In Bid to Win the Wired Gen-Y Buyer, Chevy Spark Ditches the CD Player The 2013 Chevrolet Spark supermini, scheduled to arrive at dealerships in August, is the first Chevy not to offer a factory-installed CD player since the automaker widely introduced the units in its vehicles in the 1990s. The new hatchback, intended to draw shoppers" attention from the Smart Fortwo, Scion iQ and Fiat 500, is designed to appeal to so-called digital natives, those buyers who have spent most of their lives using the Internet. Oriented toward iPods and smartphone-enabled audio streaming, these young people - that is, the ones who are actually buying cars - are leading a shift in the industry away from CD players, according to Mike Weidman, marketing manager for small cars at Chevrolet. On the 1LT and 2LT versions of the Spark, the MyLink infotainment system, with a seven-inch color touch screen and the ability to play music through the Pandora Internet music service, will be standard equipment. The basic LS model, with a starting price of $12,995, won't be available with MyLink, but will be equipped with a basic AM-FM radio and a plug for a portable music player. No CD player is offered. Chevrolet says its strategy makes sense to younger buyers. "It's more of a logical approach for this type of vehicle," Afaf Farah, a Chevrolet spokeswoman, said of the Spark in a telephone interview. Today's younger customer is doing everything with their mobile devices, so this is a way to have all their apps and music in the vehicle. John Canali, a senior analyst at Strategy Analytics, a global market research and consulting company, said in a telephone interview that Chevrolet's approach was not without its risks. "It might alienate some buyers, but that's not necessarily a bad thing," he said. Our research shows that there are a fair amount of older people who don't want to give up their CD players, but many admit to actually using them only two or three times a year. Mr. Canali added that the firm's research suggested that roughly 300,000 new cars and trucks would be sold in the United States this year with CD-free entertainment systems, That number is expected to grow to 15.9 million in 2019.