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Automotive Lease Guide (ALG) Announces Seventh Annual Residual Value Awards for the Top Segment Leaders and Brand Residual Value Awards

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Dec. 20, 2005 -- ALG's annual Residual Value Awards honor those vehicles in each automotive segment predicted to retain the highest percentage of their original price. For the third consecutive year, American Honda Motor Company, Inc. heads the list with the Honda Brand winning the Industry Brand Residual Value Award.

Honda also received two individual segment awards: the Odyssey for the Minivan Segment and the Accord for the Midsize Car Segment. This is the fifth consecutive win for the Honda Odyssey and the second win for the Accord. Acura, a division of American Honda Motor Company, Inc., is the winner of the Near Luxury Car Segment for the TL.

BMW of North America, LLC has once again made a strong showing by winning the Luxury Brand Residual Value Award for the third consecutive year. MINI USA, a division of BMW of North America, has won the Compact Car Segment for the MINI Cooper for the fourth time.

Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. took home the most Residual Value Awards this year by winning six individual segment awards: the Avalon for the Fullsize Car Segment, Tacoma Pick-up for the Compact Truck Segment, Tundra for the Fullsize Truck Segment, RAV4 for the Compact SUV Segment, 4Runner for the Midsize SUV Segment, and the Sequoia for the Fullsize SUV Segment. This is the fifth consecutive win for the Toyota Tacoma, Tundra and Sequoia; and the third consecutive win for the 4Runner.

Mercedes-Benz USA LLC is the winner of this year's Luxury Car Segment award for the CLS Class.

The Sports Car Segment award this year goes to Porsche Cars North America, Inc. for the 911 Carrera.

And last but not least, the CUV (Crossover Utility Vehicle) award goes to Land Rover North America, Inc. for the Range Rover Sport.

"In an era of negative pricing and overcapacity, Residual Value excellence is increasingly difficult to achieve," said Raj Sundaram, President of Automotive Lease Guide. "Both the segment and brand winners clearly demonstrate that quality products combined with effective pricing strategies will rise to the top." Sundaram added that, "While the top rankings did not change, several brands have shown significant improvement over last year, highlighting the importance manufacturers are placing on residual value as a long-term objective."

This year's awards are based on 2006 model year vehicles. For the fourth year, ALG has also included awards for the brand with the highest predicted resale value of all industry and luxury vehicles. The awards are derived after careful study of segment competition, historical vehicle performance and industry trends. Award winners are featured on http://www.alg.com/, The Wall Street Journal, Automotive News, and other automotive publications and websites dedicated to bringing the industry's best performing models into the public eye.

                    2006 Residual Value Award Winners

            Brand Awards                         Brand
  Industry Brand Residual Value Award   American Honda Motor Company, Inc.
  Luxury Brand Residual Value Award     BMW of North America, LLC

           Segment Awards                       Vehicle
  Compact Car                          MINI Cooper
  Midsize Car                          Honda Accord
  Fullsize Car                         Toyota Avalon
  Sports Car                           Porsche 911 Carrera
  Near Luxury Car                      Acura TL
  Luxury Car                           Mercedes-Benz CLS Class
  Minivan                              Honda Odyssey
  CUV (Crossover                       Land Rover Range
  Utility Vehicle)                     Rover Sport
  Compact SUV                          Toyota RAV4
  Midsize SUV                          Toyota 4Runner
  Fullsize SUV                         Toyota Sequoia
  Compact Truck                        Toyota Tacoma Pick-up
  Fullsize Truck                       Toyota Tundra

                    2005 Residual Value Award Winners

             Brand Awards                       Brand
  Industry Brand Residual Value Award  American Honda Motor Company, Inc.
  Luxury Brand Residual Value Award    BMW of North America, LLC

           Segment Awards                      Vehicle
  Compact Car                          MINI Cooper
  Midsize Car                          Nissan Altima
  Sports Car                           Mercedes-Benz SLK
  Near Luxury Car                      Infiniti G35
  Luxury Car                           Mercedes-Benz CLK
  Minivan                              Honda Odyssey
  CUV                                  Volvo XC90
  Compact SUV                          Honda CR-V
  Midsize SUV                          Toyota 4Runner
  Fullsize SUV                         Toyota Sequoia
  Compact Truck                        Toyota Tacoma
  Fullsize Truck                       Toyota Tundra

                  Industry Brand Residual Value Rankings

  Rank                            Brand
   1                            HONDA
   2                            TOYOTA
   3                            VOLKSWAGEN
   4                            SUBARU
   5                            NISSAN
   6                            JEEP
   7                            MAZDA
   8                            SATURN
   9                            GMC

Only brands above the industry average were ranked. Below industry average were the following brands (listed in alphabetical order): Buick, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Mercury, Mitsubishi, Pontiac, and Suzuki.

                   Luxury Brand Residual Value Rankings

  Rank                            Brand
   1                            BMW
   2                            LEXUS
   3                            LAND ROVER
   4                            MERCEDES-BENZ
   5                            ACURA
   6                            INFINITI

Only brands above the luxury average were ranked. Below luxury average were the following brands (listed in alphabetical order): Audi, Cadillac, Jaguar, Lincoln, Saab and Volvo.

Note: All brands with vehicles in at least three segments and minimum annual volume of 40,000 units were included. As a result of this requirement, MINI and Porsche as well as other brands were excluded from the above rankings.

Based in Santa Barbara, California, Automotive Lease Guide has been forecasting automotive residual values for over 36 years in both the U.S. and Canadian markets. ALG is a DealerTrack company (http://www.dealertrack.com/).

Visit us at http://www.alg.com/ to learn more about the 2006 Residual Value Awards, or any of ALG's other products and services. For further information, please contact Fernando Ubeda at 805-563-0777 ext. 133, or email: fubeda@alg.com