Diverse Buyers Now Represent a Record 33% of U.S. Light Vehicle Market

Looked at individually, Hispanic share of the new vehicle market climbed almost three percentage points since 2016 - to 17% of the market this past September, Asian share climbed almost two percentage points to 8%, while African American share declined slightly to 8% in the same timeframe.

At the brand level, Tesla has done the best job of appealing to these ethnic consumer groups; in September, 43% of all retail Tesla registrations were to ethnic consumers. The next four brands based on major ethnic share are Toyota, Mitsubishi, Dodge and Lexus.

The market shares for each of the three ethnic groups vary by region; African American share is the highest in the Southeast US at 15%; Asians account for 16% of registrations in the Western US, their strongest part of the country, and Hispanic share of 30% in the Southwest leads all other regions.

Given that these groups together account for one of every three new vehicle registrations, and that two of them - Asians and Hispanics - are gaining share, an increasing number of brands are developing specific marketing teams and campaigns to market their portfolios to diverse consumers.