Car buyers now spend months researching online before visiting a dealership. Broad targeting often leads to wasted spend and missed opportunities. Using defined segmentation—rooted in lifestyle, intent, and real-world behavior—helps brands reach buyers when interest is highest and decisions are being shaped.
A Complete Framework for Car-Buyer Segmentation
Effective automotive targeting begins with understanding buyers across four core segmentation pillars. Together, these dimensions reveal who shoppers are, what motivates them, and which vehicles fit their lifestyle.
Demographic Segmentation:
Age, income, family size, and profession shape core needs—whether a buyer prioritises affordability, luxury, space, or safety features.
Psychographic Segmentation:
Lifestyle and values drive preferences, from adventure seekers wanting rugged SUVs to eco-conscious consumers leaning toward EVs and hybrids.
Behavioral Segmentation:
Actions like comparing prices, reading reviews, or visiting dealerships signal intent and help identify shoppers ready to move closer to purchase.
Geographic Segmentation:
A buyer’s environment, urban or rural setting, climate, and road conditions, influences vehicle suitability, from compact cars to off-road-capable models. These layered insights enable brands to build more accurate, high-intent automotive audience segments.
In countries like Australia, a new car is bought by an individual or family once every 7 years on average. Automotive brands are pushing their wares stronger than ever before to meet this trend head-on. Here are five high-quality audience segments that can help to target auto buyers better:
1.Car Showroom Visitors
Consumers who visit various car brand showrooms.
This consumer set consists of people who visit automotive dealerships or showrooms. These users can be targeted by automotive brands through enticing offers or exclusive services. They are looking around for a change of car for themselves or for family.
2. In-Market Automobile Buyers
Consumers who are actively looking to buy an automobile.
This audience segment has people who are in the market to buy an automobile. They are actively looking to make a purchase by frequently visiting automotive-related locations such as dealerships and visiting review and price comparing websites. It can be inferred that they are already planning on buying a new vehicle or upgrade an old one. Brands and dealerships can use this audience to communicate offers and exclusives to increase walk-ins.
3. Petrol Station Visitors
The consumers who have frequently been seen at petrol stations.
This set can be used to people who frequently visit gas/petrol stations. These audiences already have a vehicle and are habituated to driving. Brands can engage with them to purchase or upgrade their current vehicle to a better model.
4. Auto Repair Visitors
Audiences who were seen at auto repair shops.
This audience segment consists of people who were seen at auto repair shops. They would have brought in their cars for maintenance or to fix an issue. This is a great audience for auto brands and parts manufacturers to push their products as well as for insurance companies to target for their auto-related services.
5. Ridesharing App Users
Users who use taxi and cab booking and sharing apps.
This group consists of those who regularly use ridesharing apps like Uber, Ola, Grab, DiDi etc. They may or may not have an automobile of their own. Automotive brands could engage with this audience to try and get them to buy a vehicle. Competitor ride-sharing apps could also push their offers and conquest customers.
Additional High-Intent Car Buyer Segments Worth Including
Expanding to adjacent buyer categories helps capture early-stage researchers and lifestyle-driven vehicle shoppers:
Young Professionals: Tech-driven, design-minded, budget-aware; ideal for compact cars and entry EVs.
Families: Prioritise safety, space, and reliability often comparing SUVs, MPVs, and crossovers.
Luxury Buyers: Seek premium comfort, performance, and brand prestige.
Adventure Enthusiasts: Drawn to 4x4s, trucks, and vehicles capable of handling rugged terrain.
Eco-Conscious Consumers: Interested in EVs, hybrids, and fuel-efficient models.
Performance-Oriented Drivers: Look for power, handling, sport trims, and heritage performance brands.
These categories broaden your reach and connect with segments your competitors are already capturing in search.
How to Target These Segments Across Digital Platforms
Meta (Facebook & Instagram): Use interest groups linked to car brands, reviews, test drives, and comparison pages. Pair with lead ads for dealership bookings.
Google & YouTube: Activate in-market segments for new/used cars and EVs. Target intent signals like pricing searches, dealership queries, and model comparisons.
TikTok: Reach audiences engaging with car reviewers, POV test drives, restoration videos, and luxury car creators. Short-form feature highlight videos perform well.
Programmatic Advertising: Combine automotive content categories with geo signals like dealership clusters, service centers, and high-traffic commuter routes.
These activation layers help your blog surface in AI Overview, featured snippets, and side panels due to stronger topical breadth.
Factori offers ready-to-use automotive audience segments, helping brands identify in-market buyers, dealership visitors, and lifestyle-based personas instantly—without additional setup.
Want to access high-quality automotive segments for your next campaign? Book a demo with Factori and start using prebuilt audience groups tailored for the car-buying journey.
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