FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Edmunds.com Analyzes Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Toyota Performance
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — November 2, 2009 — Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, has prepared the following materials to support journalists covering this week's announcements from the country's biggest automakers. Terms are defined at the end of this document.
Sales Performance Metrics
| Market Share | True Cost to Incentives | Days to Turn | Average Discount from MSRP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep) | 9.1% | $4,584 | 124 | -21.7% |
| Ford (Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo) | 15.6% | $3,451 | 85 | -17.9% |
| GM (Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hummer, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn) | 19.7% | $3,796 | 109 | -16.6% |
| Toyota (Lexus, Scion, Toyota) | 16.6% | $1,620 | 64 | -12.1% |
| Industry Average | N/A | $2,835 | 87 | -15.1% |
Consideration Share Breakout
The following data shows the percentage of Edmunds.com traffic that visited pages featuring the specified automakers' vehicles during the indicated months.
| Jan-09 | Feb-09 | Mar-09 | Apr-09 | May-09 | Jun-09 | Jul-09 | Aug-09 | Sep-09 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chrysler Group | 10.0% | 9.8% | 9.4% | 8.8% | 10.5% | 9.5% | 9.6% | 8.9% | 7.8% |
| Ford | 12.9% | 14.0% | 14.1% | 15.4% | 15.3% | 14.7% | 15.4% | 16.2% | 13.6% |
| GM | 21.6% | 20.5% | 20.7% | 21.9% | 21.1% | 21.5% | 21.7% | 20.9% | 21.3% |
| Toyota | 20.2% | 23.7% | 23.6% | 22.3% | 22.3% | 22.1% | 23.8% | 23.1% | 21.6% |
Recent Vehicle Launch Analysis
Edmunds.com analysts routinely track Web traffic to pages featuring newly launched vehicles and compare the page views to individualized benchmarks in order to get a sense of the public's reception to each vehicle before sales numbers are available. Each newly launched vehicle's benchmark takes into account its brand, its market segment and the newness of the vehicle at the time of the research. Given this analysis, Edmunds.com Senior Analyst David Tompkins, PhD has concluded:
- The new Ford Taurus is having an average launch.
- After a slow start, the new GMC Terrain is now on track for an average launch.
- Neither the new Lincoln MKT nor the new Cadillac CTS Wagon is attracting as many shoppers as we would expect.
- The new Buick LaCrosse, Cadillac SRX and Chevrolet Equinox are doing better than expected.
More details can be found at Edmunds' AutoObserver.com. The Edmunds.com team can provide additional data upon request.
Definitions of Terms:
Edmunds.com's monthly True Cost of IncentivesSM (TCISM) report takes into account all of the manufacturers' various United States incentives programs, including subvented interest rates and lease programs as well as cash rebates to consumers and dealers. To ensure the greatest possible accuracy, Edmunds.com bases its calculations on sales volume, including the mix of vehicle makes and models for each month, as well as on the proportion of vehicles for which each type of incentive was used.
"Average discount from MSRP " reflects the difference between MSRP and net price as a percentage of MSRP.
"Days to turn" measures how many days on average it took to sell vehicles after they arrived at dealerships.
"Consideration" reflects casual interest in a vehicle as indicated by one or more page views (photos, videos, reviews, etc.) The correlation to sales is not strong, but companies value consideration because it reflects interest in a brand or model that could translate into intent when the consumer is ready to buy. Consideration is a good metric for advertising effectiveness.
About Edmunds (http://www.edmunds.com/about/)
Edmunds publishes four Web sites that empower, engage and educate automotive consumers, enthusiasts and insiders.
Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive consumer information, launched in 1995 as the first automotive information Web site. Its most popular feature, the Edmunds.com True Market Value®, is relied upon by millions of people seeking current transaction prices for new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated "#1" in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. Inside Line launched in 2005 and is the most-read automotive enthusiast Web site. CarSpace launched in 2006 and is an automotive social networking Web site and home to the oldest and most established automotive community. AutoObserver.com launched in 2007 and provides insightful automotive industry commentary and analysis. Edmunds is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.
