Southwest Florida is Toyota country—except when it comes to used cars.
The Japanese car manufacturer sold the most new vehicles in Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties in July, according to an analysis by AutoCount Trend Report. When buying a used car, Southwest Floridians preferred Ford.
That’s not all that surprising, considering Camrys and F-series trucks are everyday sights on I-75. However, it’s also not very luxurious, and we’re used to seeing Porsches in Publix parking lots around here. So, for the record, 55 Porsches, seven Bentleys and three Ferraris were sold locally in July.
Like most industries, the pandemic shutdowns hurt local car sales. But as the state reopened, sales—especially of used cars—picked up again. While new car sales continued to be sluggish, used car sales were up about 22% compared to the previous July, according to AutoCount.