CarGurus recently announced its mid-year top 10 most popular car models as voted by consumers on www.CarGurus.com. Based on the quantity and quality of ratings received by each car on the website, 2007 models were ranked by consumer popularity. Given the recent spikes in gas prices, CarGurus commented that it was surprising that 70% of the top 10 most popular cars were utility trucks or sports cars. Topping the popularity list was the Jeep Wrangler, followed by the Ford Mustang.
Over the last six months with slightly under 1.5 million unique visitors, CarGurus collected the user ratings of all 2007 models. As of June 30, 2007, CarGurus tallied the number of ratings and the positive or negative nature of the ratings to create a mid-year overall popularity index of 2007 cars. Below are the top 10 most popular cars as of June 30, 2007 as voted on by visitors to www.cargurus.com.
Of additional interest was the fact that none of the top 10 cars had an average gas mileage that met the most recent 2004 Federal CAFE gas mileage standard (27.5 mpg for cars and 20.7 mpg for light trucks). The gas-stingy Toyota Prius (average mpg of 46) was only the 15th most popular car on the list (not listed above). According to Ward’s Auto, the best-selling cars for the first half of 2007 mirror this gas-mileage trend, with only two of the top-15-selling cars (the compact sedans Toyota Corolla and the Honda Civic) beating the CAFE gas-mileage requirements.
“U.S. online auto consumers love their sports cars and utility trucks,” remarked Langley Steinert, Co-founder and CEO of CarGurus. “While online consumers understand the gas crisis intellectually, they just don’t seem willing to part with the cargo space and performance offered by utility trucks and sports cars.”
Source: CarGurus. (August 2, 2007). “U.S. Online Auto Consumers Can’t Face the Gas Crisis.” CarGurus press release courtesy of PR Newswire.
Source: SEMA Research & Information Center