This figure, which includes cars and light trucks, grew by two months from 2023. This aging trend offers a significant business opportunity for aftermarket parts and service providers. Todd Campau, S&P Global Mobility’s aftermarket practice lead, stated, “With average age growth, more vehicles are entering the prime range for aftermarket service, typically from six to 14 years of age. With over 110 million vehicles in that range – nearly 38 percent of the fleet – we expect continued growth to an estimated 40 percent by 2028.”
Owners holding onto their cars means fewer are heading to scrapyards, though the number of scrapped vehicles hasn't increased since last year. Two cars are scrapped for every new passenger car registration, totaling 27 million vehicles leaving the roads since 2020, with around 13 million new ones registered.
Despite the scrapping pace, the number of vehicles on roads has grown significantly. As of January, there were 286 million vehicles in service, two million more than last year. The number of vehicles aged six years or less fell from 98 million in 2019 to 90 million in 2024, partly due to pandemic-related shortages and supply chain issues.
Meanwhile, the number of EVs in service continues to grow. There were 3.2 million EVs in operation at the beginning of this year, a rise of over 50 percent since 2022. However, S&P noted that the 3.5-year average age of EVs could increase as adoption slows.
Source: S&P Global
