Editor's note: Scott Pimley is director, solutions architecture, of Maritz Research, St. Louis. He can be reached at 310-783-4320 or at scott.pimley@maritz.com. This article appeared in the July 11, 2011, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

Interest in the gay and lesbian automotive market has increased in recent years, as OEM and dealership personnel have realized that new strategies will be needed to appropriately target these groups. However, little market intelligence about gays and lesbians has been available,   because historically researchers have considered asking people about their sexual preference to be too sensitive.

Realizing the deficit produced by not knowing how gays and lesbians feel about their automotive purchases, starting with the 2009 model year, Maritz Research included a question about sexual orientation in its New Vehicle Customer Study (NVCS). This study focuses on many aspects of automotive buyer behavior, including product evaluation, shopping experience, vehicle attitudes and demographics.

Three issues

In this article, we will discuss three issues that are often top-of-mind for both OEMs and their dealerships. First, we look at market share in the aggregate, assessing differences in how gay men, lesbians, straight men and straight women allocate their purchases between Asian, domestic and European manufacturers. We will also examine the proportion of premium vehicles purchased by each of these groups. Second, we assess whether gays and lesbians report similar levels of satisfaction with sales/lease experiences compared to their straight counterparts. Finally, we will investigate brand loyalty for each of the sexuality/gender groups. 

The data for this study are drawn from Maritz Research's NVCS, using data for model year 2009, covering the period from October 2008 through September 2009. The study was nationally representative of individuals purchasing or leasing vehicles during the model year and covers the period of early ownership, as most respondents completed it within a couple of months of purchase. The sample included over 200,000 respondents. The study did not contain categories for either bisexual or transgendered individuals. When discussing Asian, American and European vehicles we used a traditional approach to classifying brands (e.g., Jaguar is classified as European although the brand is now owned by an Asian company).

Market share

An OEM's market share is a key indicator of how well a brand is performing. Thus, if a brand has lower market share in some groups than others, this is important for automotive personnel to know. Figure 1 shows the origins of the vehicles purchased for each sexuality/gender group. Here we see some rather dramatic differences between groups. The most striking difference is that for lesbians, 70 percent of their purchases are Asian vehicles - a number far higher than that for other groups. Gay men are significantly more likely than those in other groups to purchase European vehicles, with nearly one-fourth doing so. Domestic vehicles are most popular with straight men, less so with other groups. It is clear that these groups' attitudes and behavior are in alignment: Analysis of attitudinal data suggests that gay men and especially lesbians are more likely to reject domestic vehicles, while their straight counterparts are far less likely to do so.

Next, we examined the proportion of premium vehicles purchased by each of the sexuality/gender groups (Figure 2). The premium market is of particular interest because this is a vehicle segment that typically attracts those with more disposable income. The key takeaway is that gay men far surpass those in other groups, with 23 percent purchasing premium vehicles. This makes sense when we examine income data on gay men, who have an average annual household income that is roughly $10,000 more than that for the next-highest group (i.e., straight men). Also, our data suggest that gay men are more interested than those in other groups in styling, quality of workmanship, accessories and in having a car that is fun to drive, all of which they are perhaps more likely to find on premium vehicles.

Satisfaction with sales/lease experience and vehicle

Satisfaction with both the sales/lease experience and the vehicle itself are crucial in promoting dealership, brand and vehicle engagement. If particular sexuality/gender groups stand out, either positively or negatively, on either type of satisfaction, this is important to know. Figure 3 shows the levels of satisfaction experienced by each sexuality/gender group for the sales/lease experience and for the vehicle itself. Lesbians are the group least satisfied with the sales experience, while the other groups score similarly in terms of satisfaction with the sales/lease experience. Exactly why this is the case is not immediately obvious and a study focusing on the reasons behind lesbians' lower sales satisfaction is needed. On the other hand, vehicle satisfaction appears to vary little, with about half of all purchasers completely satisfied with their vehicle.

Loyalty

OEMs are always very interested in keeping customers in the fold and thus pay a great deal of attention to loyalty rates. In Figure 4 we show the proportion of recent vehicle buyers who are loyal to a brand, either based on purchasing the same brand of vehicle which they disposed or owning another vehicle of this same brand. The results show that there is virtually no variability in loyalty across gender/sexuality group, with roughly one-third of vehicle buyers in each group remaining loyal to their brand regardless. In short, sexual preference and gender appear to play no role in brand loyalty. 

We also examined whether those in each of the sexuality/gender groups remain loyal by vehicle origin. Figure 5 shows loyalty for each sexuality/gender group for Asian, American and European brand vehicles. Keep in mind that these figures represent loyalty to a particular brand. Thus, an individual who disposed of a Chevrolet and then purchased a Ford would be considered disloyal. Loyalty is highest for American vehicles and straight men are most likely to be loyal to particular American brands, with lesbians the least likely to be loyal to these brands. For Asian brands all sexuality/gender groups report similar levels of loyalty. Gay men report the highest level of loyalty for European brands while lesbians report the lowest.

Finally, we assess loyalty in premium brands. Figure 6 presents the proportion of customers who remain loyal to premium brands. Sexual orientation and gender do not appear to make a difference for loyalty to premium brands, with slightly more than one-third of all premium vehicle purchasers remaining loyal to their brand.

Should be cognizant

Clearly, different groups have different vehicle brands in which they are likely to concentrate and dealerships selling these brands should be cognizant that they are more or less likely to be selling to different sexuality/gender groups. 

While vehicle satisfaction is consistent across groups, lesbians are less likely than others to indicate complete satisfaction with their purchase or lease experience. Exactly what accounts for this is not clear but sales associates may wish to consider how they may be providing sexuality/gender groups with different - and in some cases lower-quality - sales or lease experiences.  Some of this may be that different groups have different needs, so avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach is a strategy worth considering here. 

When we examine loyalty, initially it appears that sexuality/gender groups are similar in terms of loyalty. However, when we investigate loyalty within vehicle origin categories, we find that straight men are most likely to be loyal to American brands, with lesbians least likely to be so. Interestingly, while they most often buy Asian vehicles, lesbians are just average in terms of their loyalty to Asian brands. On the other hand, gay men, who are particularly likely to purchase European brands, are also most likely to remain loyal to them. Information on the likelihood to switch or remain loyal within vehicle origin group is something that dealerships should find useful when thinking about how to retain customers.

The reasons why

Unfortunately, within the scope of the analysis, it has been impossible to get at the reasons behind the differences we found. Gay people are more likely to have completed college or obtained an advanced degree than their straight counterparts and gays - especially gay men - are far more likely to live in urban environments than straights. The gays in our study also tended to be a bit younger than straights and by far gay men have the highest household incomes of all four groups. Finally, we found that gay men were more likely to stress styling, innovation, quality of workmanship and having a vehicle that is fun to drive more than those in other groups.

Of course, not all vehicle customers wear their sexual orientation on their sleeves so using the information presented in this article may not always be easy. However, recent history suggests that openness is growing and having insight as to what particular groups of individuals are more likely to want in terms of the brands they purchase; their likelihood to remain loyal; and their satisfaction with both the vehicle and the sales lease experience may prove useful. However, it must be stressed that as with all statistical data, we are only talking about probabilities. All individuals, regardless of sexuality and gender, have their own specific automotive needs.