USA Today recently reported that American cars are more popular than foreign cars in the American heartland, while along the coasts, the west coast in particular, American cars are much less popular.
In fact, San Francisco and nearby San Jose have the strongest preference for both Asian and European car models, and the least interest in models from Detroit's Big 3, says the survey conducted by CarGurus.com, a Cambridge, Mass.-based online car shopping information site.
At least metro Detroit is loyal to those Big 3. It's the town where interest is highest in models from General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler, followed by heartland bastions such as Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh.
At the same time, Detroiters are also the least likely to drive Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mazda, Subaru or Mitsubishi models, which account for 15% of the local market. Detroit is the only out of 51 metro areas where Japanese automakers have less than 29%.