HispanicBusiness

American Dream: "A good job -- a house with a yard for the
kids -- and, of course, a brand new car."

Internet Use by Car Buyers
The Internet has become an effective tool for Hispanics
when purchasing a vehicle. A study conducted early in 2010
by Ad Words Agency and Compete Inc. looked at the way in
which Hispanics bought automobiles.

According to information posted on the Ad Words
Agency blog by Lauren Dale, automotive marketing
manager, the study revealed interesting statistics:
"92 percent of Hispanic new-vehicle buyers visited an
automaker site or a third-party site prior to their vehicle
purchase, compared to 84 percent of the general Internet
population."

"A greater proportion of Hispanic purchasers used keypurchase
indicators, such as Build Your Own, Offers, and
Locate a Dealer than the general Internet population."
"Hispanic auto consumers are heading to a search engine
with a purpose."

Information from the study found that 52 percent
of Hispanics used the Internet to find reviews about
vehicles, 44 percent to find vehicles they are not familiar
with, 39 percent to locate a local dealership, 59 percent
to find the best deals, and 41 percent to find the vehicle
brand's Web site.

Auto Industry Opportunity
Th e nature of the Hispanic auto consumer market also
off ers automakers an excellent opportunity to bolster its
presence among this demographic.

For example, Chevrolet has awarded all Hispanic
advertising work in the United States to the LatinWorks ad
agency, based in Austin, Texas. Ford has a Spanish-language
mobile Web site at www.fordenespanol.com.

Commendable efforts, but the shift in the Hispanic consumer
demographics suggests that, within the next decade, Hispanics
will become more mainstream consumers, both in terms of
spending habits and in
fluency in English.
Mr. Francese, in
his Ad Age article,
noted that 91
percent of Hispanic
children were born
in the United States,
compared to only 47
percent of Hispanic
adults. With one in
three Hispanics in
the United States
younger than 18 and attending public schools, English is
making gradual gains as the language Hispanics are becoming
most comfortable with. Mr. Francese noted that nearly half,
44 percent, of the demographic is at ease in English. Th is also
means the children will acculturate at a faster rate than their
parents did.

"With the Hispanic market at this tipping point," Mr.
Francese wrote, "one of the biggest challenges for marketers
is reaching young, acculturated
bilingual Hispanics who behave
diff erently than their parents who
didn't grow up in the United States
and don't spend as much time with
Spanish-language media, but still feel a
deep sense of Latino identity."

By increasingly targeting the Hispanic
consumer, the auto industry will be able
to continue growing sales throughout the
next decade. And the industry doesn't
have to go far to find the right way to
tap deeper into the Hispanic consumer
market. They did it once before, back
in the 1950s, when the economic engine that drove the United
States created a hefty middle class of consumers.
Hispanics are poised for a bright future, one in which their
spending habits can spur the economy. Mr. Francese wrote:
"Younger and larger Hispanic families will be more vital to future
growth in consumer spending than at any time in the past."
In this respect, the Hispanic auto consumer market holds
the keys to drive auto sales back to customary highs, to power
up the economy, and to smoothly ride the road to economic
success.