Hispanic Media in the Driver’s Seat

After 10 years, two car crashes and 80,000 miles of fun, my car has finally died.

Like millions of other Hispanic consumers, I am officially in the market for a new car.*  And now I have lots of places to go for automotive information in both Spanish and English.

Auto manufacturers have courted Hispanic consumers for years and are among the most sophisticated and innovative Hispanic marketers.  You may recall that last year Toyota aired the first-ever bilingual ad during the Super Bowl.  And to me it’s no coincidence that a popular pick-up truck from Dodge is named after a state in Mexico:  Durango.

According to Ad Age, car companies are among the largest Hispanic media spenders.  In 2006, five of the top 15 advertisers were car companies, as were four of the top 10 advertisers on Hispanic media sites.

On the editorial side, there are many choices for automotive information geared to Hispanics, including the automotive sections of newspapers and Web portals, magazines such as Sobre Ruedas and Motor Trend en Español, and Web sites such as Aceleración.com and Conduciendo.com.

Now if only I could find a site to haggle for me.

* = Here’s an interesting look at what drives the purchase process for Hispanic new vehicle buyers.