But Does Gen X Have The Bucks?

And now, from one of the world's top car designers -- a sofa. Unveiled at the Detroit North American International Auto Show, which opens to the public this week, the sofa shows up in the rear of a concept car from Mitsubishi Motors Corp. Mitsubishi says these concept cars are "leap frogs" with design elements that may not enter production for years, if ever. But concepts offer important clues to the design direction of a car company, and the current direction of Mitsubishi and its rivals is toward a market that's still wet behind the ears: Generation Y, the next big group of car buyers after the Baby Boomers. Some 63 million youths will reach driving age in the next 10 years, and they will have a gigantic influence on the industry. Manufacturers are all over the lot on how to appeal to this generation, whose tastes in everything from music to clothes often mystify the 40- and 50-year-olds who run big car companies. So how are some of the intended customers responding? Nosing through the crowd to the Mitsubishi exhibition, design students from Detroit's College for Creative Studies were momentarily speechless. Then they panned the Mitsubishi concepts. Despite such negative feedback and the auto industry's current financial woes, executives say they will continue to chase the youth market by pushing the envelope in vehicle design because that's the only way to reap bigger profits. Toyota Motor Corp., which has become a powerhouse in the U.S. because of the success of its Toyotas and Lexuses with boomers, is now so worried about its image with younger buyers that it is considering a third brand, one designed specifically to appeal to Generation Y trendsetters.