(April 14, 2011) SANTA MONICA, Calif. (PRNewswire) — TrueCar.com , the authoritative voice in new car pricing and industry trend information, today released a study based on Hispanic car-buying behavior in 2010 that shows import brands and models dominating the top 10 list. Hispanic car-buyers in 2010 made up seven percent of all new vehicle retail purchases in the U.S.

"The Hispanic market is very critical for automakers, being the fastest growing minority group in the U.S.," said Jesse Toprak, Vice President of Industry Trends and Insights at TrueCar.com. "The domestic automakers have some work ahead of them as the Asian brands have a stronghold on Hispanic car buyers."

Some of the key findings of the TrueCar.com study include:

    • The brand Hispanic car-buyers preferred most was Toyota (19.5 percent), followed by Honda (13.7 percent), and Nissan (11.9 percent). Domestic brands rounded out the top five with Chevrolet (9.4 percent) and Ford (9.3 percent).

    • Eight of the top 10 models purchased by Hispanic car-buyers were Japanese.  The top five vehicles purchased were the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and Ford F Series.

    • The brands with the highest growth among Hispanic buyers in 2010, compared to 2009 (with sales above 1,000 units) were Buick, Hyundai, Cadillac, Kia and GMC.

    • In 2010, among Hispanic buyers (age 18-34) when compared to all buyers from that age demographic, Mitsubishi was the most popular brand, followed by Nissan, Toyota, Suzuki and Honda.

    • The most popular vehicles in 2010 among Hispanic buyers (age 18-34) when compared to all buyers in that age group, placed the Nissan Sentra at the top of the list followed by the Toyota Yaris, Nissan Versa, Nissan Pathfinder and Scion tC.

TrueCar.com also examined the most current market prices and listed discounts for all of the brands and specific models in the Top 10 for Hispanic car-buyers. Below are the top 10 brands for all Hispanic car buyers.