Popular Cars

The Popular Cars API identifies the best-performing make-model combinations in the automotive market based on unit sales volume over the last 90 days. This powerful tool provides insights into consumer preferences and market trends by analyzing actual sales data across different geographic regions.

The API ranks vehicles by sales volume from highest to lowest, providing a clear picture of market demand and popularity. Data is regenerated monthly using the same 90-day rolling period as other market insight APIs, ensuring consistency and freshness of information.

This API delivers popularity rankings at multiple geographic levels:

• National Level: Overall market performance across the entire country
• State Level: Regional preferences and state-specific market trends
• City Level: Local market dynamics and urban-specific demand patterns

The API supports both new and used vehicle markets, allowing you to understand popularity trends across different inventory types. This enables dealers, manufacturers, and market analysts to identify high-demand vehicles, understand regional preferences, and make informed decisions about inventory planning and marketing strategies.

Base Path

GET https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/popular/cars

The following example demonstrates how to use the Popular Cars API to identify the most popular vehicle make-model combinations based on sales volume.

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/sales/car',
  params: {api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', car_type: 'new'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Request

The Popular Cars API requires you to specify the inventory type to generate meaningful popularity rankings. You can analyze popularity at different geographic levels, from national trends to city-specific preferences.

Parameters

Defaults

• country: Defaults to US, but can be set to CA for Canadian market analysis
• geographic_scope: Defaults to national level if no geographic parameters are specified

Required Parameters

car_type

• Required parameter that specifies the inventory type for popularity analysis
• Supported values: new, used
• Determines whether to analyze new vehicle popularity or used vehicle popularity
• Example: car_type=used returns the most popular used vehicles

Geographic Parameters

state

• Filter popularity data by specific U.S. states or Canadian provinces
• Use standard abbreviations (e.g., CA for California, ON for Ontario)
• Returns the top popular vehicles within the specified state
• Example: state=TX returns the most popular vehicles in Texas

city_state

• Get city-level popularity rankings using pipe-separated format
• Format: city_name|STATE_CODE
• Takes precedence over the state parameter if both are provided
• Example: city_state=Miami|FL returns popular vehicles in Miami, Florida

country

• Specify the country for popularity analysis
• Supported values: US, CA
• Defaults to US if not specified
• Required when analyzing Canadian markets

Response

Schema

interface PopularCarsResponse {
  country: string; // Country code (e.g., "US", "CA")
  count: number; // Number of vehicles sold (sales volume)
  make: string; // Vehicle manufacturer
  model: string; // Vehicle model
  price_stats: Stats; // Price statistics for the make-model combination
  miles_stats: Stats; // Mileage statistics for the make-model combination
  dom_stats: Stats; // Days on market statistics for the make-model combination
}

interface Stats {
  geometric_mean: number; // Geometric mean of the dataset
  listings_count: number; // Number of listings included in the statistics
  min: number; // Minimum value
  median: number; // Median value
  population_standard_deviation: number; // Population standard deviation
  variance: number; // Variance of the dataset
  max: number; // Maximum value
  mean: number; // Arithmetic mean
  trimmed_mean: number; // Mean with outliers removed
  standard_deviation: number; // Sample standard deviation
  iqr: number; // Interquartile range (Q3 - Q1)
}

Success Response

• 200 OK - Returns an array of popular vehicle objects ranked by sales volume
• Results are sorted by count (sales volume) in descending order
• Returns up to 50 results for national and state queries, up to 25 for city queries

Error Response

Error Response Format

Most error responses follow this structure, except for 502 and 503 errors:

{
  "code": <HTTP status code>,
  "message": "<Error message describing the issue>"
}

Use Cases & Examples

National Market Popularity Analysis

Analyze the most popular vehicles across the entire country to understand overall market trends and consumer preferences. This is valuable for manufacturers, national dealers, and market researchers.

The API returns the top 50 most popular make-model combinations nationally, ranked by sales volume.

Example:

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/sales/car',
  params: {api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', car_type: 'used', country: 'US'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

State-Level Market Preferences

Understand regional preferences by analyzing the most popular vehicles within specific states. This helps identify regional market variations and tailor inventory strategies accordingly.

Use the state parameter to get state-specific popularity rankings.

Example:

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/sales/car',
  params: {api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', car_type: 'new', state: 'UT'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

City-Level Market Analysis

Get granular insights into local market preferences by analyzing popularity at the city level. This is particularly valuable for dealers operating in specific metropolitan areas.

The API returns the top 25 most popular vehicles for city-level queries.

Example:

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/sales/car',
  params: {api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', car_type: 'used', city_state: 'Los Angeles|CA'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

Canadian Market Analysis

Analyze vehicle popularity in the Canadian market by setting the country parameter to CA. This helps understand market differences between US and Canadian consumers.

Example:

import axios from 'axios';

const options = {
  method: 'GET',
  url: 'https://api.marketcheck.com/v2/sales/car',
  params: {api_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', car_type: 'new', country: 'CA'},
  headers: {Accept: 'application/json'}
};

try {
  const { data } = await axios.request(options);
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}

See Also

• Inferred Sales Stats
• Market Days Supply
• MarketCheck Price