Virginians Love Cars But Which Brand Revs Their Motors Most?

Fact Checked by Thomas Leary

People in Virginia have their fair share of scenic drives to choose from for a nice Sunday spin. From the Blue Ridge Parkway to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, there are plenty of things to see on four wheels.

But which car brand gets Virginia going?

BetVirginia.com took a break from our Virginia sports betting coverage to find out.

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How We Assembled Our List

We used the of the top 50 most popular car brands in the United States at CarLogos.org as a starting point for our research. We then used Google Trends to search each car brand to see the highest level of interest of each state for the brand.

We looked at trends over a 12-month span (from July 25, 2022, to July 25, 2023), then averaged out the results to get the top car brand for each state.

Here are our results.

Favorite Car Brand By State

  • Honda (7 states): Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina 
  • Dodge (5 states): Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico
  • Audi (4 states): Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York
  • Ford (4 states): Michigan, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming
  • Buick (3 states): Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin
  • Chevrolet (3 states): Kentucky, North Dakota, Oklahoma
  • Hyundai (3 states): Alabama, Arizona, Illinois
  • Mercedes-Benz (3 states): Florida, Georgia, Virginia
  • Mazda (3 states): Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Washington
  • Volkswagen (3 states): New Hampshire, Oregon, Utah

One state each: Alfa Romeo: Rhode Island; BMW: Nevada; Jeep: West Virginia; Kia: Ohio; Lamborghini: Texas; Land Rover: New Jersey; Lincoln: Nebraska; Nissan: Tennessee; Subaru: Vermont; Tesla: California; Toyota: Hawaii; Volvo: Maine.

The Name Above All Others in Virginia

Virginia is one of three states to favor Mercedes-Benz, according to our research, joining Florida and Georgia. The CarLogos.org top 50 brands list has Mercedes-Benz listed as the No. 15 most popular brand in America.

Americans have a wide variety of brands that they favor – no company dominated our list. Honda was No. 1 in seven states, more than any other manufacturer. There were 10 manufacturers claiming multiple states, with another 12 brands topping the list in one state each.

Virginia is not usually known as a car manufacturing hub but, according to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership website, the commonwealth has more than 100 automotive projects and manufacturers with a presence. Those companies include Volvo and Mack Truck.

More About Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz lays claim to having invented the automobile. At its website, Mercedes-Benz tells the tale of how Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach developed an internal combustion engine in Germany in 1884. Daimler co-founded DMG, which merged with Karl Benz’s company in 1926 to form Mercedes-Benz. Benz had created his first gasoline-powered car in 1901.

Mercedes-Benz sold more than 286,000 cars in the United States in 2022 and more than 64,000 vans.

Mercedes also has a decorated history in auto racing – one of the sports available for wagering at Virginia betting apps – and this has bolstered brand recognition for the marque.

The Mercedes brand (before the name “Benz” was attached) first won the Indianapolis 500 in 1915 with Ralph DePalma at the wheel. Mercedes-Benz then conquered the Indianapolis Motor Speedway again in 1994 as Team Penske dominated the race with Al Under Jr. winning. In Formula One, the Mercedes team won eight consecutive constructors’ championships from 2014-21 and was the engine provider for two other title-winning teams before then (McLaren in 1998 and Brawn in 2009).

Author

Jim Tomlin

Jim Tomlin has nearly 30 years of experience in journalism, having worked at such publications as the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturdays Down South and Saturday Tradition. He is a contributing writer and editor for BetVirginia.com.

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