A project aimed at pigeon-holing the Australian population has found that new car buyers are more likely to live in outer suburbs than inner-city areas.

And upper-income, lifestyle-focused families are more likely to splash out on a new vehicle than those who closely manage their money.

Roy Morgan research polled more than 50,000 people before breaking them down into demographic groups under a program dubbed Helix Personas.

“Leading lifestyle” households with an income of around $117,000 per year were the broad social group most likely to consider new cars.

Delving deeper into the data, researchers found that “Self-made lifestylers”, career-focused high-earning professionals with a household income of around $145,000, were the most likely to splash out on new wheels.

Jordan Pakes, automotive account director for Roy Morgan Research, says the group for the most part owned their own homes and had not migrated from overseas.

“Self-Made Lifestylers account for 1.6 per cent of the Australian population, but around 2.7 per cent of the new car intender market,” he says.

“They can be found in Williamstown, Templestowe and Mount Eliza in Melbourne, and Cherrybrook, Caringbah and Illawong in Sydney.”

The group are considered likely to admire “visible achievements” and social standing over values such as fairness or conservation.

Nicholas Tynan, sales manager at the Tynan Motors group of new car dealers in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, says the region has “always been an area of growth and an area of boom”.

Tynan says falling new car prices were an added incentive for middle-class suburbs.

“Some of it would be from the cost of new cars. Cars are becoming much more affordable.

“I was selling the Jeep Grand Cherokee five or six years ago, when the SRT model was $115,000.

“These days that car is $88,000 loaded with everything.”

Pakes says Mazda was on the top of shopping lists for regular cars, while Audi was the premium brand most likely to be considered.

The survey data suggests that “Savvy self-starters”, a multicultural group that values education, were considerably less likely to buy a new car compared to the general population.