The renewed interest in pickup trucks from one key consumer group appears to be helping to improve the segment's health, which has seen its fair share of trouble this year.
Whom do these shoppers represent?
Based on surveys conducted from June to August, CNW Research suggested that contractors, farmers and ranchers have become increasingly more interested in buying new pickups over the last three months.
More specifically, 12 percent of these consumers are now actively considering purchasing a pickup, versus just 7 percent in May.
Moreover, 13.2 percent of all new-vehicle sales in August were pickups, the segment's highest share of the year.
"Some of these sales are simply because the deals have been so good it's hard to pass up a new vehicle when you know the current one is going to need replacing at some point in the near future," indicated Art Spinella, president of CNW.
"Better, the thinking goes, to buy new, park the old and wait for the used-car market to strengthen before selling the pre-owned model," he added.
Web Trends Among Vehicle Buyers
Moving on, CNW also examined the Internet's growing role in the purchasing process. According to CNW's data, roughly 15.4 million of the 58 million new and used vehicles sold in 2007 (or 26.6 percent) were linked in some way to Web marketing efforts.
In 1996, for example, only 2.3 percent of sales involved the Internet. That figure has steadily climbed this decade, jumping from 3.7 percent in 2000 to 23.5 percent in 2006.
Moreover, 54 percent of vehicle buyers last year had Internet access. Among those who could use the Web, more than a third (34 percent) had high-speed connection compared with just 3.6 percent in 1996.
The study also indicated that e-mail was the most popular for vehicle buyers at 43.9 percent, with shopping at 26.9 percent and news at 15.1 percent.
In 1996, however, 72.4 percent of consumers used the Internet primarily for e-mail, 6.1 percent relied on it for shopping and 4.1 percent accessed it for news.
"The Internet is a Sears Wish Book and becoming more so as a growing percentage of Americans use it for shopping," Spinella added.
"The problem, however, is finding the right mix of online sites to associate with, especially since so much of that shopping is done at work where printing out information is difficult or against company policy."
Americans Driving SUVs More
According to CNW, households with an SUV in the family drove an annualized 6,242 miles in August, a 28.3-percent increase from July.
Meanwhile, those with budget or small cars drove 11,604 annualized miles, a 4.8-percent decline from the previous month.
CNW attributed some of the spike in SUV driving to vacation season, where larger vehicles are needed to haul luggage and more passengers. Granted, CNW indicated that data from September and October will provide a better overall picture as to where that pattern is headed.
However, officials went on to indicate that the drop in gas prices in August also played a role.
"There is little doubt that the rising gasoline prices were responsible for the mad dash away from SUVs and pickups and, conversely, shrinking gasoline prices are allowing people to dust off their large trucks and use them again, if not as much or as often as a year ago," Spinella noted.
"But all of this can change on a dime, or to be more accurate, on $4 gasoline. That remains the threshold where Americans say they will once again turn to smaller or more fuel efficient vehicles," he continued. "For now, family budgets have absorbed much of the higher gas prices — to a point. Another rapid run up will alter the reaction once again."
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