Auto Sales On A Boom : 17 Million Registered And How Consumer Car Buying Habits Have Shifted In 9 Years

Experian Automotive announced earlier this month that new vehicle registration volumes for light-duty vehicles reached the highest point in the past nine years. During the rolling year from Nov. 1, 2014, through Oct. 31, 2015, there were more than 17 million new vehicles registered within the United States — a metric that hasn’t been achieved since 2006.
 

The highest number of new registration volumes on record was 17.4 million in 2006, and the lowest point was during the Great Recession, when volumes hit 10.2 million in 2009.

 

"It’s encouraging to see new registrations return to prerecession levels, with lower interest and higher employment rates driving vehicle demand,” said Brad Smith, Experian’s director of automotive market statistics. “While I’m sure the auto industry would like to continue this growth annually, it is important to continually monitor data trends and economic indicators to identify shifts in demand and adjust business strategies accordingly.”
 
Further insight from the data showed that, while there is now a near-identical volume of vehicles registered, consumer buying habits have changed over the past nine years. For example, crossover utility vehicles account for nearly 24 percent of the market in 2015, up more than 100 percent from 2006.
 

Segment	2006 Market share	2015 Market share
Crossover utility vehicle	11.9 percent	23.9 percent
Midrange car	26.5 percent	22.0 percent
Pickup	17.5 percent	14.2 percent
Small car	11.1 percent	13.3 percent
Sport utility vehicle	13.3 percent	11.5 percent
Upscale car	6.5 percent	5.4 percent
Van	8.1 percent	5.1 percent
Sports car	3.5 percent	3.0 percent
Alternative power car	0.7 percent	1.7 percent