Can You Guess The Hottest Vehicle On Dealer Lots In May And What Car People Traded To Buy It?

Even in this terrible economy, there are still some shining stars on the dealer lots.

The three standing at the top are:

1. Toyota Venza
2. Audi Q5
3. Lexus RX

So much for people wanting SMALL, fuel efficient cars.

Even in bad times and with volatile gas prices.

Only TWO are fuel efficient...Honda Insight and Kia Soul.

Ok, before you all email me or post that the EPA numbers show these do well I'll tell you ALL of the vehicles on this list outside of the Insight and Soul will only give you high teens city and low to mid 20-'s on the highway if you are a normal driver in normal driving conditions.

Yes, you can get 30 hwy if you hypermile but reality is 17-20 city, 22-25 hmy.

And this chart also shows 8 of the 10 cars are new models or virtually new to the market.

So people want the latest/greatest, sensible designs (my guess is downsizing from Tahoe to Crossover size, not economy size) and mileage is only a very small part of the equation.

If you're on this list, it's encouraging to see that you're doing something right.

But it has to be perplexing to a company like Audi who has this breakthrough hit in the Q5 but you realize the most traded in vehicle is an A4.

So the good news is you kept them in the brand but at the expense of another model.

My guess is Audi would have loved to seen the commercial message come to life and see the RX housewives radiate to the Q5.

Let us know what you think and if you see any other trends or have some insight (no pun intended) that we might not have noticed from this chart.

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ChevyFan100 - 6/11/2009 3:01:04 PM

+1 Boost

If a was forced to get a Venza I'd probably have to replace the ugly grille

dgoodson - 6/11/2009 3:14:37 PM

+1 Boost

Hey 001, I think you're reading the chart wrong. The A4 was the most traded in vehicle FOR the Q5, which wouldn't surprise me or Audi I don't think. They're being loyal and trading up for something bigger and more versatile.

Though I'm not a fan of audis, i did put the Q5 through its paces at the Audi Experience, and liked it a lot (ha, mostly thanks to the stiffer bmw-like steering). it's not perfect, but of all the competing vehicles in that class, I think it offers the best overall package that buyers are looking for in a small, sporty premium SUV. Can't wait to see what BMW does with the X3 though!

Agent001 - 6/11/2009 3:17:07 PM

+2 Boost

Yes, I said the most traded for a Q5 is the A4.

"But it has to be perplexing to a company like Audi who has this breakthrough hit in the Q5 but you realize the most traded in vehicle is an A4.

So the good news is you kept them in the brand but at the expense of another model.

My guess is Audi would have loved to seen the commercial message come to life and see the RX housewives radiate to the Q5."

001

thstone - 6/11/2009 3:47:36 PM

+3 Boost

My comment on the BMW GT's is equally valid for the Venza which is basically a Camry GT hatchback (if I may throw in the "GT" moniker in a general sense). There is a sizable market segment that wants a high seating position and more cargo space (which rules out a sedan or a traditional station wagon) but doesn't need all of the capability of an SUV (remember all of those SUV's that were never driven off road?)

Based on this report, "Older Ladies With Dogs" might be appearing as a valid market segment any day now.

lock - 6/11/2009 5:03:19 PM

+3 Boost

True, but the Venza looks better than the Camry and the 5 series GT looks worse than the standard 5.

BondMI6 - 6/11/2009 4:18:22 PM

+1 Boost

Hilarious thstone.........."Older Ladies With Dogs"........

JRobUSC - 6/11/2009 7:27:44 PM

+2 Boost

So the most commonly traded car on a Q5 is an A4. I'm more interested in the fact that the average down payment on a new Q5 is $12650, and the average Q5 payment is still $699/mo, even with that much money down. Is that correct? Because that's crazy high -- maybe they need to add a line to that chart: "Average Negative Equity from A4 Trade-In".

Agent001 - 6/11/2009 9:46:21 PM

+2 Boost

Interesting point.

The Q5 is definitely NOT cheap.

But is probably their best product after the R8 and Coupes.

001

JRobUSC - 6/11/2009 11:12:11 PM

+1 Boost

I know it's not cheap, and I've said before I think it's probably the best vehicle in the class right now. But extrapolate the figures -- $699 (the average payment) w/ $12650 down (the average down payment) at 6% interest (a pretty standard rate for people with good credit) means the average purchase amount was almost $49k. It's not THAT expensive, especially not "on average".

skinny - 6/11/2009 10:45:06 PM

+1 Boost

"Hottest Car" in this instance is based on the cars that sit on the dealer's lot the least amount of days on average. It may say "Hottest" in one one, but not best selling. Generally brand new or brand new redesigned products do get sold quickly, therefore, spend on average less time on dealer's lots due to newness and somewhat becuase of production ramp up delays.

wins555 - 6/11/2009 11:00:24 PM

+1 Boost

To look at it another way, housewives who were in the market for a vehicle chooses between a Lexus RX or a Audi A4????????? Because the most traded in car is an A4 for a Q5 when Audi was marketing the Q5 as a substitute for a Lexus RX.

M53R - 6/12/2009 2:43:14 AM

+1 Boost

Tree huggers + the government are trying to force this whole green image and that people are dying to buy green cars when it's so not true.

commander104 - 6/12/2009 6:46:30 PM

+1 Boost

so can I get a good price on a used A4?

Godgore - 6/19/2009 2:30:04 PM

+1 Boost

Audi folks a have been waiting a long time for a car like this ever since the Allroad disappeared. Also what the article fails mention is how many of those traded in A4's were Avants.

Eyecarehawaii - 6/19/2009 7:44:23 PM

+1 Boost

Does anyone really care about all this? Buy whatever strokes your goat.