As anyone who tries to park on Elm Street knows, many New Canaanites share an affinity for cars —including sports cars and SUVs.
To discern which vehicles are most popular in town, we reached out to the Town Assessor for the Taxable Motor Vehicle Property List. We compiled a list of New Canaan’s most popular automobiles broken down by makes and models, and also looked at the prevalence of some specialty cars.
Here’s a look at makes:
Most Popular Car Makes in New Canaan*
| Make | No. of Cars |
|---|---|
| BMW | 1,633 |
| Chevrolet | 1,573 |
| Toyota | 1,313 |
| Mercedes | 1,256 |
| Ford | 1,123 |
| Jeep | 1,077 |
| Honda | 1,072 |
| Audi | 979 |
| Lexus | 769 |
| Subaru | 767 |
Chevrolet stood out as the only motor vehicle company that ranked top-4 in popularity for both the overall make (2nd) and model (4th) among cars owned by New Canaanites. Asked about the ubiquitous Suburban, Karl Chevrolet Vice President of Sales Steve Karl said the vehicle “has been a choice of New Canaanites since it came out in 1935.”
“It’s the perfect vehicle that matches up with Fairfield County lifestyles—moving kids around, vacations, and all the travel and sports that everybody does.”
Here’s a look at individual models:
Most Popular Car Models in New Canaan*
| Make | No. of Cars |
|---|---|
| Jeep Wrangler | 454 |
| Jeep Cherokee | 450 |
| Lexus RX | 401 |
| Chevrolet Suburban K1500 | 389 |
| Honda CRV | 306 |
| BMW x5 | 305 |
| Range Rover | 267 |
| Audi A4 | 264 |
| Subaru Outlook | 250 |
| Ford Explorer | 240 |
| Acura MDX | 225 |
| Honda Accord | 221 |
| Chevrolet Silverado | 219 |
| BMW 328 | 218 |
| Toyota Highland | 210 |
We also looked up some specialty car models—see table below. As Karl said,”We’re happy to share driveways with some of the nicest luxury vehicles in the world. We’re the hometown dealer, we’ve been here for a long time and we try to support the community because they support us.”
Some Specialty Cars in New Canaan
| Vehicle | No. in New Canaan |
|---|---|
| Rolls Royce | 8 |
| Bentley | 22 |
| Aston Martin | 23 |
| Tesla | 42 |
| Ferrari | 39 |
| Lotus | 4 |
| Maserati | 38 |
| Cobra Roadster | 1 |
| McLaren | 1 |
What would be more interesting is to find out how many households in New Canaan don’t have any automobiles registered to their address, or perhaps only one vehicle when in all likelihood there should be two. In other words, I’m just curious if New Canaan has any plans to crack down on the luxury vehicles driving around town with Florida and other out of state plates. Just because you have a house in Boca, doesn’t mean you should get to skip on property tax.
I’m sure that a majority of these cars aren’t out of state more than six months out of the year. In fact, I bet if push came to shove, a lot of these people wouldn’t be able to prove their car was in Florida for the majority of the year (it’s easy to do, track mileage, track transport documentation, auto-train receipt).
I love this town, and I happily pay my taxes, but I am annoyed by those who are most fortunate thinking they are above the law and not paying their fair share. If you can’t afford the tax then don’t buy the Ferarri.