Thinking about the recent thread of Buickman's "Return To Greatness" and the struggles GM has in overcoming the perception gap they face with import automakers, I decided to conduct my own little, very unscientific, yet real-world look at demand for GM cars in my little corner of the world in southern California.

I took 30-40 minutes today and drove through some of the parking lots at the Aliso Viejo Town Center in my city and counted 237 cars. The Town Center is a mix of retail, bars, restaurants, and a 20-screen theatre adjacent to numerous office parks and a medical center.

In case you are curious about the demographics and population of this area......Aliso Viejo (pop. 43,721) is a greater-L.A. area suburb located in the southern portion of Orange County (pop. 3,105,556.)

A.V. is located 3 miles from the Pacific Ocean, 48 miles south of downtown Los Angeles, 77 miles north of downtown San Diego, and interestingly enough, just 6 miles from Ford's P.A.G. headquarters in Irvine.

Median age, 31. Males, 47.6%. Married, 60.7%. Median household income, $80,245/yr. Median home price, $637,000. Please keep in mind that this area is predominantly caucasian and predominately Republican. (I.E....not much hispanic and/or asian influence in car-buying habits.)

Here's what I found........out of 237 cars and trucks......

Total Domestic (NOT including "overseas" brands such as Volvo.)
71 cars for 30.0%

Total Asian (including 1 Hyundai Sonata and no other Korean.)
116 cars for 48.9%

Total European
50 cars for 21.1%

To break it down by certain brands of interest..........

Toyota (Toyota, Lexus, Scion) - 51 cars for 21.5%

Honda (Honda, Acura) - 35 cars for 14.8%

GM (Bu, Olds, Cad, Chev, GMC, Pont., Hummer) - 20 cars for 8.4%

Mercedes-Benz - 19 cars for 8.0%

BMW - 10 cars for 4.2%

NOTE......Out of the 20 total GM cars, I did not count ONE Buick.....nor any new Impalas, G6s, HHRs, Cobalts, etc. I'd say 90-95% of those 20 GM vehicles were full-size SUVs and Pickups.

Also NOTE.....there was only ONE less Mercedes-Benz in the lots than TOTAL GM entries.

I'll reiterate.....TOTAL GM marketshare in my (admittingly) small and unscientific survey.....8.4%.

I'll ASSURE you that my area is not alone in this.....and neither is California alone in this....it's happening in MANY places around the country.

It would be interesting to see the mix in this same parking lot circa 1970 when GM was "Mark of Excellence" and Cadillac was "Standard of the World", or to see how many Fords or Chryslers would be present for that matter.

I love this little experiment. Perhaps each of us in our own corner of the country could do the same thing? I'll be on it tomorrow.

i would like to conduct the same in my area, although my area has a bit higher income and probably a bit higher age... average house is about 2.5 million but of the 750 home owners in my comunity... i'd the breakdown was near 25% toyotas/Lexus 10% hondas/Acuras 25% Mercedies benz, probably half of the people with a mercedies also have a suburban so... 12% GM, I'd also venture to say BMW, Volvo, Jaguar, and Porshe have a 15% marketshare, about 1% ferrari and lamborgini, that leaves 12 percent to chysler and ford to fight over, but i want to say 12% of the two of them is too much... but that is just a guess... Socal sucks for Domestic....

I'm in a similar position as you newbiewar...Most cars are imports, majority being lexi, then BMW and MB...As far as SUV's go, there are a lot of RR's, X5's, GX's, and RX's. But the big SUV's and trucks like that tend to all be GM for the most part...between denalis and escalades and a few navigators thrown in for good measure...If it's a domestic car, it is a sports car like a vette, viper, or mustang...or it's a 300c maybe...don't see much else...

I'm in a similar position as you newbiewar...Most cars are imports, majority being lexi, then BMW and MB...As far as SUV's go, there are a lot of RR's, X5's, GX's, and RX's. But the big SUV's and trucks like that tend to all be GM for the most part...between denalis and escalades and a few navigators thrown in for good measure...If it's a domestic car, it is a sports car like a vette, viper, or mustang...or it's a 300c maybe...don't see much else...

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Ditto here in Laguna Beach...throw in a few dozen Continental GT's (now a yawner-unfortunately), several Phantoms, a few Maybachs, and Porsche GT's...but most of those homes also have a Range Rover (not for long ala Ford marketing decisions) or a blinged out Escalade or Denali in the garage too. That would do it for the domestics. I have seen a few older people around town with Sim-cons and Vogues on there STS's...YEAH BABY!
People are just now getting over the Flying Spur frenzy and are jockying for new S-classes. Those will be a dime a dozen in about 8 months. Man I feel broke (er)all of the sudden.

Interesting... I guess it's only fair if I conduct my own as well. Right here in Brookville, Pa. I'm thinking it's going to have a bit different results... But just a bit. If that means the total opposite to you, that is...

I'm thinking of doing it here in Chicago, too. I think my results will be very different, to say the least.

lol i could goto my dealer and count about 800 GM products... :lol: no but for real... i'll do a parking lot check in a few days... and tell you what i come up with... cause my community isnt exactly the norm... lexus is normal, but my community doesnt represent the city...

Being a masochist, I do this all the time when I am walking my dog (I live in downtown Toronto). In any line of parked cars, the domestics account for no more than 30%. The Asians are by far the biggest grouping. In Rosedale, Toronto's richest neighborhood, domestics are even rarer, although the European marques are the most noticeable. GM is getting it from above and below: Toyota is the midde ground, Hyundai and Kia from the bottom and Audi/BMW from above. I am becoming more and more pessimistic with GM's chances of long term survival. The recent AJAC awards up here in the boonies have depressed the crap out of me. IMpala came in dead last for Best New Family Car (under $35k).

Of course, living here in California for nine years, I'm used to this area being import-dominated. But when I did my count, even I was shocked by the lack of General Motors cars. Driving around L.A., of course, I see Cadillacs on the freeways.....and you see a few "W" bodies.....new Impalas and LaCrosses......a few HHRs and Cobalts.....G6s....but as you look closer and closer, most of those have rental barcodes in the side windows. I didn't even see a new Fusion/Milan, etc. I think there were one or two DCX LX cars in my count....but that was IT for domestic cars (non-trucks.) When I did the count in Aliso Viejo, (not being a "tourist" area) I realized a more true representation of what people actually drive as their own car (hence I didn't see any rental vehicles in the count).....and it's not GM vehicles at all with the exception of full-size SUVs and Pickups. I plan on repeating my count....at different locals....(Irvine Spectrum, various office parks around town....and if I get time, the parking garage at John Wayne/Orange County airport.) I'd love to hear what other parts of the country come up with....!

I'd love to hear what other parts of the country come up with....!

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Sounds like a cool experiment... I'll do one for the South Bay area (PV, Torrance, Redondo/Hermosa/Manhattan, etc.)