• by Karl Greenberg , April 14, 2009

Atlanta-based online auto seller Autotrader.com -- which says Hispanic consumers represent $1 trillion in buying power, with more than a third of the current U.S. Hispanic-American population being under 18 -- is hoping to tap that burgeoning segment with a new division devoted to Hispanics, called AutoTrader Latino.

The new print and Web product, online at www.AutoTraderLatino.com, comprises the Spanish-language site and bilingual print publication, AutoTrader Latino, in 15 of the largest markets for Hispanic-American car buyers, including Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Los Angeles. AutoTrader Latino also plans to expand to Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, Houston, Texas, Charlotte, N.C., Tampa and Orlando, Fla., and Washington, D.C.

The free magazine, offered in high-traffic areas with heavy Hispanic populations, also has local-dealer ads and listings. "One reason AutoTrader decided to launch this is to offer dealers an opportunity to reach a very attractive consumer base," says Jose Ignacio Puente, general manager of AutoTrader Latino. "There has been huge interest from the dealer side in AutoTrader Latino."

AutoTrader Latino also has a partnership with Univision.com; and Mundo Hispanico, an Atlanta-based general news publication and Web site targeting Hispanic Americans in Atlanta and north Georgia.

Puente says the print publication is critical because "a large percentage of the Hispanic demographic that speaks Spanish still prefers print," although the general market has migrated to digital media for its auto shopping and classifieds. "And while our Spanish product [once] competed with three or four other English publications, now that they don't exist, we are the only print magazine in the market that offers ads to dealers," Puente says.

The company says the site has around 1 million vehicles listed and lets car buyers search by geographic location. The site also carries used and certified pre-owned vehicles.

Puente says the look and feel of the new site, as well as the name, follows research done last year when the company commissioned N.Y.-based Vidal Partnership to study the segment. "They looked at what media they used to search for vehicles, and determined, among other things, how to best position ourselves. The AutoTrader name tested the best; in most markets Latino consumers have instant recognition of the brand."

The new site is not a rebadged version of the general market AutoTrader.com. "The same basic aspect of search is there, but it's a different platform. The site gets consumers to a vehicle search and research more quickly, there's less home-page content, the search function is more "cut and dry," and the creative design is fundamentally different. "We have pictures of people on the site, which is very appealing to [Hispanic American] consumers," says Puente. "We didn't want to go down the path of taking the English mainstream brand that is putting 'Latino' on it."

According to Puente, AutoTrader Latino has no direct competitor in the Latino space -- "just lots of local independent businesses, but no one with the national footprint we have."