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CNN Live At Daybreak

More Cars Than Drivers in U.S.

Aired September 03, 2003 - 06:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well let's shift gears now and get some business buzz. We all know that Americans love their cars and Carrie Lee is at the Nasdaq market site with the numbers that back it up.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

WHITFIELD: Carrie, folks just can't get enough of having wheels.

LEE: They really can't, Fredricka. We have a real love of the road in this country. There are currently more cars and trucks then there are people who can drive them in the United States. This is according to a new survey from the Transportation Department. While there are 191 million drivers out there, there are 204 million registered vehicles. Only 8 percent of the population doesn't own a car. Over 8 percent of drivers own more than one vehicle. And manufacturers are cranking out more cars even though cars last longer these days.

Now cars used to get sent to the scrap pile when the odometer hit about 100,000 miles, but these days it's common to drive cars with 200,000 or more miles on them.

And what are people doing with all of this time on the road? Well over half of -- about half of the time spent on a daily trip is for shopping and errands, 27 percent for social and recreational use, just 15 percent of daily trips are used for commuting. A rather surprising statistic there, Fredricka. You'd think people were mainly using their cars for work. But as you can see it from these numbers, that is not the case at all.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Not at all. I guess that means that they are relying on public transportation more, so maybe that's a good thing.

LEE: Well, sometimes it's a lifestyle choice. A lot of times people have a two bread-winning household or their teens have a car of their own so they're not necessarily going to work, and then people have their weekend cars as well. You know a Range Rover, maybe something like that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well I know it's early, but let's take a look at the market. I see some green arrows. That's always good.

LEE: That's right. Looks like we could see a higher open. That's what futures are indicating right now, anyway. After a very nice performance yesterday, the Dow up about 1 percent, the Nasdaq up almost 2 percent.

Two stocks that moved yesterday, French media giant Vivendi up 7 percent at the close, General Electric up 3 percent. This all following Vivendi's announcement that it is entering exclusive talks to merge GE's NBC unit with its entertainment assets. So a big story yesterday. We'll see if there's any follow through today also.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. A huge business story. All right. Thanks a lot, Carrie.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 3, 2003 - 06:46   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well let's shift gears now and get some business buzz. We all know that Americans love their cars and Carrie Lee is at the Nasdaq market site with the numbers that back it up.
CARRIE LEE, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi.

WHITFIELD: Carrie, folks just can't get enough of having wheels.

LEE: They really can't, Fredricka. We have a real love of the road in this country. There are currently more cars and trucks then there are people who can drive them in the United States. This is according to a new survey from the Transportation Department. While there are 191 million drivers out there, there are 204 million registered vehicles. Only 8 percent of the population doesn't own a car. Over 8 percent of drivers own more than one vehicle. And manufacturers are cranking out more cars even though cars last longer these days.

Now cars used to get sent to the scrap pile when the odometer hit about 100,000 miles, but these days it's common to drive cars with 200,000 or more miles on them.

And what are people doing with all of this time on the road? Well over half of -- about half of the time spent on a daily trip is for shopping and errands, 27 percent for social and recreational use, just 15 percent of daily trips are used for commuting. A rather surprising statistic there, Fredricka. You'd think people were mainly using their cars for work. But as you can see it from these numbers, that is not the case at all.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Not at all. I guess that means that they are relying on public transportation more, so maybe that's a good thing.

LEE: Well, sometimes it's a lifestyle choice. A lot of times people have a two bread-winning household or their teens have a car of their own so they're not necessarily going to work, and then people have their weekend cars as well. You know a Range Rover, maybe something like that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Well I know it's early, but let's take a look at the market. I see some green arrows. That's always good.

LEE: That's right. Looks like we could see a higher open. That's what futures are indicating right now, anyway. After a very nice performance yesterday, the Dow up about 1 percent, the Nasdaq up almost 2 percent.

Two stocks that moved yesterday, French media giant Vivendi up 7 percent at the close, General Electric up 3 percent. This all following Vivendi's announcement that it is entering exclusive talks to merge GE's NBC unit with its entertainment assets. So a big story yesterday. We'll see if there's any follow through today also.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. A huge business story. All right. Thanks a lot, Carrie.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com