Wednesday, August 12, 2026 Strategy, technology, media, and social systems

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Sorin Adam Matei

Analysis, research, maps, and essays from Sorin Adam Matei.

Test for wannabe data scientists: do thieves prefer stealing American Cars in Indiana?

English: A Chevrolet S-10 pick-up truck travel...
English: A Chevrolet S-10 pick-up truck travelling southbound on North Gregson Street in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This article claims that car thieves prefer American cars in Indiana. Absent a very important piece of information, this is a spurious claim. Why?

On the Indiana list, the top spot — for the fifth straight year —belonged to full-size Chevrolet pickup trucks. The report does not specify what model of Chevy pickup thieves preferred, but it did note that the most-stolen year is 1999.

Every other vehicle on the Indiana list — which included four other pickups, the Chevy Impala, Ford Taurus, Chevy Malibu, Pontiac Grand Prix and Jeep Grand Cherokee — was a domestic make. Indiana’s list has had only American vehicles for the past decade.

via Indiana car thieves’ slogan: Steal American.

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