Mobile automotive sites are driving traffic, don’t you know? A study from mobile ad network Jumptap, based on data from comScore, shows visitors to mobile auto sites have grown 463 percent – more than 15 times the rate of growth for online visits to such sites.

This may not be too surprising, but those visiting mobile auto content sites were more likely to own a tablet than the overall mobile population and more likely to own a smartphone.

Edmunds.com is the most accessed auto site on mobile, with 17.1 percent of mobile consumers who access auto content visiting the site, according to the study.

The study also looked at the demographic make-up of mobile auto site visitors. Whereas consumers visiting online auto sites closely mirror the overall online population, visitors to mobile auto sites are more likely to be male than the typical mobile user. While men make up 48 percent of the overall mobile audience, they make up 66 percent of mobile auto content users.

In a press release, Jumptap Chief Marketing Officer Paran Johar said the company works closely with major auto manufacturers to find the best ways to reach the right mobile audience through data and targeting.

“At Ford, we moved aggressively to mobile marketing, prior to the shift in consumer behavior of using smartphones and tablets to do auto research. This recently published study from Jumptap and comScore further validates that this is where the market is headed, and our assumptions were correct,” said Brian McClary, Social & Emerging Media Specialist for Ford Motor Company, in the release.  “We’ve seen some great success so far running mobile campaigns on Jumptap’s network, and will continue to work with them to find ways to target this audience as it continues to evolve.”

The auto study is the first in a series of vertical-specific studies Jumptap will be conducting this year.