Toyota Rules in America: CarMax Report on US Aftermarket Trends

The largest seller of used cars in the United States, controlling 14% of the market (with turnover more than 800K cars per year), published interesting sales statistics for 2023. Compared to 2017, the industry has changed significantly.

CarMax has released used car sales data for the 2023 calendar year and provided some insights into consumer preferences.

The experts compared this data with similar one from 2017. The comparison turned out to be quite interesting since there have been major changes in the automotive market over the past 5 years.

“The habits of car buyers have changed dramatically over the past 5-year period,” says CarMax CEO William Nash. “It happened due to economic instability, technological advances, environmental considerations, trade policy, and the emergence of new brands and car models. And finally, the pandemic and wars.” 

1) Every fifth buyer remains loyal to one brand.

Approximately 19% of buyers, when changing a car, prefer to purchase another car of the same brand as their previous one. Another 81% of buyers are looking for something else. 

2) Japanese brands have the most loyal customers.

The trend has remained the same since 2017, but loyalty to specific brands has changed over the years. 5 years ago Lexus had the most devoted fans, but now the #1 people's car is Toyota, previously content with 5th position in the ranking of American automobile preferences. Lexus, however, is still in the top 3. Second place goes to Mercedes – no changes here.

There is a newcomer in the top 5 - the American brand Ram, which has soared to the 4th spot, although it was not even in the top 10 in 2017.

3) Americans prefer luxury brands.

In both 2017 and 2023, luxury brands accounted for more than half of the top 10 most-loved cars in the United States. Only Infiniti dropped out, moving from 9th to 25th place - a true disaster!

It’s difficult to gauge how much has the loyalty towards fifth-place Tesla has dropped, since CarMax only began selling their EVs in 2018 so they simply weren’t included in the 2017 rankings. 

4) The most popular car is the Toyota Prius.

Toyota can boast not only having the most loyal American customers (28.5%), but also their passion for a specific model - the Toyota Prius hybrid. A lot of owners have a nickname for their favorite car, and buy it again and again.

5) Three-quarters of buyers prefer SUVs.

A CarMax study found growing demand for SUVs, a trend that's over 10 years old but still growing. Consumers view SUVs as more versatile vehicles. They are easier to fit in; higher ground clearance provides good off-road capability as well as a better view of the road.

“71.1% of customers who sell their SUVs buy that type of vehicle again. The strengthening of the trend is evidenced by the fact that in 2017 the figure was 61%,” the company states.

Second place in terms of loyalty belongs to four-door pickups (45.9%), followed by four-door sedans (35.3%).

Sources: Forbes.com, Carmax.com