Filling the Boomer Gap in Automotive, post-SYNC what comes next?

Ed Wallace has a great article in Business Week about the impact of mass demographics on the auto industry -- fun to read, and insightful.   Years ago, I remember walking through Ford WHQ and seeing a distinct focus on Gen Y.  Gen X isn't big enough to offset the void the boomers will leave.  The auto industry has 2 great hopes to fill the Boomer Gap -- good healthcare to keep boomers driving longer, and Gen Y. 

Gen Y didn't grow up loving cars the way the boomers did.  And what reason did they have?  Not a lot of great cars were made during their formative years.   Today, cars are much better.  Maybe even better than ever.  But that by itself that's not enough by itself to attract Gen Y.  Gen Y has a lot of other stuff -- a lot of other toys that they've wrapped their hearts and identities around.  

Of course, people still like cars, and want their cars to continue getting better on many dimensions.  One of those dimensions that is especially relevant to Gen Y is that they want their cars and other their toys to "just work together".  IMO, this explains the energy around Ford Sync - simple in concept, simple in use.  At some point down the road, every OEM will have something like Ford Sync.  A question to consider: what then will differentiate the OEMs?  

Imagining the future a bit... I think there are two answers to this question.  The first centers around Sync itself -- if an OEM can turn something like Sync into a true platform that others (even owners) can innovate on top of, they will move far ahead of those who do not.  In one way, this is simply another dimension to the already big business of vehicle personalization.  BTW, this is also the platform business model that fuels so much of Microsoft's success. 

The second answer continues to be Design, (with a Capital D, as my colleague Chris Bernard might say).  Post-Sync, I think the mental model of designers, and the subsequent designs, will extend to the complete vehicle ownership experience in totality - beyond what is strictly in the car.  How you select, finance, purchase, service, dispose, and replace your vehicle.  Today these things happen -- but certainly not as part of a cohesive design.  Design will thoughtfully embrace not just how we use our cars, but why we use or cars across the full vehicle ownership lifecycle.  

This won't seem unnatural, it's what Gen Y (and later generations) will expect as the physical and virtual worlds become more fully integrated in all parts of our life.  More over, they'll expect very personal experiences and significant control in defining their own experiences (see the first answer about being a platform).  More than bringing our digital life into our cars, this kind of "Design thinking" will bring our cars into our digital life. 

This will require OEMs to think differently about how they serve consumers, and how to be more relevant in more parts of a consumer's life.  But I'm hopeful it will happen.   Learning lessons from OnStar, ATX, and the Lincoln RESCU service that proceeded them, and especially from the failed Wingcast JV with Qualcomm, Ford and Microsoft have broken the ice with the SYNC implementation of Windows Automotive.  Ford SYNC is just the first volley in a revolution that may take many years to play out, and for which the outcome is uncertain, but make no mistake, the revolution has begun.