During the week of Cinco de Mayo, it’s a good time to look at one of the fastest-growing car markets. The Hispanic and Latino population in the U.S. topped more than 68 million, according to 2025 U.S. Census data, representing nearly 20% of the total population.
Zooming in: Over the past decade, the population has seen its spending power soar, with Latino wages and salary income growing by 61.5% between 2010 and 2023. The now $4.1 trillion U.S. Latino economy is fertile ground for the U.S. auto market.
But it’s not just individuals and households where the Latino spending power is growing. The Stanford 2025 State of Latino Entrepreneurship shows:
Almost 10% of businesses are now Latino-owned.
Between 2017 and 2023 alone, there was a 48% increase in Latino-owned businesses, adding 976,000 jobs as a result.
Why this matters: Those stats point out the growing opportunity for dealers in the Hispanic market.
Camilo Alfaro, CEO and Founder of Autoproyecto, points out that 25% of U.S. auto sales are made by Hispanic buyers, though the market is not always utilized by brands and dealers. It’s actually above 30% of vehicle registrations in the Southwest, according to S&P Global.
“They don’t truly understand the importance of the market. 68% of the automotive growth comes from the Spanish market.”
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What they’re saying: Capitalizing on the Hispanic market takes relating to and identifying with the culture.
Data shared by Nielsen from its 2023 “We Are All Human and Hispanic Sentiment Study, powered by Toluna,” stated 84% of Latinos favored brands that play a positive role in their community, and 63% say they’re more likely to buy from brands that feature people like them in their advertising.
“If you speak to them culturally in a way that connects with them, they’re more prone to buy your product,” Alfaro said. “That’s really important. That means that you need to speak to somebody in a way that they will respond…If you want to cultivate an audience, you need to speak to them in a way that they feel that you care about them.”
Take Spanish-language ads as an example. According to a 2021 SurgeMetrix survey:
79% of Hispanic respondents said they would likely visit a car dealer who advertises in Spanish
43% stated they would travel further to shop for a car if a dealership advertised to them in Spanish.
With referrals being some of the best leads, 79% of all respondents said that they are moderately to extremely likely to refer a customer to a dealer who speaks Spanish.
Alfaro has also been asked by dealers about reaching Hispanic men in marketing. He points out, and is supported by HispanicAd.com, that it’s Latinas who are the primary decision-makers in vehicle purchases. Knowing that, Alfaro suggests focusing on safety features, accommodating a growing family, and “how automobile purchase will improve their lives.”
Why this all matters: As dealers look to grow their sales and reach in the market, additional focus and advertising spend in the Hispanic market could be the key, according to Alfaro.
“Every once in a while, you get some people who really want to kill it and want to hit their sales goals. Those are the ones that you see that are really doing a huge focus in Hispanic marketing,” Alfaro said.
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