вЂњWhat most intrigues me is that rates of car ownership per household and per person started to come down two to three years before the downturn,вЂќ said Michael Sivak, who studies the trend and who is a research professor at the University of MichiganвЂ™s Transportation Research Institute. But by many measures the decrease in driving preceded the downturn and appears to be persisting now that recovery is under way.

Part of the explanation certainly lies in the recession, because cash-strapped Americans could not afford new cars, and the unemployed werenвЂ™t going to work anyway. As of April 2013, the number of miles driven per person was nearly 9 percent below the peak and equal to where the country was in January 1995. When adjusted for population growth, the number of miles driven in the United States peaked in 2005 and dropped steadily thereafter, according to an analysis by Doug Short of Advisor Perspectives, an investment research company.

It is the birthplace of the Model T the home of Detroit the place where Wilson Pickett immortalized вЂњMustang SallyвЂќ and the Beach Boys, вЂњLittle Deuce Coupe.вЂќД«ut AmericaвЂ™s love affair with its vehicles seems to be cooling.

The United States, with its broad expanses and suburban ideals, had long been one of the worldвЂ™s prime car cultures. That has left researchers pondering a fundamental question: Has America passed peak driving? PRESIDENT OBAMAвЂ™S ambitious goals to curb the United StatesвЂ™ greenhouse gas emissions, unveiled last week, will get a fortuitous assist from an incipient shift in American behavior: recent studies suggest that Americans are buying fewer cars, driving less and getting fewer licenses as each year goes by.

Drive 2011 cars