What Vehicles Do Gen X Buyers Prefer?

Many car buyers in Generation X — which is comprised of those born in the 1960s, 70s and early 80s — are now  thinking about the family’s needs when shopping, tend to live by a “work hard/play mentality” and actually have a stronger degree of purchasing power.

With these attributes and more in mind, TrueCar shared Tuesday the most popular car brands and models for this group of shoppers.

According to the company’s analysis, the No. 1 brand for percentage of buyers between ages 28 and 45 was Volkswagen (43.3 percent), followed by Land Rover (41.5 percent) and Audi (40.8 percent), respectively.

The top vehicle, meanwhile, was the Volkswagen Routan (66 percent), with the BMW M3 Sedan in second (63.6 percent). Nissan’s Quest (60 percent) and Armada (59.9 percent) followed.

Interestingly enough, eight of the top 10 models were either minivans or SUVs.

“Generation X consumers prefer vehicles that fit their changing lifestyles and helped spur the demand for automakers to build larger, roomier vehicles,” said Jesse Toprak, vice president of trends and analysis at TrueCar.com.

“This post baby boomer generation has greater purchasing power and values practical luxury and safety features for their families,” he added.

They also seem to prefer imports, as nine of the 10 most popular brands and nine of top 10 models were imports.

And as Toprak alluded to, they are also drawn to luxury vehicles, as brands like Land Rover (No. 2), Audi (No. 3), Infiniti (No. 6) and Acura (No. 7) all ranked in the top 10.

“Generation X buyers have a work hard/play hard mentality and chose cars that were comfortable and convenient for their lifestyle,” said Kristen Andersson, TrueCar automotive analyst. “They chose larger, more luxurious cars to take their families on vacations or kids to play soccer with ample room to store equipment and luggage.”

In conducting this research, TrueCar examined the purchasing behaviors of over 200,000 buyers during 2009 and 2010.

The company shed some more light on the trends in this group with the following tables: