CINCINNATI -

For every iteration of smartphone products to hit the market, it seems as if consumer demand to replace their current device is moving just as fast as the technology.

In fact, a study from Swapalease.com cites data from Recon Analytics indicating that Americans, on average, change their phones after about 22 months — and this number is likely to go even lower with cellular providers rolling out new contract-escape-friendly plans.

What’s more, this rapid-fire replacement may find its way to the auto industry, as well, says Swapalease.

The company discovered through a February survey that around three-fifths of men and women, assuming that cost was not an issue, would like to change cars as often as they swapped out their cell phones. More specifically, the numbers were 59.5 percent of men and 60.7 percent of women.

Scot Hall, executive vice president at Swapalease, talked with Auto Remarketing on Tuesday and said this keeping-up-with-technology motivation that tends to drive cell phone replacement is a prime factor in the auto business, as well.

“The technology is really the big driver behind the change in the automotive industry, as well,” said Hall.  “People want that latest and greatest technology, and frankly the technology increases over the last several years in vehicles is like nothing I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve been in the car business a long time.

“Not only the safety features and the entertainment features, but the connectivity overall. And of course the next thing on deck is going to be that Internet in cars is going to be more and more common as we move forward. So, I think it’s almost a perfect parallel, if you will.”

He added: “I think it’s also fair to say, it’s definitely secondary to the technology side, but people are also looking to get better deals, as well.  It’s no different when they change their phone plans. If they get more minutes or more bandwidth for either a similar rate or a less of a monthly payment, that’s great, and we see that on the car side as well.”

Top Brands for Switching

The study also asked shoppers — again, assuming cost was no issue — which brands they would like to change to in the future, allowing them to pick more than one.  Among men, BMW (42.3 percent) and Mercedes-Benz (42.3 percent) were the top vote getters, and the same goes for women (46.5 percent and 44.1 percent, respectively).

For both men and women, the top of the lists were filled with luxury brands, which should not necessarily come as a surprise.

But although he said luxury buyers typically are looking to change vehicles more often than mainstream brand buyers, Hall gives this caveat: “I think it’s also worth noting that BMW and Mercedes, in particular, have very high lease penetrations already. So I think that’s part of the equation, as well.

“People know that those cars lease well, that those manufacturers commonly run attractive leasing specials, and I think that’s also driving some of that desire,” he continued

And consider this, as Swapalease notes it’s not an import-versus-domestic situation: Brands like Ford (18.7 percent desirability for men, 17. 4 percent for women) Chevrolet (10.4 percent, 9.3 percent) and Buick (7.0 percent, 8.1 percent) generated solid scores as well.

Importance of Warranty

When asked to list the primary reason or reasons for changing vehicles, 42 percent of men say that it was to get a vehicle that was under warranty, followed closely (41.7 percent) by the reason of getting a new model. For women, half wanted a vehicle under warranty and 47.6 percent mentioned the desire to get a new car.

“Historically, lifestyle and financial reasons have always dominated the responses and reasons why drivers and car shoppers use Swapalease.com. For the first time in the history of the company, the importance of getting, and driving, a vehicle that’s constantly under warranty is the No. 1 reason people want to change their vehicle,” the company said as part of its analysis.

Editor's Note: The company generated these results from online surveys of more than 1,000 drivers across the U.S. from Feb. 8 through Feb. 22.