Happy 4th of July! CarGurus Celebrates “Most Patriotic” Car-Buying Cities

Heartland cities buy American, coastal cities stick with foreign brands

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 27, 2013 -- CarGurus (www.CarGurus.com), the nation’s fastest growing car shopping website, today released a study identifying how U.S. cities stack up in terms of shoppers’ interest in buying American brand cars.

Topping the list is the Motor City, Detroit, MI, where 67.8% of shoppers’ car listing inquiries are directed to American brands. Detroit is also notable for an unusually wide split between preferred foreign brands: Shoppers there show the lowest share of interest in Asian brand cars (10.97%).

California dominates the other end of the rankings for American brand inquiries, with San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Jose and San Diego appearing at the bottom of the list. San Francisco shoppers are also notable for their leaning towards European brands (30.45%), as they showed the highest interest in the country in that category. Similarly, the nation’s capital is in the bottom 10 and shows the highest percentage of shoppers’ interest in Asian brand cars in the nation (33.55%).

To see the full ranking of the top 51 cities and a U.S. map displaying the results, click here.

Rankings of U.S. Metro Areas by Level of Consumer Interest in Buying American Brand Cars

The Top 10:

1. Detroit, MI
2. Cleveland, OH
3. Indianapolis, IN
4. St. Louis, MO
5. Kansas City, MO
6. Tulsa, OK
7. Milwaukee, WI
8. Rochester, NY
9. New Orleans, LA
10. Pittsburgh, PA

The Bottom 10:

1. San Francisco, CA
2. Los Angeles, CA
3. San Jose, CA
4. New York, NY
5. San Diego, CA
6. Seattle, WA
7. Boston, MA
8. Washington, DC
9. Miami, FL
10. Hartford, CT

Methodology

For this study, CarGurus analyzed inquiries submitted to dealers on car listings for sale in top metro areas in the continental U.S. over the past month, comparing share of interest by brand (American, European and Asian) in each metro area. Metro areas were ranked according to the percentage of total inquiries submitted on listings of American brand cars versus non-American brand cars.

About CarGurus

CarGurus (www.CarGurus.com) is a leading online automotive destination focused on bringing transparency to the car research and shopping experience. Our free listings search tool helps shoppers compare available car listings from their desktop or mobile device and quickly identify the best deals in their local area. Millions of car listings are analyzed daily to calculate the Instant Market Value (IMV) and rank whether a deal is great, good, fair or overpriced compared to similar local listings. Specific details factor into the analysis, including make, model, trim, year, mileage, options, location and vehicle history.

Located in Cambridge, MA, CarGurus was founded in 2006 by Langley Steinert, co-founder and former Chairman of TripAdvisor. More than 6 million users visit CarGurus each month to research and shop for new and used cars, making the site the 9th most trafficked auto shopping website and the fastest growing.