Latino’s are Turning Away From Their Beloved Chevy’s

Quick question. What do you drive? And no, “my family crazy” is not an acceptable answer.

If you’re Latino/a (we have many non-Latino readers) chances are you drive an import. According to a report in Fox Latino, that quotes a study done by auto research firm R. L. Polk & Co:

“In the first nine months of 2010, more than 60 percent of the new cars purchased by Hispanics were manufactured by Asian companies.”

Toyota seems to be the brand of preference with 20 percent of the market. If you add up sales of the three domestic car makers, Ford, Chevrolet and Dodge, it amounts to 21.2 percent. The article is short on reasons for the statistic; it mentions something about targeted advertising campaigns and how the Asian manufacturers have focused ads for Latinos. I think there’s a more practical reason: Asian manufacturers have been making better cars, mysterious and deadly Toyota self-acceleration aside.

It’s not a matter of the Latino market versus any other market, it’s a mater of product quality. Until recently the US product was not up to import par. And yes, we Latinos like to piddle around under the hood (When I was a rambunctious teen I used to give my car tune-ups and oil changes and whatnot, didn’t we all?), but that also means we know our way around quality automobiles, at a fair price. President Obama’s stimulous may have changed all that, US atuto makers have stepped-up their quality output, or so I’m told.

Here’s what’s disconcerting about this news: imports are generally smaller than domestic cars. So the numbers contradict the stereotype of Latino cars stuffed to overflow with Latino families; abuelos, children and cotorros all packed-in for the trip to the mall. So either the stereotype is wrong (ya think?), Latino families are shrinking, the cotorro stays home or folks are making multiple trips from the house.

Or, just maybe, as the article points out:

“Hispanics were 10.6 percent of the U.S. vehicle market back in 2006. But when the recession hit, numbers plummeted—they accounted for only 8.5 percent a year ago. However, Polk notes that this segment of the market is recovering faster than the overall market. During the first nine months of 2010, Hispanic purchases increased 6.5 percent over last year, versus an overall four percent.”

The study didn’t take used car sales into account…just sayin’.