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.

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 t...