US car fleet declines

America's century-old love affair with the automobile may be coming to an end. The US fleet has apparently peaked and started to decline. In 2009, the 14 million cars scrapped exceeded the 10 million new cars sold, shrinking the US fleet by four million, or nearly 2% in one year, according to figures from the Earth Policy Institute. Future US fleet size will be determined by the relationship between two trends: new car sales and cars scrapped. Cars scrapped exceeded new car sales in 2009 for the first time since World War II, shrinking the US vehicle fleet from the all-time high of 250 million to 246 million. The Institute says it looks likely that this new trend of scrappage exceeding sales could continue through until at least 2020. Among the trends that are keeping sales well below the annual figure of 15�17 million that prevailed from 1994 through 2007 are market saturation, ongoing urbanisation, economic uncertainty, oil insecurity, rising gasoline prices, frustration with traffic congestion, mounting concerns about climate change, and a declining interest in cars among young people.