Almost exactly two years ago, research firm IHS Automotive released a study on the average age of people who buy car brands sold in the United States. America’s top two luxury brands, Cadillac and Lincoln — from General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), respectively — are among the five vehicles bought by the oldest part of the car buying population. Today, the two brands still face the problem.
The five brands, listed beginning with the oldest average age of buyers, according to the study, were Cadillac (61 years old), exotic Bugatti (59.5 years old, and a brand that sells only a few hundred cars a year), Lincoln (59.5), Toyota Motor Corp.’s (NYSE: TM) Lexus (56.9) and Jaguar (56.6).
More recent information shows the trouble has not changed by much, at least not for the U.S. companies, which have struggled to move their sales numbers higher and buyer ages lower. Lincoln’s sales have increased 17.1% through April to 34,681 but remain well behind category sales leaders BMW, Mercedes and Lexus. Cadillac’s sales fell 11.5% to 46,869 during the same period.
Earlier this year, in a story about Cadillac sales in China, Reuters pointed out:
Cadillac says the average age of a buyer of its cars in China is 34, little more than half the average age in the U.S.
Cadillac acknowledged earlier this year that its buyers are at the old end of the spectrum of owners:
The average age of buyers in 2015 was 57, says a Caddy spokesman.
Lincoln’s problem is nearly identical, but the average age of its buyers apparently has dropped over time. According to the Detroit Free Press:
Critics of traditional American luxury brands such as Lincoln (and Cadillac for that matter) often point to their aging buyer demographics as evidence that they are doomed to fail. But in Lincoln’s case at least, the trend is reversed. In 2008 the brand’s average buyer was 67; today that number’s down to 58. That’s still a few years shy of the overall luxury car buyer’s average age of 54, but it’s headed in the right direction.
Cadillac and Lincoln may have gained some on the age index, but not enough to keep them out of the “oldest buyers” category.
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