CHICAGO, April 30 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the most
recent Cars.com consumer search index, the Toyota recalls will
continue to impact the company's vehicle sales. Despite March gains
spurred by incentives, leads on Cars.com for new Toyota vehicles
were down 18 percent in April. In addition to an overall
decline in Toyota leads, Toyota models like the Toyota Tundra,
Highlander and RAV4 were particularly hard hit.
"Toyota used incentives in March to help spur consumer activity;
however, it appears the intended effect of those incentives was
short lived," said Cars.com Editor in Chief Patrick Olsen. "It will be really
interesting to see how long Toyota uses incentives as a carrot to
drive consumer activity, which is ironically the formula the Big 3
have worked hard to get away from recently."
Kia was also a manufacturer that experienced a significant
decrease in the amount of new car leads in the month of April.
"While some of this is general seasonality, Kia had several huge
months in terms of activity on Cars.com that was bolstered by their
heavy marketing efforts for their new Sorento," added Olsen. "Now it seems
that consumer interest has waned a bit as the Sorento tops the list of vehicles that had the
largest month over month decline in leads."
Cars Experiencing the Largest Increase in New Car Leads to
Dealers:
|
March
Movers
|
% Increase
New
Car Leads
to
Dealers
|
|
|
Ford
Mustang
|
32.8%
|
|
|
Ford
Edge
|
17.0%
|
|
|
Honda
Pilot
|
9.0%
|
|
|
Chevrolet
Corvette
|
3.9%
|
|
|
Jeep
Wrangler Unlimited
|
1.7%
|
|
|
Volkswagen
Jetta
|
1.3%
|
|
|
Honda
Odyssey
|
1.1%
|
|
|
Hyundai
Sonata
|
0.7%
|
|
|
Mazda
Mazda3
|
0.4%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cars Experiencing the Largest Decrease in New Car Leads to
Dealers:
|
March
Losers
|
% Decrease
in
New Car
Leads
to
Dealers
|
|
|
Kia
Sorento
|
-38.0%
|
|
|
Toyota
Highlander
|
-37.0%
|
|
|
GMC
Terrain
|
-34.6%
|
|
|
Toyota
RAV4
|
-28.1%
|
|
|
Chevrolet Silverado
1500
|
-26.6%
|
|
|
Toyota
Tundra
|
-26.6%
|
|
|
Dodge Ram
|
-25.7%
|
|
|
GMC
Acadia
|
-25.7%
|
|
|
Chevrolet
Tahoe
|
-25.3%
|
|
|
Nissan
Altima
|
-22.3%
|
|
|
|
|
|
Month over Month Change in New Car Leads by Brand
|
Brand
|
%
Increase/Decrease
in
Consumer
Contacts
to
Dealers
|
|
|
Mini
|
13%
|
|
|
Land
Rover
|
11%
|
|
|
Suzuki
|
7%
|
|
|
Scion
|
6%
|
|
|
Ford
|
2%
|
|
|
Lexus
|
1%
|
|
|
Porsche
|
1%
|
|
|
Smart
|
0%
|
|
|
BMW
|
-1%
|
|
|
Honda
|
-2%
|
|
|
Mercedes-Benz
|
-3%
|
|
|
Audi
|
-8%
|
|
|
Acura
|
-8%
|
|
|
Buick
|
-9%
|
|
|
Chrysler
|
-10%
|
|
|
Jeep
|
-10%
|
|
|
Hyundai
|
-10%
|
|
|
Infiniti
|
-12%
|
|
|
|
|
|
Month over Month Change in New Car Leads by Brand
(Cont.):
|
Brand
|
%
Increase/Decrease
in
Consumer
Contacts
to
Dealers
|
|
|
Mazda
|
-12%
|
|
|
Volkswagen
|
-14%
|
|
|
Mitsubishi
|
-14%
|
|
|
Chevrolet
|
-15%
|
|
|
Lincoln
|
-16%
|
|
|
Toyota
|
-17%
|
|
|
Mercury
|
-20%
|
|
|
Nissan
|
-21%
|
|
|
Jaguar
|
-21%
|
|
|
Dodge
|
-22%
|
|
|
Subaru
|
-22%
|
|
|
Kia
|
-22%
|
|
|
Cadillac
|
-22%
|
|
|
GMC
|
-24%
|
|
|
Volvo
|
-25%
|
|
|
Saab
|
-26%
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Cars.com
Cars.com is the leading destination for online car shoppers,
offering credible, easy-to-understand information from consumers
and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where
to buy and how much to pay for a car. With comprehensive
pricing information, side-by-side comparison tools, photo
galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and a large selection
of new- and used-car inventory, Cars.com puts millions of car
buyers in control of their shopping process with the information
they need to make confident buying decisions.
Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is
a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, which is owned by leading
media companies, including Belo (NYSE: BLC), Gannett Co., Inc.
(NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Company and
The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).
SOURCE Cars.com