After billions of dollars and tons of effort invested in lowering the average age of Cadillac and Buick buyers, both General Motors brands have yet to completely overcome the age obstacle. In a recent survey held by IHS Automotive, these brands have among the eldest client base in America.
The official top five results are as follows: Lincoln’s consumers average 61 years old, Buick follows with 60.3 years of age, and Cadillac and Bugatti tie for third spot at 59.5 years. Lexus rounded out the top five with an average age of 56.9.
Thankfully, this is not all bad news for Buick. In the last five years, Buick has actually reduced the average age of its customers by 1.1 years, an impressive feat when one realizes that in the same time period, U.S. consumers’ average age has increased by nearly a year across the board. This achievement makes Buick one of four auto brands who have successfully reduced the average age of its buyers.
This statistic doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story, though, as volume continues to be a major focus. In fact, both Cadillac and Buick have experienced a recent increase of sales and, more impressively, many of these sales are coming from buyers who are entirely new to each brand.
So what is the key to reversing the aging trend? Well, there is certainly no silver bullet, but Cadillac and Buick both have a simple approach: to build quality vehicles, have a healthy advertising budget, and pray for good sales results.
Comments
And I have people tell me the value in maintaining the Sloan ladder.
What can GM do to get those ages lower? The younger luxury buyer wants satisfaction now, not in their late 50’s.
Mercedes and BMW also have older average ages. Young people on average cannot afford lux cars. Older people have the money and can afford the Lux vehicles.
Having an older clientele is no problem, as long as the average age does not go up every year and that is what the issue was with Buick 10 years ago.
Here is what they were in 2009. Expensive cars bought by older and cheap cars bought by younger.
Rolls-Royce
62.9
Lincoln
62.8
Buick
60.8
Mercedes
58.7
Chrysler
56.4
Mercury
55.1
Cadillac
53.4
Jaguar
49.8
Lexus
49.4
BMW
46.1
Ferrari
45.6
Hummer
45.6
Acura
45.3
GMC
44.4
Saab
44.4
Pontiac
43.4
Porsche
43.4
Dodge
42.9
Chevrolet
42.7
Honda
41.9
Toyota
41.9
Infiniti
41.6
Mitsubishi
41.3
Volvo
40.3
Ford
39.7
Land Rover
38.9
VW
38.7
Jeep
37.6
Nissan
35.1
Mazda
34.6
Suzuki
33.2
Isuzu
32.7
Subaru
31.7
Saturn
30.9
Hyundai
29.8
Kia
28.1
im getting a kia k900 tomorrow. sell my junky old mans deville as im only 26.
Perfect. Kia is meant for those who want a good car at a cheap price.
With the coming models this will change. We have only a couple new Cadillac models and they have to earn their place in the market yet. They are the first of the real deal cars for once and have to earn the younger buyers trust and desire.
Buick has just started to work on their new line up. Right now they have lived on old Buick and Rehashed older Opel’s. The new cars will play right to the Opel/Buick sector that is targeting a much younger buyer. Just look at the advertising and they are just now starting to show that these cars are not for you grandmother anymore. It too will take some time to earn market respect.
You have to earn a rep as you can not just design it, style it or buy it. I think many will be shocked at the coming Buicks.
As of late, GM has begun calling Buick either ‘near luxury’ or premium–what a considering Buick should be positioned against Lincoln.
I still think GM planners are focusing closely on Buick in case Caddy fails to achieve greater volume. While a Buick costs less, it is based on shared platforms that spread costs between Chevy, Opel, and Buick which reduces production cost.
I hate Buick, and wouldn’t be caught dead in one!
I’m on the side of the age not being so important as the perception. Its natural that older people are going to buy these cars because they are not exactly cheap transportation. The key though is attracting both younger people who are affluent enough to buy them and get those that arent to lust after the product and keep them hooked until they can buy.
I don’t care who makes the expensive cars, more older people can afford them so more people drive them. This does not only apply to GM. This article is misleading.
Across the board, you would be correct but the article is not misleading, simply a factual statement that Cadillac and Buick have the oldest client base in the business. Perhaps not by a massive margin, but still relevant in the market.
cadillac and buick ftw. older crowd gonna love them. i dont buy no lincoln or mercury, dere junk imo.