Carwatching is not really a new hobby, it's just not a recognized one. It should be. People watch birds, stars, whales, even airplanes and trains. Why not cars? What people drive differs from one city to the next. Demographics play a role in vehicle popularity, and some can be very noticeable.
A few years back, I was in a small, properous town in southeastern Michigan, located in a very heavily GM-centric region.While at Starbucks, I decided to do a "count", if you will, of luxury cars. Luxury cars (and I include sports cars in that category) are a potentially lucrative market that every company dwells on.They are the cars we dream of owning, the cars we feel make people take us more seriously....cars that evoke a professional image...cars that tell people we have good taste. So I realized how successfully I can entertain myself by making lists of all the luxury cars, and leaving a check mark by their name every time one passes. It actually can be very revealing about demographics and marketing. I'd estimate that 70% of the luxury cars I saw in that town were Cadillacs. I chalked that up to the towns geographic placement and the GM influence there.
Today, I spent time in Southfield, a hotbed of luxury cars.In addition to the luxury brands, I included 2 flagship models from standard brands that earned inclusion. Of course, the corvette was one. The other was the Chrysler 300, a car used as a limosine or executive courtesy car internationally (Ive actually seen photos of them in Russia). I counted cars for about 20-30 minutes at different times--twice in the morning and once in the early afternoon.
I refer to Southfield as "The New Detroit". The majority of residents used to live in Detroit and moved to Southfield to experience suburbia. Most of the Detroit-market tv stations transmit out of studios in Southfield. Big, tall office buildings and sprawling commercial complexes are one of the city's most famous attributes. Census data puts the population at about 71,000, 70% of whom are African-American.A small but tightly-knit Orthodox Jewish community is found on the far east side of the city.According to Wikipedia, 38.73% of adults here have at least a bachelors degree.There are more people involved in computer or math work than in 95% of the places in America (again, per Wikipedia). The poverty rate is only 7.4%. Yes, this is the kind of city where car buyers are very attentive to things like styling and image. They want a car that is professional and, as many have moved here from less desireable areas of Detroit, something that represents upward mobility. Southfield has a very serious market for luxury goods and knowing what people living and working here buy is very important from a marketing standpoint.
Cadillac won again, but the gap was very thin. In the smaller town I was in a few years ago, most luxury cars were Cadillacs and the gap between Cadillacs and Non-Cadillacs was enormous.That was not the case here. Expect this to happen in most US locales. Cadillacs and Lincols are OUR luxury cars (Americas).Used models can be quite affordable,distribution is more widespread, and as a local company, parts are likely less expensive (nothing to import). Foreign luxury cars are almost non-existant in smaller towns and rural areas, making Cadillacs and Lincolns the only luxury cars to be seen. I fully expect to see more Cadillacs than anything else in most places. What's interesting is finding out how dominant they are.Sixty one Cadillac sighting were documented today.
Lincoln came in second place. I was surprised. All I hear about is how poorly Lincoln is doing and that Ford needs to pump more life into the brand and make it more inspiring to keep it alive (Or IF they should even bother keeping it alive).Yet, Lincolns just kept coming out of the woodwork. This particular area is loaded with Ford employees, retirees and their family members, so its likely that company discounts helped purchase these cars and the overall number is probably much higher than in most other US regions. Regardless, with a count of 49, Lincolns came in second and give this brand some hope.
Chryslers flagship, the 300, made 35 appearances during this traffic study. I only saw 5 BMWs. That means Chrysers top luxury offering,a single model, outnumbered the entire BMW lineup by a large margin.Chrysler needs to hear this, as things haven't been going all that well for them lately. That one model can be this competitive in such a market is welcome news, but again, Chryslers headquarters and assembly plants are nearby so these results likely aren't typical.Either way, it shows some promise.
Mercedes-Benz was way down in 4th place. With all the law offices and medical buildings in the city, some may think Mercedes vehicles would be tops.Only 22 were observed, but outside of the state they could indeed score higher on car counts in wealthy areas.
Rounding out the top 5 was Lexus, with 19 documented sightings.I incorrectly predicted more BMWs would be on the road than Lexus', so this one was a little bit of a surprise.
Allow me to be politically incorrect and cite the racial makeup of the city. Almost 3/4 of the population is black. I can't think of another reason that I only observed 5 Audi's. Audi is a popular, well-respected brand in Oakland County but seems to fare poorly with African-American buyers. The top 5 luxury cars listed here have done extremely well with this demographic and 2, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, have tremendous appeal across most racial and cultural lines.Audi is well-liked among whites and Asians, but needs to do some catching up with the important African-American market.
Infinity, Porsche,Jaguar,Saab,Volvo, Land Rover, and Acura all barely registered, with fewer than 10 sightings each. Essentially, these were included strictly for comparative purposes. As low as their numbers were, they were probably still higher than average if compared with other parts of the state...or the country,for that matter. Eight Volvos, 3 Land Rovers,8 Acuras,3 Saabs, and Infinity, Porsche and Jaguar all got checked 4 times. I even saw 1 Maserati, a brand too rare to have initially included (The same reason Bentley and Rolls-Royce were excluded--and I drove behind a Bentley coming home)..
Classics? Not many. Just a 90s Impala SS, red VW Karmann-Ghia, a 90s Pontiac Firebird convertible, and a Mazda Miata with a racing stripe.Usually, classics are the vehicles most car-watchers focus on and in many circles, they are considered a cool, fun investment and even something to brag about. In Southfield, though, new seems to be better in most peoples minds.
CONCLUSION: In Michigan, American luxury still dominates in the wealthy suburbs. Mercedes-Benz can put up a good fight but their cars still cannot quite outnumber our local products.Lexus impeccable reputation is working out well for them and the former British brands hardly even matter.
Check back in the future for another installment of carwatching and see how things compare in other,different cities.
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