If California was a separate country, it would be the fifth or sixth in the world in terms of car usage.-Joseph Campana,Chrysler, marketing vice president

These (Californians) aren't your traditional American consumers. These are mostly people who have left their roots. They want to experiment.-Robert Rewey,Lincoln-Mercury general sales manager

California is a market that needs special attention.-Thomas Staudt,Chevrolet general marketing manager

What auto execs are echoing about California, the west coast, and what they perhaps may even secretly feel on a national basis is that the market of buyers, the product offered, plus the increased diverse competition have created an entirely new generation of Americans. An enlightened Detroit now freely admits that Californians are trendsetters for a huge consumer market. Automakers have studied motivational wants and demands; they know that in the first three months of this year imports totaled 52 percent of new car registrations in the state. That's why Chevrolet made sure that their California dealers had a month's head start over the rest of the country on their new Corvette introduction. That's why Chrysler has one of their own marketing offices plus a facility in California to "soup up" their cars to higher performance units. That's why Lincoln-Mercury decided to market their luxury model Topaz at $8,987 in the state (compared to $7,756 elsewhere) with key options standard rather than optional (to match the Japanese regular models).

More than a generation ago the legendary Alfred P. Sloan shaped the GM divisions so that the first-time buyers could afford a Chevrolet and then with growing income move up through the various divisions' models until the buyer would get into a Cadillac. Ford and Chrysler set up similar model-pricing steps. Today, virtually all divisions have wide lines, wide pricing, and stiffer competition where identification appears easier to a now quite confused public.

Although Detroit marketing people can always blame their predecessors for model line overlapping, a recent report makes that task a formidable one. Last fall the median age for a Chevy buyer was 48; for Buick, Olds, and Cadillac, it ranged from 55 to 59; Pontiac scored an impressive 36. Ford Motor Company had a typical buyer at 50, and Chrysler's was 52. These are national domestic research figures.

Now, compare these facts with purchases made of the six leading Japanese imports in the U.S. which had an average buyer age range of 29 to 35. This analysis is reviewed because it could also affect fleet buying since new car consumer buying makes a new vehicle "hot," and this eventually influences the used car market. It also may explain why GM (Isuzu, Suzuki, Toyota), Ford (Toyo Kogyo-Mazda) and Chrysler (Mitsubishi) are so interested in making suitable arrangements for the "now" generation's future product. And upon reflection, it may force a different stance on the proposed "local content" bill.