The Ford F-150 was the top selling vehicle for buyers making more than $250,000, as it was for all buyers.
Many folks believe that Americans basically all want the same things, and while some politicians may suggest otherwise these days, one area where that is apparently true is new vehicles: everyone appears to want a new Ford F-150.
A new study from Edmunds.com examined the new vehicle buying choices made by Americans earning more than $250,000 annually and less than that and discovered that Ford’s full-size pickup topped both lists.
Also making the 10 list for both economic “parties” was the Honda Accord and CR-V, which are among the best sellers overall in the U.S. this year.
The key differentiator between the wealthiest buyers and the general public is their penchant for trucks and SUVs – nine of the top 10 most popular vehicles in the top income bracket are trucks or SUVs, while that figure drops to six out of 10 for all buyers. More than 53% of vehicles registered to the wealthiest Americans are SUVs, compared to a little more than 40% of all vehicle buyers.
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“America’s wealthiest car buyers are all-in on the trend toward bigger vehicles,” says Edmunds.com Executive Director of Industry Analysis Jessica Caldwell. “And they’re not just gravitating toward luxury brands – eight of the 10 most popular vehicles among these buyers are non-luxury vehicles. It suggests that affluent buyers are satisfied with the technology, utility and performance that mainstream brands have to offer.”
The Honda Accord is one of the top 10 selling vehicles in the U.S. regardless of buyer income.
So what are the top new vehicle choices for the “common folk?” In order, they are:
- Ford F-150
- Chevrolet Silverado
- Honda Civic
- Ram pickup
- Honda Accord
- Honda CR-V
- Toyota Corolla
- Toyota Camry
- Toyota RAV4
- Ford Escape
For those earning more than $250k, they are:
- Ford F-150
- Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Jeep Wrangler
- Lexus RX
- BMW X5
- Ford Explorer
- Toyota Highlander
- Honda Pilot
- Honda CR-V
- Honda Accord
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When Edmunds analysts sorted the list to identify which vehicles had the highest share of buyers who earn more than $250,000, exotics from Jaguar, Audi, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Bentley dominated.
While it fits the stereotype, purchases of these top ten vehicles represented only 0.7% of the total number of vehicles registered by this group, demonstrating that flash is still by far the exception and not the rule.
The top sellers were the Jaguar XKR, Audi S8, Ferrari 458, Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar XFR, Aston Martin Rapide, Bentley Mulsanne, Tesla Model X, Bentley Continental and Ferrari 488 GTB. Again, those are the top sellers, but numbers are a fraction of what the F-150 sells annually, even if you combined the list.
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“There will always be an interest in and market for high-end exotic vehicles, as this week’s (Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance) reminds us,” Caldwell said. “But overall, most of the wealthiest Americans look for their vehicles to perform the same kind of functional tasks as everyone else does.”