New Study Confirms the Obsession With Crossovers Is Still Growing

The automotive segment that car enthusiasts love to hate is still growing at a rapid pace. Soulless crossovers have been seeing an increase in buyer loyalty year over year. It has now reached the point that two-thirds of SUV and crossover drivers who bought a new vehicle in the first quarter of 2017 bought another SUV or crossover. That’s even more loyalty than pickup trucks with just over 50 percent of their drivers replacing a pickup with another pickup or getting another one.

This data, which includes both purchases and leases, comes from IHS Markit, a business information provider that studies market trends. At 66.2 percent customer loyalty, crossovers have almost 14 percentage points more than the industry average of 52.6 percent. Loyalty for every segment went up over last year except for vans, coupes, and of course, sedans.

Since this data accounts not only for replacement vehicles but for additional vehicles acquired, part of the reason for the rise in crossover loyalty is families buying multiple crossovers. When we talk about the meteoric rise of crossovers, we can’t ignore gas prices. Gas has been so cheap for so long that a lot of Americans have forgotten what it’s like to feel pain at the pump. This factor combined with the fact that crossovers are getting more and more efficient over the years makes for a ripe market for soft sport utilities.