Online Search For Autos Holds Steady, Despite Expected Sales Drop

automotive

Online Search For Autos Holds Steady, Despite Expected Sales Drop

by  @TanyaGazdik, August 1, 2018

Online Search For Autos Holds Steady, Despite Expected Sales Drop | DeviceDaily.com

Share of search for new cars held mostly steady on CarGurus.com for July compared to June except for a jump of .4 percentage points for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Nissan saw a drop of .5 percentage points, while General Motors was down .3 percentage points. Toyota was down .1 while Ford was up .1 and Honda was up .2.

CarGurus looked at search and buyer interest for the major automakers as they get prepare to announce their July sales. Analysts at car-shopping website Edmunds forecast industry-wide monthly sales of nearly 1.38 million new cars, trucks and SUVs. That would mark a 2.3% drop compared to July 2017, which benefited from one extra selling day.

Manufacturers will release sales figures today.

When it comes to interest, CarGurus is seeing year-over-year drops for Honda and Toyota. The two automakers lost -4.3 percentage points (Honda) and -3.7 percentage points (Toyota). The American makers are up year-over-year, led by FCA with a 3.5 percentage-point gain over last July.

In regard to body styles, Crossover/SUV interest is up the greatest amount with a 2.1 percentage point gain month-over-month. That gain in share is largely coming from Sedans, which are down by -0.7 percentage points and Coupes, which are down by -1.8 percentage points. Crossover/SUV is down year over year with a  -1.4 percentage-point decrease and pickups are up 2.2 percentage points year-over-year.

“Looking at the data, it was surprising to see that buyer interest for new Crossover/SUVs were down 1.4 percentage points year-over-year,” CarGurus Data Analyst Lisa Rosenberg tells Marketing Daily. “It looks like that interest shifted towards pickup trucks and this is likely because the interior of newer pickup truck models is starting to feel more like SUVs.” 

MediaPost.com: Search Marketing Daily

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