Latinos in U.S. Embrace Toyota
Toyota Motor Corp. keeps picking up speed in the United States, and a new study shows that the increasing popularity of its cars and trucks among Latinos is a key factor.
In the first quarter, Toyota drew slightly ahead of Ford to become the top brand of new vehicles registered by Latinos, according to figures released Wednesday by market research firm R.L. Polk & Co.
“The Latino population is the fastest-growing, and everyone in the industry is trying to bring Latinos into their dealerships. Toyota is doing a good job of it,” said Polk consultant Mark Pauze.
Toyota, Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp.’s Chevrolet brand have distanced themselves from the competition in the increasingly important Latino market, Pauze said, with the Ford brand in the No. 1 spot for five years.
But Toyota took the lead in the first quarter with 15.5% of the Latino market, compared with Ford’s 15.4%. Chevrolet finished third with a 13.1% share, followed by Honda with 9.2% and Nissan with 9.1%. Other brands that finished in the top 10 were, in order, Dodge, GMC, Hyundai, Jeep and Mazda.
In fact, Toyota did better in the quarter among Latinos than it did with the population as a whole: Its share of nationwide new-vehicle sales was 10.2%.
For their study, Polk’s researchers looked at 185,165 new-vehicle registrations in 2003 by Latinos in Greater Los Angeles, a stronghold for Toyota among buyers of all ethnic backgrounds. Latinos make up about 45% of the total population in Los Angeles County, and in the first quarter about 18.4% of all U.S. new-car buyers whose surnames Polk identified as Latino lived in or around Los Angeles.
The New York metropolitan market ranks as the second- biggest for vehicle sales to Latinos, with a 7.5% share. Both New York and Los Angeles posted double-digit growth rates in vehicle registrations by Latinos in the last five years, with L.A. growing by 38.9%.
“Latino Americans can no longer be considered a niche market,” said Lonnie Miller, head of Polk’s analysis unit. Overall, Latinos now account for 6% of the U.S. auto market, up from 4.8% in 1999, according to Polk.
Automakers have taken notice. The major brands have retained ad agencies specializing in marketing to Latino communities in recent years to tailor messages to that market.
Toyota’s gains have been the result “of a pretty consistent effort” over the last three years, said Deborah Meyer, a marketing communications manager at Torrance-based Toyota Motor Sales USA.
The company uses a Latino-run advertising agency, Conill, a division of global advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi, to shape its campaign. Conill, based in Miami and with offices in New York and Torrance, has pushed Toyota beyond traditional television and magazine messages into promotions built around concert and other special-event sponsorships. Toyota also advertises on many Spanish-language websites, Meyer said.
As a result, Toyota is one of the few major brands gaining ground with Latinos. Its Corolla compact sedan, Tacoma compact pickup and Tundra large pickup are top sellers among Latinos, and the company’s youth-oriented Scion brand also is selling well in the market.
Trucks have become especially important because Ford and Chevrolet “have always done well with Latino shoppers on the strength of their full-size pickups,” said Dan Gorrell, vice president of Strategic Vision, a San Diego automotive market research firm. “But Latinos want what everyone wants -- quality and utility -- and now Toyota has entered the large-pickup market and has a competitive product, so it is no wonder it is gaining on them.”
