1 Out of 5 Auto Buyers is Latino… Talk about Growth Driver!

By Ana Ceppi

Every night, as 5 full time virtual students/workers get ready to take their car out for a spin, I think the auto industry is really missing the growth of the Hispanic consumer.  I did say 5 adults… 4 cars… one house… and during COVID our cars are our escape strategy.

My Hispanic house is not the anomaly.  A Hispanic household has one more driver per average household – mine has 2 – and we have insatiable top of mind awareness of brands… models and plates/brands… we are car fanatics. 

According to Polk, Hispanics are the only growth lever in the auto market; even in the best of auto sales years, 2019, Hispanics were the only category growth – close to 20% of all auto sales in the past 5 years were purchased by Latinos, and most sales came from the “middle” of the country, not the big states.

What is surprising when you look at the data, which is registration based – and every auto marketer reads it weekly – is the direct correlation of sales to advertising; it is fool proof.  Auto manufactures who market to Hispanics are growing at an accelerated rate thank those who are not.  In the general market domestic auto sales dominate. Most domestic auto manufacturers do not market to Hispanics at broad scale.  Conversely, imports market deeply to Hispanics and garner more than their fair share of auto sales. 

Simply put, while the general market audience is tired of auto marketing, the Hispanic media landscape would be a higher source of ROI. 

Hispanics Drove:

• New Car Sales (+8% vs. -4% Non Hispanic)
• Leases (+21% vs 5% Non Hispanic)
• Luxury (+19% vs +7%)
• and bought more SUV’s (+41% vs 23%) and Pickups (+41% vs. 16%). 

Why would an auto manufacturer not advertise to 20% of its purchase intenders who drove 100% of the growth YOY?   If brand doesn’t address the prospect then, it is a missed opportunity.  

But what gave me pause, is that Hispanics are also driving the growth in Electric cars! Hispanics account for 9% of electric car sales in 2019; that is a significant growth out of a small base – Hispanic +379% vs +266% Non-Hispanics.

This made me think. Hispanics are non-legacy; techno hipsters; bicultural and eco-friendly!  A perfect market for all the e-cars that are in the pipeline, Volkswagen; Audi; Volvo; etc… Let’s see if auto manufacturers see the opportunity as clearly as the data shows!  I already bought my electric car and love it!

About the author: Ana Ceppi is a marketing executive who looks to accelerate business growth by creating demand in unseen and elusive marketing opportunities.  She is the winner of 2019’s Imagen Powerful and Influential Latinos in Entertainment; is Co-Chair of the Data and Measurement committee for the ANA AIIM and holds 5 Effie’s.