An increasing number of SUV and crossover drivers are showing loyalty to this type of vehicle, according to a recent analysis by analytics firm IHS Markit. Nearly two-thirds of these drivers purchased or leased another SUV or crossover when returning to the market in the spring of 2017.

The analysis looked at new vehicle registrations in the United States between January and April of every year from 2012 to 2017. In general, driver loyalty to a particular vehicle type improved during this period. A total of 52.6 percent of all vehicle owners stayed with the same type of vehicle when re-entering the market in 2017, up from 47.6 percent in 2012.

SUVs and crossovers demonstrated the strongest loyalty, with 66.2 percent of their drivers purchasing the same type of vehicle in 2017. This was up from 52.9 percent in 2012.

Sedans had the strongest loyalty share in 2012, when 56.2 percent of these owners bought another one of these vehicles when re-entering the market. However, this share declined each year and was eclipsed by SUVs and crossovers in 2014. Less than half of sedan drivers—48.6 percent—stayed with this type of vehicle in 2017.

IHS Markit found that nearly two-thirds of sedan drivers opted to purchase or lease an SUV or crossover when acquiring a new vehicle in the early months of 2017. This rate of defection accounted for almost 300,000 transactions in the U.S. The analysis also determined that these drivers were more likely to switch to a different type of vehicle if there was only one sedan in the household, and suggested that the continuing trend of lower gas prices has helped boost the appeal of SUVs and crossovers.

"The exceptionally high loyalty of SUV/CUV households is driven by continued proliferation of crossover models across a wide range of size, price, and functionality (i.e., off-road vs. non-off road)," said Tom Libby, manager of automotive loyalty and industry analysis at IHS Markit. "In some cases this proliferation has resulted in two or even three models in the same segment from the same brand."

Pickup trucks also showed an uptick in loyalty, with 50.9 percent of these drivers purchasing the same type of vehicle in 2017 – up from 42.5 percent in 2012. SUVs and crossovers, sedans, and pickups accounted for more than 85 percent of new vehicle registrations in the U.S. in the first four months of 2017.

The analysis also looked at trends for the less common new vehicle registrations of convertibles, coupes, hatchbacks, and vans. The changes in loyalty rates for these types of vehicles were not as pronounced.

The loyalty rate among van owners stood at 31.8 percent at the start of 2017, up from 29 percent in 2012 but down from 33.6 percent in 2016. A total of 27.1 percent of hatchback owners purchased the same kind of vehicle when re-entering the market in the first four months of 2017, virtually unchanged from the 2012 rate of 27.2 percent but up from 25.2 percent in the previous year. Loyalty among coupe owners stood at 21.6 percent in early 2017, down from 21.9 percent in 2016 but up from 19.3 percent in 2012.

Twenty-one percent of convertible owners purchased another convertible when re-entering the market in the first four months of 2017, the lowest loyalty rate among vehicle types. However, this share was up from 18.3 percent in 2012 and 18.8 percent in both 2015 and 2016.