• December 20, 2006

Marketing analysis firm R.L. Polk and Co. sees minority buying power growing by 14% through 2009. Unfortunately, according to a new study from the consultancy, automakers have a lot of work to do on building loyalty among that segment of the car and truck market.

Fewer than 15% of African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic-American car buyers believe the auto industry is "best in class" at developing customer loyalty, according to the study.

The firm says new vehicle sales to minority customers were up approximately 18% last year, versus 1% for the general market, but manufacturer loyalty is low among minority car buyers.

While overall manufacturer loyalty is 52%, it's 48% for Hispanic-American customers and 42% for Asian Americans.

Among consumers canvassed by Polk, 39% of Hispanic-Americans, 35% of Asian-Americans and 31% of African Americans "strongly agreed" that reliability and trustworthiness were the most important factor in customer retention, followed by joy of driving the vehicle and the overall experience with the dealership's service department. -- Karl Greenberg