Detroit, Michigan - Diverse Automotive Market Summary from RL Polk

Detroit, Michigan - Diverse Automotive Market Summary

 Source: Marc Bland, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at RL Polk 

     

http://tobtr.com/s/2799669 

Hear him on the Diverse Business show

To help automotive customers gain insight into the impact diverse market customers (African American, Asian, Hispanic) are having on the U.S. light vehicle industry, I will be publishing a set of blogs focused on the top 10 U.S. markets based on volume year-to-date (YTD) through June 2011. Although the top three markets are New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, respectively, I will start this series with a focus on the backyard of Polk's global headquarters - the Detroit DMA, also known as "Motown" or the "The Motor City."

Detroit ranks No. 6 overall in the U.S. based on new light vehicle sales YTD. The overall industry is up 17.5%, comparing 2011 June YTD vs. 2010 YTD sales. During the same period, Detroit's gain is approximately 10 percentage points below the national average at 7.3%. Detroit's share of national new vehicle sales is down .25 percentage points at 2.6%. Detroit's top 10 brand list is unique, as this will be one of the few major market top brand lists that does not include Toyota or its high volume Asian peers (Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, Kia) in the top five. Domestic brands represent 90% of the Detroit list (see adjacent table).

In the media, it's often reported that Detroit is approximately 80% African American but as a native Detroiter, the report, if accurate, is for Detroit city proper. When you look at Detroit from a DMA perspective, one must also consider these suburban areas: Birmingham, Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Novi, Dearborn, the Grosse Pointes and many more. From an automotive consumer standpoint, the Detroit DMA has the following ethnic mix: (AA = African American, AS = Asian, HS = Hispanic and OT = Non-AA, Non-AS, Non-HS).

From a brand perspective, Ford leads the way with one of three new vehicles. Two to watch are Chevrolet (+3.84%) and Buick (+1.64%), since both have strong share but more importantly have posted greater than a 1.5 percentage point share increases year-over-year.

So what are Detroiters driving? The following is a top five model list, based on volume purchased by each diverse market listed. 



Hands down, the "King of the Road" is the Ford Fusion in Detroit. 

This vehicle is ranked No. 1 by every diverse group in Detroit. Congrats to Ford for holding down the top spot in the backyard of their world headquarters. Readers will also notice that only the Asian diverse group selected the high volume Camry and Honda CR-V in their top five.

This is the first diverse automotive market summary series, with the New York DMA on deck. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as I work to increase the automotive market knowledge of the auto public at large.

 by Marc Bland, Product Strategist & Multicultural Marketing Lead, Polk  Hear Marc ON THE SHOW: http://tobtr.com/s/2799669