Vehicle ownership trends

June 12,2009

The CBT used Boone County personal property tax records to analyze vehicle ownership trends from 2006 to 2008. Some highlights:

• The Ford F-Series pickup remains the most popular vehicle. The Toyota Camry, Honda Accord and Ford Taurus held the second through fourth spots. The most popular SUV is the Ford Explorer, and the most popular van is the Dodge Grand Caravan.
• The Ford Escape (14), moved the fastest up county rankings from 2006.
• The 10 most popular models in 2008, in order: Ford Escape, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, Ford F-Series pickup, Nissan Altima, Chevy Silverado, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Prius, Subaru Legacy and Chevy Impala.
• Two Ford vans, Windstar and E-Series, dropped 10 spots in 2008 rankings. Ford had a 5-percent growth increase from 2006.
• Mitsubishi ownership dropped 5.6 percent, the biggest decrease among the car companies.
• Although Kia and Hyundai have the largest percentage growth in ownership from 2006 to 2008 (47 percent and 38 percent respectively), they did not make the county’s top 50 vehicles. The rest of the top 10 companies in ownership growth are: Chrysler (32 percent), BMW (26 percent), Toyota (21 percent), Lexus (20 percent), Audi (20 percent), Honda (16 percent), Suzuki (16 percent) and Subaru (14 percent).
• Nationally Toyota in 2008 took over General Motors’ No. 1 spot in vehicle sales, but in Boone County the top three in order are: GM, Ford and Chrysler. Toyota is fourth.
• American models make up 66 percent of all vehicles, a one percent decrease from 2006.
• About 52 percent of Boone County residents own cars while 22 percent of them own trucks. Also, four out of the top 10 vehicles are trucks.
• Top 10 companies that experienced the largest ownership growth from 2001 to 2008, in order: Kia (376 percent), Lexus (235 percent), Hyundai (207 percent), Infiniti (142 percent), Suzuki (140 percent), BMW (97 percent), Subaru (94 percent), Saturn (92 percent), Chrysler (91 percent) and Toyota (53 percent).