Car Market Continues to Offer Challenges for the Second Half of 2008

GM, Ford Look to Success of Malibu, Focus To Rally Against Slumping Truck
Sales

ATLANTA, Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Toyota Camry, the Honda Accord, the
Honda Civic and the Nissan Altima topped the list of the most-searched-for new
vehicles in July on AutoTrader.com, the ultimate automotive marketplace with
over 3.5 million vehicle listings. Using research gathered by studying the
shopping habits of over 14 million unique monthly visitors to the site, many
of whom are in-market shoppers looking to complete a vehicle purchase within
the next 90 days, AutoTrader.com has begun compiling this data to offer
insight into current and emerging sales trends in the automobile industry.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080205/CLTU088LOGO )
As truck and SUV sales continue to decline in the face of $4 a gallon gas
and other economic uncertainties, consumers in general are continuing their
steady migration to compact and midsize sedans when searching for a new
vehicle. This suggests a continued downturn among domestic manufacturers, who
have traditionally relied on sales of these vehicles.
In this downturn, though, the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu is a noticeable bright
spot. The new Malibu has seen searches rise 293% over the previous generation
during the same time period in 2007. This rise in search activity comes even
as the average asking price of Chevrolet's midsize sedan has increased $4,500
year-over-year, putting it slightly higher than either the Toyota Camry or the
Nissan Altima. Malibu sales have already benefited from a robust marketing
campaign and positive reviews, and AutoTrader.com's data indicates the car
should become a strong sales rival to the Camry and Honda Accord in the coming
months.
Further good news came from increases in searches for both the Chevrolet
Impala and Chevrolet Cobalt, up 67.93% and 15.27% year-over-year,
respectively. Ford's compact Focus also saw search activity rise over 72%
from July 2007, while the average asking price rose 2.5%.
"The new Chevrolet Malibu is a perfect example of a domestic car that
competes with the best from Honda, Toyota, and Nissan not on price, but on
quality and execution," said AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry. "We
expect to see the sales of new, smaller cars from GM and Ford to continue to
rise, thereby helping to offset some of the loss of sales in trucks."
While searches for trucks generally trended downward in July, interest in
the compact Toyota Tacoma pick-up rose 43% year-over-year. Many pick-up
buyers still need the ability to haul, tow or go off-road, and these consumers
are beginning to look at smaller compact and midsize models such as the Tacoma
for its ability to combine traditional truck attributes with the promise of
improved gas mileage.
Two popular lifestyle vehicles-the Ford Mustang and Jeep Wrangler-were
joined by a newcomer, the Dodge Challenger, on the list of 20 most-searched
for new vehicles. Many consumers performing these searches are not actually
in-market to buy, but are simply looking at inventory out of sheer desire to
own. While total sales for these vehicles remains a small part of the overall
automotive marketplace, their iconic status serves to attract consumers to
their respective brands' more mainstream offerings.
Used Cars Down
Searches for used cars were down across all of AutoTrader.com, with
significant double-digit dips despite strong overall site traffic. In
addition, the average asking prices for used vehicles was also generally down.
Of the 20 most-searched for used vehicles, only the Honda Civic and Toyota
Corolla saw any significant increases, with average asking prices increasing
4.86% and 5.08%, respectively.
"Buyers are finding that, as they downsize from larger, more expensive
SUVs, small and midsize new cars actually cost less while offering similar, if
not better, feature content," continued Perry. "For consumers who previously
might have been in the market for another used SUV, a smaller new car may make
more financial sense."
AutoTrader.com will continue reporting at the beginning of each month on
potential sales trends it discerns through shopper behavior on the site.
About AutoTrader.com
AutoTrader.com, created in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is the
Internet's leading auto classifieds marketplace and consumer information
website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location more than 3.5 million
new, used and certified pre-owned vehicle listings from 40,000 dealers and
250,000 private owners and the site attracts more than 14 million unique
monthly visitors. Through innovative merchandising functionality such as
multiple photos, videos, detailed descriptions and comprehensive research and
compare tools, AutoTrader.com unites new and used car buyers and sellers
online to improving the way people research, locate and advertise vehicles.
AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. The venture
capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more
information, please visit www.autotrader.com .

Change Change
Rank Rank from from
MAKE MODEL July July July Avg Price Avg Price July
08 07 07 - July 08 - July 07 07

Toyota Camry 1 4 38.32% $23,986.21 $24,648.68 -2.69%
Honda Accord 2 5 45.20% $25,639.94 $25,459.41 0.71%
Honda Civic 3 6 31.74% $20,094.78 $19,869.57 1.13%
Nissan Altima 4 2 3.52% $24,237.55 $23,526.41 3.02%
Silverado
Chevrolet 1500 5 1 -12.51% $30,205.21 $30,187.83 0.06%
Ford F-150 6 7 27.23% $30,598.95 $30,650.54 -0.17%
Toyota Corolla 7 12 48.00% $18,548.96 $17,178.70 7.98%
Ford Mustang 8 3 -8.21% $30,909.33 $29,099.31 6.22%
Toyota Tacoma 9 17 43.44% $26,024.23 $25,396.74 2.47%
Chevrolet Malibu 10 97 293.13% $24,465.62 $19,923.39 22.80%
Dodge Challenger 11 N/A N/A $46,291.19 N/A N/A
Mazda Mazda3 12 11 5.00% $19,025.67 $19,422.16 -2.04%
Honda CR-V 13 14 10.88% $24,920.93 $24,962.30 -0.17%
Dodge Ram 1500 14 9 -4.58% $31,329.25 $31,890.62 -1.76%
Toyota Tundra 15 10 -1.77% $33,685.66 $34,323.28 -1.86%
Chevrolet Cobalt 16 16 15.27% $16,716.46 $15,971.25 4.67%
Chevrolet Impala 17 29 67.93% $24,827.11 $23,740.25 4.58%
Jeep Wrangler 18 8 -23.10% $27,809.34 $26,185.32 6.20%
Ford Focus 19 32 72.28% $17,237.48 $16,813.94 2.52%
Toyota RAV4 20 20 23.80% $25,941.02 $25,511.64 1.68%

Used Cars

Ford F-150 1 1 -23.24% $16,316.97 $19,811.57 17.64%
Ford Mustang 2 2 -21.86% $17,334.77 $18,644.31 -7.02%
Honda Civic 3 3 -13.42% $15,032.73 $14,336.68 4.86%
Honda Accord 4 4 -13.15% $16,779.23 $16,760.00 0.11%
Silverado
Chevrolet 1500 5 5 -22.39% $16,620.14 $19,742.21 15.81%
Nissan Altima 6 7 -8.89% $15,182.39 $15,281.63 -0.65%
Infiniti G35 7 8 -14.12% $22,184.20 $24,655.11 10.02%
Dodge Ram 1500 8 9 -21.93% $14,755.96 $17,819.92 17.19%
Volkswagen Jetta 9 16 -13.55% $14,304.14 $14,471.95 -1.16%
Toyota Camry 10 14 -17.03% $17,103.99 $16,795.87 1.83%
Jeep Wrangler 11 15 -17.81% $17,422.31 $18,485.51 -5.75%
Audi A4 12 18 -8.92% $21,745.28 $22,544.89 -3.55%
Toyota Tacoma 13 10 -25.75% $18,833.34 $19,534.66 -3.59%
Grand
Jeep Cherokee 14 11 -27.26% $14,672.47 $17,250.62 14.95%
Ford F-250 15 6 -39.42% $21,514.56 $24,950.53 13.77%
Chevrolet Tahoe 16 12 -27.55% $19,664.58 $23,781.19 17.31%
Ford Explorer 17 13 -27.81% $13,608.05 $16,339.12 16.71%
Toyota Corolla 18 23 -6.29% $14,789.31 $14,076.20 5.07%
Chevrolet Impala 19 22 -12.73% $14,180.93 $14,724.85 -3.69%
Chevrolet Corvette 20 21 -19.31% $37,836.25 $39,976.54 -5.35%

SOURCE AutoTrader.com

Brian Gluckman of AutoTrader.com, +1-404-568-7914 (ph), +1-404-580-4020
(cell), brian.gluckman@autotrader.com