FUTURE WHEELS:

What kind of car does the next generation really want?

Slow. An “appliance.” Frustrating.

These are among the unkind cuts I heard during a recent test of Toyota’s new Prius c, or which I’ve read in reviews of the little hybrid.

Mea Culpa: In my own write-up I described my impression when I hit the accelerator: “Noise exceeds movement for what seems an eternity.”

But even as I scoffed at the sluggish progress through the hills around Seattle last week, something nagged at me. I thought back to Toyota’s plans for the c — small- est by far of a family that also includes the original hatchback, the crossover v, and a plug-in due this year.

The little car is aimed squarely at Generation Y, a market with “its own unique set of priorities,” said Stephen Beatty, Toyota Canada’s managing director. These are urbanites in their 30s, usually single, who have lengthening daily commutes to work and desire comfort, connectivity and fuel economy. What they apparently don’t demand are large numbers for horsepower and torque.

This got me wondering whether we’re at the start of a major shift in how consumers view cars, and the possible consequences.

For almost as long as cars have been around, manufacturers and buyers have been obsessed with bigger and faster. New models had to have more horsepower and torque than any previous. Genera- tions grew up loving cars, and loving to drive them. I’m part of that. Much as I care about protecting the environment, I’m still influenced by the car-happy culture I grew up in. So after the slow-coach experience of the Prius c, I was happy to be back, even in my aging minivan, with acceleration that, by comparison, felt like blast-off in the space shuttle. But surveys suggest Gen Y and those following it aren’t enthralled by cars or much impressed by speed and acceleration. There could be several reasons: Some reflect environmental concerns; others will simply make it less controversial for governments to impose measures that reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Our world is increasingly urban: Its population of city and suburb dwellers swells by about 1.4 million a week. Social media are increas- ingly dominant. Connectivity toys create far more excitement than those on four wheels. Obviously, younger people are more enmeshed in this changing environment than their elders have been and it affects how they view personal transportation. What’s the point of owning a monster engine when most of your driving is on crowded expressways or stop-and-go streets, and zero-to-100 clockings are meaningless? Arguments in favour of public transit aside, doesn’t it make more sense to be in a vehicle that’s pleasant and linked electronically to your friends, and that burns little or no fuel while constrained by dense traffic or stopped at a light? And isn’t that especially true if the open road doesn’t beckon as it used to? Put all this together and perhaps snorting with derision about the tortoise-like progress of the Prius c just reveals a likeness to dinosaurs. These are, after all, very sophisticated, amenity-laden vehicles. They simply offer a different take on what good performance means.

There are exceptions. Power and size reign supreme among the nouveau millionaires of China and Russia. Here, a few yahoos still race and crash mommy’s Mercedes.

And the expectation persists that “Y” and future generations will grow into the traditional view of cars. Toyota, for example, speaks of the Prius c as a gateway to its more expensive and powerful Camry and Lexus hybrids.

But suppose those snapping up supposedly underpowered vehicles continue to prefer utility over acceleration and speed?

For a start, we’ll need a new yardstick (such a last-century term) for assessing cars, in which “appliance” is no longer a pejorative. peter.gorrie@sympatico.ca