what car best fits their image, or the car rated most reliable or most fun.

Manufacturers should not count on automatic loyalty among first-time buyers, even if their parents are current customers. Not only is it an uphill battle to get their attention, but traditional endorsements from family members don't appear to play a large factor, especially from a retailer view.

It's humbling to see this segment call out the importance of how dealers treat them since so many first-time buyers continue to feel their first vehicle purchase is all about getting what they want for an affordable price. The results are a reaffirmation that buyers in this stage in their life walk into showrooms with similar expectations as more seasoned vehicle buyers.

First-time buyers' dependence on Web-based media validates the need for an aggressive interactive strategy to court them on the manufacturer and retail level. The Internet's relevance in the 18-30 year age group has reached critical mass and is completely reconfiguring how car companies need to reach out to first-time buyers.

Harnessing mobile media technology will be the automotive industry's most important marketing challenge -- and opportunity -- in the next decade. Generation Y is tuning out traditional advertising, and watching what they want, when they want. Creating breakthrough content and developing relationships with customers through emerging media technologies will separate the winners from the losers in the next five years.

There's a new generation of people really paying attention to hybrids, and a lot of new adopters because they're seeing them in more vehicle categories.