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5 Surprising Automotive Industry Trends to Expect by 2025In 10 years, the automotive industry as we know it will change. Driven by newtechnology, experts predict everything from the car-buying experience to thefeatures drivers can access will shift.To explore these changes, Earl Stewart, owner of Earl Stewart Toyota of NorthPalm Beach, Fla., Yo Koga, CEO of Drivemode and Palash Misra, director atSTAX, provide insight on the surprising trends that will emerge in theautomotive industry by 2025.## Car buying will become an online affairBy 2025, the majority of customers will purchase cars online, not from adealer, predicts Earl Stewart, owner of Earl Stewart Toyota of North PalmBeach, Fla.“I refer to this trend as the ‘Amazon-ification’ of car buying,” he says. “Inother words, customers will shop for and buy a car online with one click, justlike they buy a gift online.”To try and keep up with this shift, Stewart, and many dealers like him, haveupgraded their websites to allow customers to buy cars online.“Online car buying is moving at warp speed. We sell about 400 to 500 cars amonth and about 50 percent of those are online purchases,” he says. “Thecustomer pays for the car online, and we deliver it to their driveway.”By 2025, car buying will likely be done online, he says.## Dealer franchises will disappearStewart predicts that dealer franchises, like the one he now runs with hiswife and two sons, will become extinct.“It’s a scary time for franchise dealers like myself,” Stewart says. “It’slikely that customers will buy cars straight from manufacturers in the nearfuture.”Customers have bought cars from dealerships for years, but manufacturers likeTesla have fought to sell directly to the customer without using dealerships.“There are a series of state laws that protect dealerships, but I think thingswill change in the future,” Stewart says. “Customers want a simple buyingprocess and if they’re allowed to buy from a manufacturer, they’ll likelyseize that opportunity.## An increasing number of cars will become driverlessCars come with a variety of “assistive technologies” right now. Customers canbuy a car that parallel parks on its own or brakes automatically when it’s tooclose to another car.This technology will not only become mainstream, it will also advance, Stewartpredicts.“I believe cars will become totally autonomous,” he says. “There will come apoint where a driver will give the car commands like ‘take me home’ and thecar will respond accordingly.”Manufacturers are already working on driverless cars, and four states alreadyallow them on the roads legally.As the public becomes more familiar with assistive technology, the demand formore features will increase. In turn, that could put pressure on lawmakers toallow driverless cars on the roads.## Tech companies will join the automotive industryCreating cool features in cars won’t just be left to automakers. In thefuture, tech companies will become a force in the automotive world, predictsYo Koga, CEO of Drivemode, a free Android app that provides access to asmartphone through voice commands.Companies like Google have already created apps that let drivers accessnavigation systems, control music, set reminders and look up store hours withvoice activation.“Big tech companies like Apple and Google are already offering mobile apps andother tech solutions to basic automotive problems,” says Koga. “This willinspire more and more small tech companies to begin developing connected carsolutions in an effort to beat the automakers at their own game.”## Fewer millennials will buy carsAs the calendar advances closer to 2025, fewer millennials will buy cars, saysPalash Misra, director at STAX, a strategy firm that helps investors in theautomotive space make smart financial decisions.“Millennials do not appear to be embracing the car culture,” he says. “Withthe rise of companies that provide rides on demand, the growth of bike sharingand the increase in public transportation ridership, there’s reasonable proofthat an entire generation will be less likely to buy cars.”Reports show the number of 16 to 24-year-olds traveling to work by car isdeclining. The percentage of high school seniors with driver’s licenses isalso dropping, from 85 percent in 1996 to 73 percent in 2010.“The younger generation will schedule transportation versus owning a car,”Misra says.All three experts believe more changes will occur in the automotive industryin the next 10 years than ever before. “The automotive industry as we know itwill be completely overhauled,” Stewart says. “The future looks starklydifferent than the past.”