Introduction

Well, I guess this is the part where I explain what I'm doing here.
For over 4 years now, I have been involved in a job that entails parking enforcement and lot patrols.To pass the time away and stay alert, I wrote lists of the best-selling cars in the US, then added the cars I see most often while on lot watch.I noticed that the Metro Detroit region differs a bit from the rest of the country.Not surprisingly, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler products that don't even appear in the top 10 are more common here than the Toyotas and Hondas that appear on every years national sales list.
Eventually, I noticed that peoples automotive choices differ by city. It isn't just different in different states. 90% of the cars in 1 suburb might be domestics, but in a neighboring community, foreign brands are strong enough to ruin the domestics lead.I became fascinated at the differences and decided to make my workplace "entertainment" an actual study. This is where I will log my "findings" and analyze them.
Here's how it works.
I make a list of the most popular cars nationwide and add a few known favorites for the region. Then, I watch and observe passing traffic or cars parked in driveways.Each time a listed vehicle is seen, I put a hatch mark next to it and when done, I just tally them up. This is an unscientific "poll" that can help understand marketing and demographics, and it all started from parking lot patrols.
A few things to understand:
-Some vehicles cannot be differentiated unless seen very closely.Chrysler Town and Countrys, Dodge Caravans, and the aging Plymouth Voyagers often can't be told apart without seeing the small name badging.I did not want to include them because I want to include only specific models, not lump similar vehicles together. That seems too flawed and less precise. However, I noticed how absurdly common these vans are and decided to include them for comparison purposes. Excluding them would leave these findings way too incomplete.
-Most lower-production "sisters" are not included due to their lack of popularity. I do not lump them together. Official sales figures do not combine models and neither will I EXCEPT for the aforementioned Chrysler minivan family. I include Ford Tauruses but don't bother with Mercury Sables. I also do not include General Motors trucks if I cannot tell from badging whether it is a Chevrolet  or GMC. Both are so common on their own terms that they really need to be counted separately.
-Tauruses made until the brief 2006 discontinuation and those built since 2010 are combined since the length of time between the two wasn't long enough.The 500 rebadged as the Taurus and the Taurus X crossover are not considered Tauruses in my mind so have been excluded.Imperfect, yes, but I reserve the right to make this decision. The pre-2006 Tauruses are so common that they need to be included,since they still outnumber most current models, so by default the current Taurus is included, though not quite the same car.
-Older versions of popular models are still included. The Chevrolet Malibu name was reintroduced in 1997 and has been hugely popular ever since. The current Impala started with the 2000 model, and evolved from there. Since both have been in uninterrupted production, I decided those, too, must be included.              Due to too long of a time gap between name use, vintage Malibus and Impalas are NOT included. Also, the late-90s Impala SS won't be included, as it is a limited-edition rear-drive car completely unrelated to the 4-door front-driver currently in production.

Keep in mind, people will replace these older vehicles with newer, similar ones, often the same model, so they can still reveal a lot about peoples buying habits in terms of classification (sedan, SUV, etc) or even brand loyalty.
Soon, I will start posting these unscientific finds, and discussing what they might mean.