Automobile designers, take a bow. Car company executives, keep thinking,
"style." Car and truck dealers, if you're looking to attract luxury
buyers, park your pickups way to the rear of the sh
May 16, 2006 (Press Release) --
Automobile designers, take a bow. Car company executives, keep thinking,
"style." Car and truck dealers, if you're looking to attract luxury
buyers, park your pickups way to the rear of the showroom floor.
Those are among the speculative conclusions drawn from an analysis of the
most recent ForbesAutos.com New-Car Shopper Favorites Top 10. The rankings
are compiled from the number of dealer price-quote requests submitted to
the luxury vehicle website during the first quarter of 2006, from Jan. 1
to March 31.
The Saturn Sky tops the poll, pulling in about 10 percent more requests
than the runner-up, the Toyota FJ Cruiser. The Honda Civic Hybrid places a
distant third and the Chevrolet Corvette occupies the fourth spot — down
from a first-place ranking in the previous ForbesAutos.com shopper list.
Consumer price-quote requests sent to car dealers are a strong prediction
of future sales.
In short, they are "designy." It's as if art-school students came of age
and the corporate suits started listening to them. The same applies to the
list's seventh-ranked BMW 325 and ninth-ranked Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra
GT500.
Meanwhile, don't any pickup truck buyers use the Internet?
According to sales figures compiled by Automotive News, during the same
three-month stretch covered by this ForbesAutos.com Top 10, the two best-
selling vehicles were the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado pickups.
Dodge Ram, another pickup, placed fourth. A minivan was eighth. There's
nary a sports car, SUV or luxury sedan on the national top 10 list.
Our list, however, includes three sports cars — the Sky, 'Vette and
Mustang; three SUVs — the Cruiser, Cherokee and Tahoe; and two sedans;
the 325 and TL.
The two remaining slots on the Top 10 went to a familiar Honda pair: the
Civic and the Accord. Ranked third and tenth respectively this quarter by
would-be buyers, the pair placed fifth and sixth nationwide in Automotive
News data during the same time period.
In addition to the above duo and the Corvette, a fourth vehicle from the
previous rankings also remained in the Top 10 — the BMW 325, which
slipped slightly from fifth place to seventh. Recently redesigned, and
controversially so, the BMW is another example of the aqueous styling cues
honored by ForbesAutos.com readers.
The last time around, the Civic and Accord (offered as hybrids) were two
of the four total alternative-energy rides to crack the Top 10. This time,
only the Hondas remain. The formerly second-place Toyota Highlander Hybrid
falls just out of the rankings to 11th and the Toyota Prius plummets
towards the bottom of the charts — likely a consequence of user hype
fatigue, but also consistent with Prius' 22 percent nationwide sales drop
from the same first-quarter period last year.
To learn more about which cars made our list, click on the vehicle names
in the upper left-hand page navigation or click here to see the slideshow.
Source: http://search.msn.com
Posted by Jeremy Rosenberg
"style." Car and truck dealers, if you're looking to attract luxury
buyers, park your pickups way to the rear of the showroom floor.
Those are among the speculative conclusions drawn from an analysis of the
most recent ForbesAutos.com New-Car Shopper Favorites Top 10. The rankings
are compiled from the number of dealer price-quote requests submitted to
the luxury vehicle website during the first quarter of 2006, from Jan. 1
to March 31.
The Saturn Sky tops the poll, pulling in about 10 percent more requests
than the runner-up, the Toyota FJ Cruiser. The Honda Civic Hybrid places a
distant third and the Chevrolet Corvette occupies the fourth spot — down
from a first-place ranking in the previous ForbesAutos.com shopper list.
Consumer price-quote requests sent to car dealers are a strong prediction
of future sales.
In short, they are "designy." It's as if art-school students came of age
and the corporate suits started listening to them. The same applies to the
list's seventh-ranked BMW 325 and ninth-ranked Ford Mustang Shelby Cobra
GT500.
Meanwhile, don't any pickup truck buyers use the Internet?
According to sales figures compiled by Automotive News, during the same
three-month stretch covered by this ForbesAutos.com Top 10, the two best-
selling vehicles were the Ford F-Series and Chevrolet Silverado pickups.
Dodge Ram, another pickup, placed fourth. A minivan was eighth. There's
nary a sports car, SUV or luxury sedan on the national top 10 list.
Our list, however, includes three sports cars — the Sky, 'Vette and
Mustang; three SUVs — the Cruiser, Cherokee and Tahoe; and two sedans;
the 325 and TL.
The two remaining slots on the Top 10 went to a familiar Honda pair: the
Civic and the Accord. Ranked third and tenth respectively this quarter by
would-be buyers, the pair placed fifth and sixth nationwide in Automotive
News data during the same time period.
In addition to the above duo and the Corvette, a fourth vehicle from the
previous rankings also remained in the Top 10 — the BMW 325, which
slipped slightly from fifth place to seventh. Recently redesigned, and
controversially so, the BMW is another example of the aqueous styling cues
honored by ForbesAutos.com readers.
The last time around, the Civic and Accord (offered as hybrids) were two
of the four total alternative-energy rides to crack the Top 10. This time,
only the Hondas remain. The formerly second-place Toyota Highlander Hybrid
falls just out of the rankings to 11th and the Toyota Prius plummets
towards the bottom of the charts — likely a consequence of user hype
fatigue, but also consistent with Prius' 22 percent nationwide sales drop
from the same first-quarter period last year.
To learn more about which cars made our list, click on the vehicle names
in the upper left-hand page navigation or click here to see the slideshow.
Source: http://search.msn.com
Posted by Jeremy Rosenberg
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