CNW: average Buick and other auto buyers ages

[wildcat]

CNW Marketing Research has released figures showing the average ages of auto buyers in 2007, with evidence that the down US economy has moved car buyers ages up.

For me, it was interesting to learn the latest about Buick buyers [ I added the bold ]: "And while Buick is typically the butt of jokes about buyers who are somewhere between retired and deceased, the average age of a Buick shopper last year was 55.2 years old, considerably younger than the average 63.6-year-old Mercedes-Benz shopper."

To read the story, click here.

Edited January 19, 2008 by wildcat

[ZL-1]

Here in Portugal a Mercedes is still seen as the car of choice of 'shady' construction sector business men. I guess that in NA it's an old man's car

Edited January 19, 2008 by ZL-1

[VenSeattle]

Great News! Shows progress is being made! I'll be contributing, again, to the buyers age dropping one day soon...

I would like to see the complete breakdown between brands...

[gm4life]

With good products like the Enclave and Lucerne anything is possible. I saw a mom in her 20's last night in an Enclave and another person who had a Lexus RX-350 went and bought a brown Enclave CXL AWD with everything on it... Intresting...

[Dsuupr]

Mercedes owners being older is just flat out funny. Even more interesting is that GM owners are younger than honda owners.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

Well,

We all know it's not cool to make fun of imported brands or even state facts about their shortcomings. (Remember when Acura got mad at CR a few weeks ago?)

Looks like the ONE generation that the Japanese captivated is getting older. :AH-HA_wink:

Edited January 20, 2008 by FUTURE_OF_GM

[VenSeattle]

With good products like the Enclave and Lucerne anything is possible. I saw a mom in her 20's last night in an Enclave and another person who had a Lexus RX-350 went and bought a brown Enclave CXL AWD with everything on it... Intresting...

Exactly... The fact that Buick can shed 10 years off the average buyers age in a year is proof enough of how fast the "working age" buying market is willing to give Buick a chance with the right products. Throw a TE-based "Rendezvous" CUV underneath Enclave and watch the younger buyers flock to Buick. An unmistakably premium compact would be received well too with gas prices increasing.

[balthazar]

I'm curious about the wording "...Buick shopper" - is this as opposed to Buick buyer?

No doubt Buick's buyer age is going to drop, but the overall ABA is not rising because of the economy as much as it is because of the median age of U.S. consumers and prices that rise steadily.

[VenSeattle]

I'm curious about the wording "...Buick shopper" - is this as opposed to Buick buyer?

No doubt Buick's buyer age is going to drop, but the overall ABA is not rising because of the economy as much as it is because of the median age of U.S. consumers and prices that rise steadily.

They're using the terms interchangeably... see this line in the article that precedes the one mentioning Buick:

Another telling tale about buying age from CNW was that the average age of shoppers choosing a domestic vehicle was 49.4 years old in 2007 —

He's talking about actual buyers.

[2QuickZ's]

If the Lucerne was available with the 3.6L V6 & 6 spd auto at a reasonable price, it would be on this 36 year olds list of possible choices for my next new car likely to be purchased within the next few months. The fact that it's not available with that powertrain combination tells me GM never really intended for that car to do well with younger buyers. The 3.8L 4 spd or gas hog, underperforming Northstar 4 spd are not the choices younger buyers are looking for. It's okay to offer those powertrains to appeal to your usual demographic, but not having the 3.6 as an option on the mid level CXL is a huge oversight.

Hopefully they'll take the success of the Enclave and use it as justification to improve their other products. It just shows if you make a stylish, well built product, the buyers will come, regardless of past perceptions.

[VenSeattle]

If the Lucerne was available with the 3.6L V6 & 6 spd auto at a reasonable price, it would be on this 36 year olds list of possible choices for my next new car likely to be purchased within the next few months. The fact that it's not available with that powertrain combination tells me GM never really intended for that car to do well with younger buyers. The 3.8L 4 spd or gas hog, underperforming Northstar 4 spd are not the choices younger buyers are looking for. It's okay to offer those powertrains to appeal to your usual demographic, but not having the 3.6 as an option on the mid level CXL is a huge oversight.

Hopefully they'll take the success of the Enclave and use it as justification to improve their other products. It just shows if you make a stylish, well built product, the buyers will come, regardless of past perceptions.

The Lucerne will exist after the 3800 goes out of production. The LZ4 3.5l OHV, LY7 3.6l DOHC, or the LZ9 3.9l OHV will be used in place of the 3800 until the Lucerne is replaced in 2010/2011. I don't see the 6-sp auto ever making it into a G-Platform vehicle (unfortunately.)