Latest Trend: African-American Auto Sales Increased 68% More Than the Mainstream Market in 2010

Toyota led all automotive brands among new vehicle purchases by African-Americans in 2010, according to Polk. Total new vehicle registrations among this audience reached 641,090, an increase of 11.5 percent over 2009 -- and represented 7.4 percent of all new vehicle registrations in 2010. Furthermore, the African-American market volume increase was 68.6 percent greater than the non-ethnic market increase of 6.8 percent.

"With the U.S. population growing faster in the African-American segment than others, there's a significant opportunity for automotive manufacturers and dealers to begin to align marketing initiatives toward this specific audience," said Marc Bland, product strategist at Polk. "Those companies that are ahead of the curve, like Toyota, are already reaping the rewards."

Brand Performance among African-Americans

The top five brands account for 60 percent of the African-American market, each with more than 10 percent share. Ford and Chevrolet joined Toyota to round out the top three. The complete top 10 is as follows:

Brand Percentage of African-American market

Toyota 15.0%

Ford 11.7%

Chevrolet 11.4%

Honda 11.3%

Nissan 10.2%

Hyundai 5.6%

Kia 4.2%

Dodge 4.0%

GMC 2.8%

Volkswagen 2.2%