn't beneficial to the vast majority of us.