Yaris sales skyrocket

Yaris sales skyrocket

[img2=left]http://TRDforums.com/assets/newsimages/yaris.jpg[/img2]High gas prices have helped generate significant search volume and email leads sent to dealers for the new Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit subcompact cars. According to the latest cars.com Consumer Search Index, the Yaris and Fit top the lists for largest new- and used-car search increases and cracked the top 10 in terms of email leads sent to dealers.

"The combination of a low base price and extremely good gas mileage have translated into very good sales for cars like the Yaris and the Fit," said Joe Wiesenfelder, cars.com senior editor. "If gas prices continue to remain at these levels throughout the summer, sales of these cars and others in this category should remain strong."

While searches and email leads to dealers for fuel-efficient vehicles remained strong in May, searches for larger SUVs like the Toyota Sequoia continue to trend downward. As a category, searches for large SUVs were down in May; however, the decrease wasn't nearly as dramatic as the one experienced last summer when searches for some large SUVs dropped by more than 30 percent.

Top New-Car Search Increases
1 Toyota Yaris 373.07%
2 Honda Fit 415.62%
3 Saturn Sky 31.31%

Top Used-Car Search Increases
1 Toyota Yaris 1124.78%
2 Honda Fit 744.86%
3 Saturn Sky 53.30%

http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2006/06/07/010286.html