Kate07
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Honda Accord is Long Island's most popular car
Long Islanders have their own way of talking, their own madcap way of driving and, some new figures show, tastes in cars that sometime differ significantly from those in other regions of the country.
While America's best-selling vehicle is a Ford pickup truck, Long Island's is -- the envelope please -- the Honda Accord, according to registration figures for Nassau and Suffolk counties from the automotive information provider R.L. Polk & Co. of Southfield, Mich.
Polk said more than 2,000 new Accords were registered in the two counties in the first three months of this year.
The Accord is popular everywhere, of course -- it's Consumer Reports' most highly rated family sedan, for example. But nationally, even when the coupe is lumped in with the sedan, the Accord was in fourth place in sales during those three months, according to market researchers J.D. Power and Associates of Westlake Village, Calif.
America's longtime best selling vehicle is the Ford F-Series -- a full size pickup truck that swallows plywood like kids swallow groceries. But on Long Island the F-Series ranked 17th in January, February and March.
One obvious reason: not much ranching or farming left on Long Island.America's favorite passenger car is the Toyota Camry. But, Polk's figures say both the Accord and the Nissan Altima outsell the Camry on Long Island, even with the Camry Solara coupe included.
One factor in that has nothing to do with Long Island's unique tastes, says J.D. Power auto analyst Tom Libby; many of Toyota's sales nationally are to rental and other fleets, he says. Honda and Nissan do less fleet business. Another factor might be price. This is the final model year for this generation of Accord. Honda dealers say -- and local Toyota officials admit -- that Honda is offering some very attractive leasing deals. "We have a strong program to lease the Accord and Long Islanders tend to lease more than a lot of other areas of the country," said general manager Francis Lomenzo of Huntington Honda.
And Howard Plotkin, general manager of Advantage Nissan in Hicksville, says price usually is more important than style for family car buyers. "They could change it or not change it -- as long as it's the right price," he said.
Sometimes, industry experts say, it's the skill of local dealers that make the differences between sales strength nationally and locally. Physician's assistant Amanda Ulmer of Floral Park, for example, said it was a friend's endorsement of Millenium Toyota in Hempstead that brought her into the showroom. "I saw the Camry and fell in love with it," Ulmer, 26, said.
That might help explain why the Ford Explorer is the top-selling SUV nationally but Long Islanders favor the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Said Adam Murfree, Chrysler-Jeep marketing manager for the northeast, "We do have an exceptional group of retailers on Long Island," he said.
Some of the differences, though, between Long Island's top picks and those of the nation as a whole have to do, Libby says, with a bias on the East and West coasts toward foreign brands -- or, to put it less charitably, an aversion to American brands.
Foreign brand cars -- many of which, including most Accords and Camrys sold here, are assembled in the United States -- are taking a growing share of the whole U.S. market; nationally seven in 10 passenger cars have foreign nameplates. But on Long Island, it's eight in 10.
In light trucks such as SUVs, foreign brands account for four in 10 sold nationally but more than five in 10 on Long Island, according to the Polk figures.
Libby notes that foreign automakers made their first inroads on the coasts. He notes also that Americans on the coasts are less likely than those in the heartland to work for GM, Ford or Chrysler or even know anyone who does, except at franchised dealerships. "There's a grassroots loyalty in the Midwest to the domestics that does not exist and never did exist on the coasts." Libby said.
Ulmer, the new Camry owner, says it's not important where a car is produced. "I don't really think about that," she said. "I think more about how the car is going to run and going to last me."
A factor everywhere in the growing strength of foreign brands is the belief that Japanese models always are better built than cars from U.S.-based automakers -- a perception that Power's studies indicate is out of date.
In one survey, for example, measuring "dependability" over three years by querying thousands of owners, Mercury, Buick and Cadillac vehicles score higher than Toyotas or Hondas. And all three of those domestic brands plus Ford and Chrysler score higher than Nissan.
The picture no longer is a simple one.
Still, some Long Islanders say they never seriously considered a GM, Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler Group product. "It sounds terrible to say," said Carannante, who owned a troublesome Chrysler more than a decade ago, "but I have no confidence in them as far as reliability and efficiency." The only "American" vehicle on Long Islanders' top 10 in January, February and March was the Grand Cherokee. Dentist Jeffrey Kerman of Setauket is on his second one, in which he commutes to his offices in the Bronx and in Miller Place. "I had an '03 Grand Cherokee and I never had a single problem with that car," he said. "I mean never, just normal maintenance, brakes, changed the oil and the car was great." Another reason for his loyalty, he says, is his dealership, Smith Haven Chrysler Jeep Dodge in St. James. "Their service department is wonderful," Kerman said. "They take great care of me."
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
Message edited 6/12/2007 11:51:52 AM.
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