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Toyota Continues to See Decline in Consumer Activity in Wake of Recalls


PHOTO

CHICAGO, June 1 -- According to the most recent Cars.com Consumer Lead Index, Toyota's recalls continue to have a negative impact on sales activity. Leads for Toyota vehicles overall declined close to 5 percent year over year on Cars.com, and interest in the brand's vehicles continues to slip month over month. The Toyota RAV4 topped the list of vehicles experiencing the largest month over month decline in leads, followed closely by the Camry.

"While the Toyota trend is somewhat expected, what's more interesting is the fact that Honda has seen a significant decline as well," said Cars.com Editor in Chief Patrick Olsen. "Honda execs mentioned that they felt there might be some consumer backlash towards Japanese manufacturers as a result of the Toyota recalls and that certainly could be at play here."

Honda as a brand saw Cars.com leads decline by close to 11 percent year over year. The Honda Fit, Pilot and Accord also joined the list of the cars experiencing the largest decline in activity month over month.

Hyundai continues to gain momentum, fueled by the new Hyundai Sonata. Hyundai as a brand saw leads on Cars.com increase by more than 149 percent in May compared to last year and leads for the Sonata were up more than 30 percent over April.

  Cars Experiencing the Largest Increase in New Car Leads to
   Dealers:
                                       % Increase New Car Leads to
  May Movers                                               Dealers
  Ford Mustang                                               59.90%
  Chevrolet Silverado 1500                                   38.93%
  Hyundai Sonata                                             30.23%
  Dodge Ram                                                  23.42%
  GMC Terrain                                                 9.41%
  Chevrolet Tahoe                                             9.08%
  Chevrolet Camaro                                            8.71%
  Chevrolet Corvette                                          5.47%
  Hyundai Santa Fe                                            2.24%

  Cars Experiencing the Largest Decrease in New Car Leads to
   Dealers:
  May Losers               % Decrease in New Car Leads to Dealers
  Toyota RAV4                                              -31.41%
  Toyota Camry                                             -29.61%
  Ford Fusion                                              -28.65%
  Toyota Highlander                                        -26.14%
  Honda Fit                                                -24.97%
  Toyota Venza                                             -22.26%
  Honda Pilot                                              -20.47%
  Toyota Tacoma                                            -20.10%
  Toyota Corolla                                           -18.78%
  Mazda Mazda3                                             -18.44%

     Year over Year
   Change in New Car     % Increase/Decrease in Consumer Contacts
     Leads by Brand                                    to Dealers
  Land Rover                                               162.75%
  Hyundai                                                  149.00%
  Buick                                                     93.28%
  Kia                                                       84.27%
  GMC                                                       81.27%
  Porsche                                                   74.98%
  Audi                                                      65.59%
  Smart                                                     65.47%
  Subaru                                                    64.15%
  Volkswagen                                                55.06%
  BMW                                                       53.39%
  Mercedes-Benz                                             49.59%
  Jaguar                                                    46.92%
  Mini                                                      36.12%
  Volvo                                                     32.12%
  Ford                                                      16.70%
  Mitsubishi                                                15.22%
  Cadillac                                                  14.05%
  Infiniti                                                  11.96%
  Suzuki                                                     6.59%
  Chevrolet                                                  2.26%
  Lincoln                                                   -1.59%
  Toyota                                                    -4.78%
  Nissan                                                    -5.28%
  Acura                                                     -6.17%
  Lexus                                                     -8.92%
  Honda                                                    -10.76%
  Scion                                                    -12.30%
  Mazda                                                    -28.87%
  Saab                                                     -31.50%
  Jeep                                                     -33.57%
  Mercury                                                  -34.03%
  Dodge                                                    -49.28%
  Chrysler                                                 -71.19%
  Isuzu                                                   -100.00%

  About Cars.com

Cars.com a 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 , Gannett Co., Inc. , The McClatchy Company , Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company .