EuroWire March 2015

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Transatlantic cable
March 2015 42
And nearly three-quarters would expect to be more productive
if their agency were to provide technology that improves data
access. When asked to name the three tools that would have
the ‘greatest impact to improve workplace performance,’ nearly
67 per cent of the respondents put remote access to work
systems in rst place. That was followed by an agency-issued
smartphone, which got the vote of about 65 per cent of the
respondents. And about 39 per cent said agency-provided
online sharing tools would help improve collaboration.
Additionally, about 20 per cent of respondents said
that personally owned smartphones and agency-issued
tablets would help improve their work e ciency. Among
recommendations regarding workforce training, recruiting
and retention, the ICF report said that a blended approach to
technology-related training should mix classroom with online
courses, mobile learning, and on-the-job training. The survey
was conducted between 28th August and 26th September 2014.
Out of the nearly 9,000 federal workers who received the survey,
510 responded for a response rate of 5.7 per cent. The overall
margin of error was ±4.2 percentage points.
Automotive
American Millennials deliver a surprise:
they may be keener on car ownership and
driving than automakers tend to believe
“Our main point is that Baby Boomers have the nancial power
to drive more sales, but there is a tremendous opportunity
to work with Millennials and the industry needs to do better
at reaching them.” Berj Kazanjian, vice president for ad sales
research at MTV, was responding to the results of a survey
conducted by the New York-based cable and satellite network
in the spring of 2014 and published this January. The responses
collected from 3,600 Millennials [aged 18-34], about 400
Generation Xers [aged 35-49], and 400 Baby Boomers [aged
50-68] challenge some entrenched convictions about the
preferences of the youngest cohort of the American spending
public.
In ndings that would puzzle Traditionals [those born
before 1946] but are dense with meaning in the year 2015,
MTV reported that – rather than relinquish their cars – 75
per cent of Millennials would give up social media for a
day and 72 per cent would give up texting for a week. In
an interview with Detroit Free Press business writer Greg
Gardner at the annual convention of the National Automobile
Dealers Association (San Francisco, 22nd-25th January),
Mr Kazanjian cited this as proof that Millennials are more
interested in driving and buying cars than much other research
has led automakers to believe. And he believes that the auto
industry ignores the MTV results at its peril.
“This is the rst generation in history that can literally kill a brand
with the push of a button,” said Mr Kazanjian. His message to
automakers, dealers and advertisers: they need to speak to the
Millennials’ transportation needs and respect their easy access to
comparative pricing information. (“MTV: Millennials Want Their
Cars, SUVs, Pickup Trucks,” 26 th January)
† Mr Gardner of the Free Press noted that the contrary view of
Millennials – that they can take cars or leave them – is held
by a great many respected analysts and observers. Only in
October the US Public Interest Research Group released a
study showing that the generation born after 1980 is less
focused than older Americans on owning cars and trucks.
Mr Kazanjian explained the variance between the MTV
ndings and those of other recent studies in terms of the
age spread within the Millennials. The youngest of them
may indeed have to content themselves with bicycles rather
than cars. But the oldest are now in their early 30s and, as the
American economy improves, they are earning more than
they did in the immediate wake of the recent recession.
† Mr Kazanjian believes that the spending choices of these
Millennials should be of intense concern to the automobile
industry. “This generation is almost 100 million strong,”
he told Mr Gardner. “They have close to a trillion dollars in
buying power. It’s not something to sneeze at. [And] there
are signi cantly more of them than Gen Xers.”
Elsewhere in automotive . . .
† CEO Mark Fields of Ford Motor Co told the Detroit Free Press
(29th January) that his company had overcome most of the
obstacles to the launch of its 2015 F-150.
Analysts estimate that the F-Series line accounts for as much
as 90 per cent of Ford’s automotive pro ts, explaining the
company’s decision to shut down its Dearborn (Michigan)
and Kansas City (Missouri) plants for 13 weeks last year in
preparation for building the new-model F-150. As noted
by auto/business reporter Alisa Priddle, the production
intermission “cost the automaker 90,000 pickups.”
In his Free Press interview Mr Fields also took issue with
Edmunds.com over its report of having received a high repair
estimate on an F-150 purchased for purposes of comparison
with a steel-bodied truck. The Ford CEO said the shop
chosen by the automotive website was not among the 750
dealerships certi ed by the company for work on the 2015
model, and that the repair time estimate was double what it
ought to be.
† Nissan said on 26th January that it would sponsor about
1,000 high-speed charging stations for electric vehicles
in the USA by April 2016. High-speed chargers can ll up a
vehicle’s battery in roughly 20 to 30 minutes. The Japanese
automaker already has charging stations in 13 metro
areas including San Francisco, Dallas and Washington, and
plans to expand that coverage to 25 cities by the end of
the year. The construction and operation of many of the
new locations will be assigned to third-party networks
like NRG eVgo. Days earlier, German automakers BMW and
Volkswagen had announced that they would be teaming
up with ChargePoint to develop an American network
of fast-charging stations for electric and plug-in hybrid
vehicles. By the end of 2015, the trio of companies plans to
have opened almost 100 ChargePoint ports along heavily
tra cked corridors on the East andWest Coasts.
Only about 120,000 vehicles that require a plug-in electric
charge were sold in the United States last year, an increase of
20 per cent over 2013 but a tiny fraction of the 16.5 million
vehicles sold overall. Analysts say the sudden urgency to
install high-speed charging stations across the USA re ects
an acknowledgment by the makers of electric-powered
vehicles of a mistake they made ve years ago. When
mass-marketing commenced, American consumers were
expected to charge their cars at home for use over typically
modest distances. But it has become apparent that the
constraint on mobility is strongly resented, irrespective of
driving habits. The phenomenon is known as ‘range anxiety.’
If it can be eased by the new charging stations, this might
mean the breakthrough for electric cars that has proved
elusive to this point.