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Toyota’s Recalls Cause Decline in New-Car Leads

Toyota's recalls continue to have a negative impact on sales activity, according to a recent Cars.com consumer lead index. Leads for Toyota vehicles declined nearly five percent year over year on Cars.com, and interest in the brand's vehicles continues to slip month over month.

by Staff
June 1, 2010
2 min to read


CHICAGO — Toyota's recalls continue to have a negative impact on sales activity, according to a recent Cars.com consumer lead index. Leads for Toyota vehicles declined nearly five 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."

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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. The Hyundai 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:

May Movers

% Increase New Car Leads to 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    Leads by Brand

% Increase/Decrease in Consumer Contacts 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%

 

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