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
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