> Cars are en extension of some Americans' identity

i hear this a lot and i also feel like this population is declining very significantly for a lot of reasons (cars that people care about are unaffordable, most cars on the road tend to fit into one of a very small number of categories, people find other ways to navigate depending on where they live, people don't do as many activities out of the home that require a vehicle, etc). at what point does the real population of car enthusiasts become small enough to be irrelevant in public policy and infrastructure decisions?

To be fair cars have always been an extension of their drivers identities in the US, or at least as far back as their being competing brands available.