Being Near Rich Doesn't Change Taste In Cars

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Affluent Car Buyers Are Surprisingly More Practical Than Indulgent

Washington DC August 22, 2016; The AIADA said that Forbes reported that new-vehicle buyers at all income levels are fast shifting away from conventional passenger cars and toward far burlier modes of transportation, regardless of the nameplate.

Trucks and SUVs populate Edmunds' just-released lists of the most popular vehicles among those who make more and less than $250K, with vehicles in those categories taking nine of the top 10 spots among affluent buyers and six spots out of 10 among those bringing home less bacon.

Along with the Ford F-150, the Honda CR-V and Honda Accord landed on both income-level lists.

Only two bona fide luxury-branded models make the most-purchased list among affluent owners, the Lexus RX and BMW X5 crossover SUVs. "America's wealthiest car buyers are all-in on the trend toward bigger vehicles," says Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds.com's executive director of industry analysis. "And they're not just gravitating toward luxury brands – eight of the ten 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." Click here for more, including Edmunds' list of the 10 models that boast the highest percentage of buyers having annual incomes greater than $250,000.