Monday, April 30, 2012

Cars.com Buzz Index: April 2012


The Volkswagen CC, whose restyled 2013 model hit dealerships recently, tops this month's Buzz Index because the car with the top gain in popularity on Cars.com. Perhaps it's an outstanding sign that shoppers have an interest during this coupe-like sedan, which was popular when it launched in 2008 but has seen sales fall 31% throughout the first quarter of 2012 versus last year. Volkswagen sales overall were up 41% during that point, which suggests the CC may well be getting some secondhand interest from Passat and Jetta shoppers.

The remainder of the list shows interest is growing for cars that aren't the main fuel efficient at the lot: sports cars, SUVs, trucks, minivans and big sedans.

Fuel efficiency still rates high for car shoppers, but plateauing gas prices - though still high - have stripped this kind of gains in interest that will land such cars here. Indeed, rising gas prices inside the early months of 2012 brought five cars with an EPA highway rating of at the least 40 mpg in some variant to March's Buzz Index. April's index has zero.

That doesn't mean fuel efficiency is passe, however. The Toyota Prius, a yardstick for top-mpg popularity, still saw dealer contacts on Cars.com jump by 45.3% this month.

Here is April's Top 10 at the Buzz Index:



Since lots of these cars are of the aging variety, we suspect incentives is perhaps fueling the interest for car shoppers attempting to find a bargain. Saving an additional grand or two on a less-efficient car on the dealer would take the various sting from your trip to the pump.

Top 10 in Overall Activity

The top cars that rank by total shopper interest - in place of folks that are seeing a big flux, like inside the Buzz Index - don't change as much from month to month. Except for just a few perennial high-interest cars, like Detroit's muscle cars, they typically follow the market's top sellers. some shuffled around this month, with the Dodge Charger moving up five spots and the Volkswagen Jetta landing within the top 10. The Ford Focus, which appeared last month, dropped off after big incentives expired in March.

Here is April's top 10:

About the thrill Index

Cars.com's Buzz Index analyzes data from thousands of Cars.com shoppers, gazing which cars have the top increase in search and dealer-contact activity, with a floor to eliminate bit players. Index values analyze which cars garner the very best month-over-month increase in shopper activity - the movers and shakers - not which cars have the top total activity, which stays comparatively similar. For every car, the index regards the latest model year.



From WhatNewsToday.net

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Share

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More