The top five brands that followed an ascending trend were: Hyundai, Ford, GMC, Kia and Subaru, while the top five declining brands are Toyota, Honda, Pontiac, Dodge and Lexus.
Hyundai share of new-car customer activity has seen a 70 percent increase to 6 percent of the web traffic compared to May 2010, with the expansion driven by the Sonata and Tucson Models. Ford accounts for 10 percent of the new car shopper activity on kbb.com, with the leading models being the Super Duty trucks, Mustang and Fiesta.
At the other end of the scale we find, Toyota, which has been affected by the massive recall campaigns, but still manages to be the top brand on the website in terms of customer activity, with a share of 13 percent. Honda is in a similar situation: even though the brand holds the second place on kbb.com, with a 11 percent traffic rating, the brand has registered contantly decreasing market share levels during the past year due to shrinking interest for the aging Civic and steady fuel prices decreasing the demand for eco vehicles, such as the Insight hybrid.
"Many brands we see on the top five upward climbers and bottom five downward decliners list for May 2010 would have been shocking to many consumers and industry professionals if you would have shown them this data just a few years ago," said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com. "These results prove how great product supported by strong marketing, along with consumer confidence and excitement about the brand can alter shopper behavior in the relatively short course of only a year."
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