Third Quarter NADAguides Brand Share Report Shows Domestics Regaining What Was Lost in the Second Quarter

FYI: Chevrolet Buyer's Guide

COSTA MESA, CA--Oct. 26, 2011:

News Highlights

• NADAguides, the most comprehensive vehicle information provider on the Internet today, announces its Brand Share Report for the third quarter of 2011 -- revealing that domestic brands saw the only increase in consumer interest on NADAguides.com during the third quarter of 2011, increasing its overall share of consumer interest by more than ten percent.
• Helping domestics achieve this increase was Chevrolet, which topped brand consumer interest on NADAguides during quarter three. The analysts at NADAguides attribute this increase of Chevrolet brand interest to the Cruze, which has been gaining momentum month over month throughout the year, as well as the Chevrolet Silverado which has consistently remained near the top in terms of brand share and interest on NADAguides.com throughout the year. Based on sales numbers reported by Automotive News, the Chevrolet Cruze was the fifth most purchased car through the first nine months of 2011 and the Chevrolet Silverado was the second most purchased light vehicle and light truck.
• During the second quarter, MINI and Fiat both saw the largest growth in brand share (increasing by 206 and 168 percent, respectively). During the third quarter, Fiat continued its surge and saw the largest increase in overall brand share, increasing by more than 68 percent, while consumer interest for MINI fell dramatically with one of the largest decreases in brand share during the third quarter as compared to the second quarter, dropping nearly 54 percent. As a result European brands saw the biggest decrease in consumer interest on NADAguides.com during the third quarter, dropping by 14.9 percent as compared to the second quarter 2011.
• Chevrolet edged out Ford as the most researched brand on NADAguides, moving Ford to the second position, while Toyota, Nissan and Honda maintained the third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Consumer interest for Nissan actually decreased by more than 25 percent but was able to maintain its overall position as the fourth most researched brand on NADAguides.com. Chevrolet owned 14.5 percent of overall consumer interest on NADAguides.com during the third quarter of 2011, Ford 13.3 percent, Toyota 9.9 percent, Nissan 6.29 percent and Honda 6.1 percent.
• During the third quarter of 2011 domestics further cemented their position as the leader both in sales and in consumer interest on NADAguides.com. Interest for domestics actually increased by 10.2 percent while sales increased from 46.8 percent to 47.3 percent year-to-date during quarter three -- with the large jump in consumer brand interest during the third quarter, it may be an indication that sales for domestics will continue in an upward trend for the remainder of the year.
• Both consumer interest and sales for Japanese brands actually decreased in the third quarter with sales showing a decrease of 1.7 percent and consumer brand interest dropping 2.5 percent. Analysts continue to attribute some of these decreases for the Japanese brands to the production circumstances that followed the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year.
• Consumer brand interest on NADAguides.com for European and Korean brands fell dramatically, 14.9 and 7.7 percent, respectively. However, sales for both continued to remain relatively similar -- both at nine percent. Despite promising increases in consumer interest during the second quarter, those inquiries did not result in sales during the third quarter.

Key Quotes

• Troy Snyder, Director of Product Development, NADAguides: "We continue to see the 'Big Three' putting out great vehicles that meet consumer demands at all price points and with many more options at high MPG ratings. Trends are expected to shift again as the year comes to a close and Japanese manufacturers are all nearly back to capacity production."

About the NADAguides Brand Share Report

The quarterly NADAguides Brand Share Report is a collection of data points from hundreds of thousands of research behaviors and actions of in-market, new-car shoppers on NADAguides.com. NADAguides' Brand Share Report is an ongoing study, tracking and trending consumer research patterns, purchase intents and market and data interests within automotive brands.

About NADAguides

NADAguides is the largest publisher of vehicle pricing and information for new and used cars, classic cars, motorcycles, boats, RVs, and manufactured homes. NADAguides offers in-depth shopping and research tools in addition to the most market-reflective pricing available. The company also produces software, raw data, web services, web-syndicated products and print guidebooks.

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