Domestic Car Brands Fall Behind With Latinos

By Sandy M. Fernández

Published December 26, 2010

Jan. 5, 2009: Economic uncertainty and the specter of bankruptcy made U.S. auto sales plunge in 2009, and Latino market share fell as well. Now, it's rebounding, but domestic automakers are still far behind. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

Foreign car companies are far outpacing Detroit when it comes to attracting Latino dollars, says a report by auto research firm R. L. Polk & Co. The numbers are based on Polk's analysis of new vehicle registrations up to September 2010.

In the first nine months of 2010, more than 60 percent of the new cars purchased by Hispanics were manufactured by Asian companies. Toyota alone accounted for more than 20 percent of the Latino market share. (Honda and Nissan were the next two most popular.) Meanwhile, the top three domestic automakers on the list—Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge—made up only 21.2 percent of Latino purchases.

According to a release put out by Polk, the company believes these numbers are the result of the foreign automakers’ marketing focus on the Latino consumer—coupled with Detroit’s relative lack of attention.

“Toyota, Honda and Nissan all have specific Hispanic marketing strategies and agencies that focus their marketing efforts to Hispanics,â€