Big Game Cities' Car Buying Habits According to Cars.com

CHICAGO, Jan. 31, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com, the leading online resource for buying and selling new and used cars, conducted a study to evaluate the car buying preferences of the cities home to the teams playing in the Big Game, the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos.  The study reviewed the new car purchasing preferences of more than 300,000 car buyers over the past year in Seattle and Denver, as well as an analysis of most searched models by the shoppers in both cities at Cars.com in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Some of the key findings of the Cars.com study include:

Sales ranking highlights (based on 2013 sales):

• The most popular selling vehicle in America, the Ford F-150 is also the top selling model in both Seattle and Denver
• Subaru was the most popular brand in the list of top 10 cars in Denver, and also held the number two and three spots in Seattle's top 10
• Denver car shoppers split their loyalties between domestic and import brands, while Seattle shoppers prefer import brands, with eight of the top 10 purchases coming from outside of the Detroit Three
• Denver shoppers prefer the utility of SUVs/trucks with eight of the top 10 sales leaders in those categories, while in Seattle the top ten is split evenly between truck/SUVs and cars
• Denver and Seattle have relatively younger car buyers. The industry average age of car buyers is 52 and Denver is the younger of the two cities at 50 and Seattle at 51
• The model most often bought by women in Seattle was the Honda CR-V, while men there preferred the Ford F-150. Denver shoppers must think alike: The Mile High City shoppers mirrored Seattle in gender rankings

Cars.com search data ranking highlights (based on the numbers of visitors that searched dealer inventory in Q4 2013):

• Jeep Grand Cherokee was the top searched vehicle in both cities
• Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class was the only luxury model to rank in the top 10 in each city
• Of the top 10 most searched models, eight were SUVs/trucks in Denver and six in Seattle

"Even though they are more than one thousand miles apart, Seattle and Denver are similar in their demographic composition, which is reflected directly in how close the car buying preferences are in each city," said Jesse Toprak, Chief Analyst at Cars.com. "Adverse climate is also clearly influencing buyer preferences, with SUVs and trucks dominating the rankings.

More detailed analysis and interview opportunities are available.

Cars.com shares industry news, insights and dealership best practices to help dealers and manufacturers better understand the automotive landscape, automotive shopping trends and new consumer behavior. For more information, visit http://dealeradvantage.cars.com/.

ABOUT CARS.COM
Cars.com is an award-winning online destination for car shoppers that offers information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. Cars.com offers thousands of new and used vehicle listings, consumer reviews, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and many other tools. Cars.com puts millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions. Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC), Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company.

SOURCE Cars.com