No Surprise, There's New Interest In Fuel Efficient Cars

Both new and used car sales have risen over the last couple of months, fueled in large part by consumers' desire to find more fuel-efficient transportation.

Auto sales site AutoTrader.com has seen the shift as well, reporting in its latest Trend Engine report that consumers are spending a lot more time searching and researching small cars.

This increase in interest is especially apparent on the most-searched new vehicles list, where two fuel-efficient cars — the Ford Focus and Hyundai Sonata — made big jumps to land in the top 20 and showed notable increases in average asking price, the company said.

Not surprisingly, search activity among trucks and SUVs went down. According to a survey conducted by AutoTrader.com in March and April, 62 percent of car shoppers are considering purchasing a vehicle that is more fuel efficient than the car they currently drive.

Interest in Fuel-Efficient Cars Increases

On the list of most-searched new vehicles, three fuel-efficient models held their spots in the ranking while four other models made gains. Among this group were two newcomers to the list in April: the new Ford Focus leapt 21 spots, going from No. 33 in March to No. 11 in April, and the new Hyundai Sonata moved up four spots from No. 23 in March to No. 19 in April.

Also notable is the new Chevrolet Cruze, which cracked the top 10 to come in at No. 8 on the list, up from No. 11 in March. Analysts also noted big year-over-year gains for two other fuel-efficient cars: the new Hyundai Elantra leapt 37 places, going from No. 51 to No. 14, and the new Kia Optima leapt 87 spots, going from No. 104 to No. 17.

Trucks and SUVs showed signs of declining consumer interest on the list of most-searched used vehicles. The used Ford F-150, which has retained the top spot throughout 2011, was pushed to the No. 2 spot on the list by the used BMW 3-Series.

While some trucks and SUVs managed to hold on to their position month-over-month, two other large trucks and SUVs lost ground: the used Chevrolet Tahoe and used Chevrolet Silverado 2500 dropped two or more places between March and April 2011.

Fuel-efficient favorites, such as the used Honda Civic (No. 5) and Accord (No. 6), as well as the used Nissan Altima (No. 12), all held steady month-over-month, while the used Volkswagen Jetta and used Toyota Camry both increased their positions on the list. The Jetta went from No. 15 in March to No. 13 in April, and the Camry moved up one spot from No. 20 in March to No. 19 in April.

Prices rise

Average asking prices were on the rise for the majority of the most-searched vehicles on AutoTrader.com in April. For new vehicles, prices were up year-over-year on 12 vehicles and down on six vehicles. Two models were not available at this time last year and therefore do not have year-over-year price data.

On the used vehicle list, prices were up on 13 and down on seven, and for the most-searched Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles, prices were up on a whopping 17 vehicles and down on only three.

AutoTrader.com analysts noted that supply and demand is a key factor in determining the asking price of a vehicle, so seeing increases on the majority of vehicles across the new, used and CPO lists shows that consumers are certainly making a return to the automotive market.

Analysts also noted that fuel-efficient cars made significant gains across all three lists, as the demand for these cars has increased with the rise in gas prices.

On the list of most-searched new vehicles, the new Kia Optima had the largest increase in average asking price year-over-year, going from $20,772 to $24,099 year-over-year; the new Hyundai Elantra achieved the second-biggest price increase of 12.75 percent, going from $17,474 to $19,702 year-over-year. The average asking price for the new Ford Focus rose 6.92 percent, and the new Hyundai Sonata saw an increase of 5.52 percent, the company said.

Fuel-efficient cars fared equally as well on the list of most-searched used cars, with the used Honda Accord posting the largest increase in average asking price —9.89 percent — going from $15,787 to $17,349 year-over-year, and the used Toyota Camry came in second with an increase of 8.99 percent, going from $15,482 to $16,874 year-over-year. The used Nissan Altima gained 7.15 percent in average asking price, and the used Honda Civic gained 6.22 percent.