Americans aren’t just buying more trucks and SUVs these days; they’re also apparently shoring up their loyalty to these vehicles. Consider this from the market-research firm IHS Markit: the SUV and crossover “loyalty rate” has grown from just under 53 percent in 2012 to more than 66 percent through the first four months of 2017. To come up with that figure, IHS Markit looked at new-vehicle purchases and leases from 2012 through April 2017 among owners who had also acquired a new vehicle within the past 10 years. It then looked at whether they chose the same body style when they returned to the marketplace.
The analysis does not distinguish between purchasers replacing a vehicle and those adding one to a fleet. The Michigan market-research firm also found that loyalty rates for pickup trucks are increasing, at 51 percent in 2017 through April compared with 43 percent in 2012. The rises in these segments necessarily means reductions elsewhere, and the most acute decrease is in the sedan segment. Sedan loyalty rates have fallen to just below 49 percent in the first four months of this year, down from 56 percent in 2012.
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According to IHS Markit data, two-thirds of sedan owners buying a new vehicle “defected” to the SUV and crossover segment in the first four months of 2017, which represents...