Nissan Altima Wins 2002 Autobytel Consumer Choice Award as the Most Popular New Vehicle Among Online Car Buyers

SAN FRANCISCO Feb. 1, 2003 An on line lead developmenrt company today announced the winners of its first annual Consumer Choice Awards at the 2003 National Automobile Dealers Association Convention in San Francisco. The Autobytel Consumer Choice Awards(TM) were presented to the manufacturers who built the cars and trucks that were the most popular among Autobytel's millions of online car-buyers in 2002, based on Purchase Request data amassed by Autobytel throughout the year.(a) Autobytel consistently generates the highest number of vehicle sales online and accounts for billions of dollars in vehicle sales each year for dealers through its services. As such, the Consumer Choice Awards provide a broad overview of Internet buying behavior, shedding new light on an exploding segment with very distinct tastes, trends and processes.

The award announcements reveal some notable differences between online buyers and their traditional counterparts. Autobytel's Most Requested New Vehicle and Most Requested New Passenger Car Awards, for example, were both won by the redesigned Nissan Altima, which gained rapid momentum in the market overall, but which nonetheless did not rank among the top ten sellers last year.(1) The Acura 3.2 CL, meanwhile, surpassed its European and American competitors in the Most Requested New Luxury Car category. Honda won in two additional categories as well -- Most Requested New Minivan (the Honda Odyssey) and #1 Overall Most Requested Used Vehicle (the 1999 Honda Accord).

GM also took home three awards. The Chevy Tahoe won the Most Requested New SUV award, and the Chevy Silverado won the Most Requested New Truck. Cadillac's intensive youth marketing campaign and new vehicle line-up, meanwhile, appear to have paid off with big gains among online buyers, who tend to skew younger (and more metropolitan and affluent). The brand was presented with a special Autobytel Consumer Choice Award as the manufacturer with the greatest year-on-year percentage gain in online Purchase Requests from 2001 to 2002.

"The Awards reveal that online shoppers are, in many cases, buying different vehicles than their offline counterparts," said Autobytel President and CEO Jeffrey Schwartz. "I attribute at least some of the disparity to the fact that online buyers undergo a different, more selective shopping process. They break down features and options; they read reviews; they cross-compare; they actively move from brand to brand. Our Award winners can take pride in the fact that they built the vehicles these research-intensive online shoppers said they wanted to buy in 2002."

Additional Purchase Request analysis reveals some interesting general online-vs.-traditional buying trends. For example, while trucks and SUVs are well represented on the overall top-sellers list, filling three of the top five sales slots, only one of the top five most popular Autobytel vehicles was a truck or SUV (the Silverado). (In fact, while 70% of the sales volume among the top five selling vehicles in America went to trucks -- full size trucks -- only 20% of order volume among the top five Autobytel vehicles was represented by trucks.) Imports, meanwhile, tended to perform better on the Internet in certain categories. The top five finishers in the luxury category, for example, were all imports, as were three of the top four most requested SUVs. (The top four traditional SUV sales leaders, on the other hand, are all domestic.)

In an industry that analysts estimate spent $40 billion on incentives last year to hold or gain market share, the Autobytel Consumer Choice Awards clarify another pivotal market share determiner -- the online car-buying segment. According to J.D. Power and Associates, 62% of all Automotive Internet Users (AIUs) left their previous make or model (versus only 44% of traditional car shoppers), and only 38% continued with the same brand.(2) Adds Schwartz: "Market share is being won and lost online. The Autobytel Consumer Choice Awards are significant because they can shed new light on this critical dynamic."

Recipients of the Consumer Choice Awards were named at a press conference attended by representatives from major manufacturers and industry press.

2002 Autobytel Consumer Choice Awards Winners

#1 Overall Most Requested New Vehicle -- Nissan Altima #1 Overall Most Requested Used Vehicle -- 1999 Honda Accord #1 Overall Increase Vehicle Requests, 2001-2001 -- Cadillac Most Requested New Passenger Car -- Nissan Altima Most Requested New Truck -- Chevrolet Silverado Most Requested New SUV -- Chevrolet Tahoe Most Requested New Luxury Car -- Acura 3.2 CL Most Requested New Sports Car -- Ford Mustang Most Requested New Minivan -- Honda Odyssey

(a) Online car buyers submit vehicle Purchase Requests through Autobytel to local dealers, once they intend to buy a specific vehicle. The Autobytel Consumer Choice Awards are based on the volume of vehicle Purchase Requests submitted (with an intent to buy) by online shoppers through Autobytel's network during 2002.