Young people drive old cars

Just over 265,000 – or one in five - of the 1.3 million people aged 18 to 24 in the Netherlands own a car. As many of these young adults are still in education, or have only just started a job, and thus do not have much money to spend, the cars they drive are often at least nine years old.

Volkswagen Golf favourite

Together, the number of smaller Ford, Volkswagen and Opel models registered in 1992 or earlier account for one quarter of car ownership among Dutch young adults. Volkswagen is favourite: 29,773, of which more than 22,000 Golfs. Opel follows in second place (29,535), with the Kadett (14,196) and Corsa (nearly 7,000) the most popular models. Ford comes in third with 17,721 cars, 11,000 of which are Escorts.

Young car owners (18-24 years) by age of car and some popular makes

Nearly six thousand young adults own a BMW of at least nine years old, just over 8% of the total number of BMWs registered in this period.

Although Mercedes is not a make immediately associated with youth, young people are apparently often attracted to Mercedes models registered in 1992 or before. Nearly three thousand people in this age group have such a car.

Peugeot leads the field for French makes. People aged 18 to 24 own some 15,000 Peugeots aged at least nine years, of which the 206 is the most popular model: nearly 11,000.

Japanese cars are also fairly popular in this age group. Toyota is favourite here with 9,383 cars of nine years or older; Suzuki is second: 8,425, and Nissan third: 8,281. Older Hondas are also in demand, almost exclusively the Civic models, which account for nine out of every ten Hondas in this age group.

Ed van GelderEd van Gelder