New Toyota Sienna Minivan Swaggers Into Top 5 on AutoTrader.com List of Most Viewed New Vehicles in June
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SEE ALSO:Toyota Buyer's Guide
Lower Gas Prices Make Fuel Efficient Vehicles an Endangered Species on Top 20 New, Used and CPO Lists
ATLANTA, July 12, 2010; The Toyota Sienna minivan rode a sleek new design and a clever marketing campaign featuring the nerdy-chic and sometimes-rapping "Sienna Family" to No. 5 on the list of the most-viewed new vehicles on AutoTrader.com in June. The Sienna had been at No. 43 on the most-viewed new vehicle list the previous month, May of 2010, and held the No. 50 spot on the list in June of 2009.
Toyota's multi-media campaign utilized mainstream media; on-line advertising, including a rich media campaign on AutoTrader.com; and viral videos, including the "Swagger Wagon" video clip that has been viewed almost 5 million times on YouTube. The campaign spoke effectively to the Sienna's target market of younger families with children and these tech savvy shoppers went on-line to sites like AutoTrader.com to get more information about the new vehicle and to view inventory at local dealerships.
"The Sienna campaign is a great example of a manufacturer, dealers and marketing working together to drive awareness and consideration of a new vehicle," said Chip Perry. "Combining a great design in the vehicle itself, a marketing campaign effectively utilizing new and traditional media and dealers effectively merchandising their inventory for people to see, the new Sienna has risen to the top of its target market's consideration set."
The new Acura TL luxury sedan made an even more impressive jump, going from the No. 143rd most-viewed new vehicle on AutoTrader.com in May 2010 to the No. 20 most-viewed new vehicle in June of this year. Acura also has been marketing their brand and specific vehicles aggressively in recent months and in June the TL was ranked second in initial quality in the "Entry Premium Car Segment" by J.D. Power and Associates.
New vehicle prices in June continued to improve compared to June 2009, with 16 of the top 20 most-viewed new vehicles on AutoTrader.com seeing average asking price increases in June compared to June last year.
Fuel Efficiency Out?
One major change in the AutoTrader.com top 20 new, used and certified pre-owned (CPO) lists was the almost total absence of cars aggressively marketed for their fuel efficiency. The Honda Civic appeared in the top 20 of all three lists and the Toyota Camry landed at No. 20 on the most-viewed used car top 20 list. But other than those two models, AutoTrader.com's most viewed lists in June were dominated by larger luxury cars and sedans, trucks, SUVs and sports and muscle cars.
With gas prices continuing to fall and the economy seemingly on the rebound, Americans seem to be turning to the larger and more powerful vehicles they favor when fuel costs are low.
"It's clear from our historical site data that when gas prices are high, Americans almost immediately begin looking at more fuel efficient cars and when gas prices go back down, the pattern reverses," said Perry. "This creates quite a challenge for manufacturers and dealers trying to figure out what cars to make and stock when those decisions have to be made months in advance when gas prices, as we've seen, can fluctuate so much so quickly."
On-line marketing, Perry notes, can help influence consumers to look at cars based on a variety of factors and allows manufacturers and dealers the flexibility to change messaging quickly to respond to changing economic conditions.
"If you're putting out a fuel-efficient car that's also got great styling and is affordable, right now may be the time to focus your messaging on the style and affordability because gas prices aren't such a concern for consumers right now," Perry says. "But when gas prices go back up - and we've seen that they can quickly - on-line marketing allows you to quickly change your message to appeal to that consumer need as it becomes more important."
Stability in the Used Car Market
With gas prices moderating and the economy on the rebound, AutoTrader.com's used car list is seeing a return to stability, with the top 11 most viewed cars in June holding the exact same positions they held in May and with used car prices generally trending up.
"Without the gas shocks and the negative economic news we've lived with the past few years, you see a return to the normal patterns of popularity with used cars," said Perry. "Used Ford Mustangs, Honda Accords, BMW 3-Series, Jeep Wranglers and other perennial favorites find their place on our list and stay there, not moving up or down too dramatically unless some extraordinary event causes a change in consumer behavior."
AutoTrader.com Traffic Exceeds 16 Million Uniques Again
Traffic to AutoTrader.com continued to be strong, with the site recording 16.03 million unique monthly visitors in June. Having hit an all time record of 16.8 million unique visitors in May, June's numbers represented the second consecutive month AutoTrader.com surpassed 16 million unique monthly visitors. June's traffic was up 2% compared to June 2010's total of 15.6 million unique monthly visitors.
About AutoTrader.com
AutoTrader.com, created in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is the Internet's leading automotive marketplace and consumer information website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location millions of new cars, used cars and certified pre-owned cars from thousands of auto dealers and private sellers. AutoTrader.com attracts more than 15 million unique monthly visitors who utilize the site to view vehicles for sale, research and compare vehicles, review pricing and specials, and read auto-related content like buying and selling tips, auto maintenance tips and coverage of major auto shows and automotive trends. Through innovative merchandising functionality such as multiple photos, videos, detailed descriptions and comprehensive research and compare tools, AutoTrader.com unites new and used car buyers and sellers online to improve the way people research, locate and advertise vehicles. AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. The venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visit www.autotrader.com.
NEW CARS
Avg. Avg.
VDP Rank VDP Rank VDP Rank Price Price
MAKE MODEL 6/10 5/10 6/09 6/10 6/09 % Change
Ford Mustang 1 1 3 32,748 33,723 -2.89%
Chevrolet Camaro 2 2 1 34,856 34,867 -0.03%
Volkswagen Jetta 3 18 12 23,568 23,043 2.28%
Honda Accord 4 10 10 25,922 25,394 2.08%
Toyota Sienna 5 43 50 33,230 30,876 7.62%
Ford F-150 6 3 2 37,612 34,534 8.91%
BMW 3 Series 7 8 4 47,574 46,629 2.03%
Silverado
Chevrolet 1500 8 4 7 33,931 31,626 7.29%
Honda CRV 9 31 28 26,000 25,178 3.26%
Jeep Wrangler 10 7 8 29,606 28,212 4.94%
Ford Edge 11 25 25 34,008 33,458 1.64%
Ford F-250 12 5 15 45,095 42,996 4.88%
Chevrolet Corvette 13 6 17 70,413 63,459 10.96%
Honda Civic 14 14 18 20,017 20,475 -2.24%
GMC Sierra 1500 15 22 37 36,174 34,254 5.61%
Dodge Challenger 16 11 13 34,110 38,109 -10.49%
Chevrolet Equinox 17 15 63 27,505 26,579 3.48%
Dodge Ram 1500 18 13 14 34,911 34,256 1.91%
Chevrolet Tahoe 19 21 24 50,454 48,597 3.82%
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Acura TL 20 143 112 39,482 38,972 1.31%
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USED CARS
Avg. Avg.
VDP Rank VDP Rank VDP Rank Price Price
MAKE MODEL 6/10 5/10 6/09 6/10 6/09 % Change
Ford F-150 1 1 2 20,390 18,726 8.89%
BMW 3-Series 2 2 1 25,573 25,256 1.26%
Silverado
Chevrolet 1500 3 3 4 19,654 18,065 8.80%
Ford Mustang 4 4 3 18,256 17,005 7.36%
Ford F-250 5 5 7 24,492 22,115 10.75%
Honda Accord 6 6 5 15,736 15,160 3.80%
Jeep Wrangler 7 7 8 20,161 17,911 12.56%
Dodge Ram 1500 8 8 9 18,490 16,684 10.82%
Honda Civic 9 9 6 13,624 13,211 3.13%
Chevrolet Tahoe 10 10 11 25,552 23,359 9.39%
Infiniti G35/37 11 11 10 23,198 22,142 4.77%
Silverado
Chevrolet 2500 12 13 17 23,097 21,322 8.32%
Toyota Tacoma 13 12 16 19,026 18,227 4.38%
Dodge Ram 2500 14 14 19 25,075 22,357 12.16%
Nissan Altima 15 16 12 15,135 14,285 5.95%
BMW 5-Series 16 15 14 30,400 31,187 -2.52%
Grand
Jeep Cherokee 17 19 15 16,577 15,582 6.39%
Audi A4 18 18 13 21,531 20,201 6.58%
Toyota Tundra 19 17 22 22,373 21,444 4.33%
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Toyota Camry 20 21 21 15,268 15,737 -2.98%
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CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED
VDP Avg. Avg.
Rank VDP Rank VDP Rank Price Price
MAKE MODEL 6/10 5/10 6/09 6/10 6/09 % Change
BMW 3-Series 1 1 1 30,824 29,889 3.13%
Honda Accord 2 2 2 18,107 17,587 2.96%
Silverado
Chevy 1500 3 3 3 24,123 21,929 10.01%
Toyota Tundra 4 4 6 25,430 23,577 7.86%
Ford F-150 5 6 11 25,083 22,390 12.03%
Chevrolet Tahoe 6 5 4 33,369 29,638 12.59%
Toyota Camry 7 8 9 17,446 18,429 -5.33%
Honda Civic 8 10 7 16,025 16,190 -1.02%
Audi A4 9 9 5 26,846 24,470 9.71%
Toyota Tacoma 10 11 10 22,259 21,233 4.83%
BMW 5-Series 11 7 8 37,213 36,486 1.99%
Ford Mustang 12 12 17 21,417 19,170 11.72%
Acura TL 13 14 12 25,830 25,038 3.16%
Volkswagen Jetta 14 13 14 16,289 14,937 9.05%
Honda Pilot 15 16 18 24,492 22,055 11.05%
Toyota Highlander 16 15 13 24,608 22,936 7.29%
Toyota 4Runner 17 17 15 24,809 23,324 6.37%
Chevrolet Suburban 18 18 27 35,629 31,195 14.21%
Sierra
GMC 1500 19 19 30 25,417 22,607 12.43%
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Acura MDX 20 21 19 32,728 27,745 17.96%
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TOP 10 NEW VEHICLE BRANDS
MAKE Rank 6/10 Rank 6/09
Ford 1 1
Chevy 2 2
Toyota 3 3
Nissan 4 5
Dodge 5 6
Nissan 6 4
BMW 7 7
Volkswagen 8 11
GMC 9 15
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Hyundai 10 8
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TOP 10 USED VEHICLE BRANDS
MAKE Rank 6/10 Rank 6/09
Ford 1 1
Chevrolet 2 2
Toyota 3 3
Dodge 4 4
BMW 5 5
Nissan 6 6
Honda 7 7
Mercedes-Benz 8 8
Jeep 9 9
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GMC 10 12
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