ATLANTA, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- After a year of crushing gas prices and a struggling economy, which saw consumers flocking to smaller cars, interest in larger new vehicles may be returning. As gas prices fall and dealers and manufactures offer special pricing and financing on larger models, page views for several larger new models on AutoTrader.com are up, according to AutoTrader.com's monthly Trend Engine report, which tracks the rise and fall in page views of specific models on the site. On the used car list, the top six models in October 2008 were exactly the same as the top six models in October 2007, but prices on the larger, lower-MPG models continue to fall, according to the report.

Larger new models making big jumps in page views on AutoTrader.com in October included the Honda Odyssey (from No. 35 in October '07 to No. 9 in October '08), the Honda Pilot (from No. 53 to No. 12 year over year), the Chrysler Town & Country (from No. 32 to No. 17 year over year) and the Toyota Highlander (from No. 51 to No. 20 year over year).

"In spite of the economy and gas prices, there will always be a market for larger vehicles," said AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry. "While many buyers can downsize to a smaller vehicle, many others can't because they have large families, need a larger vehicle for work or for other reasons. These people may be able to delay the purchase of a new vehicle, but they can't delay it forever. The jumps in page views on our site for some of these larger new vehicles may represent some pent up demand that is about to be realized in sales in the coming weeks or months. The fact that dealers and manufacturers are offering special pricing and financing on some of these larger vehicles can only help move that inventory."

Two new models realized double digit increases in their average list prices year over year, according to the AutoTrader.com Trend Engine. The average price for a new Toyota Corolla jumped 10.35% from October '07 to October '08 and the average price for a new Chevrolet Malibu jumped 20% from October '07 to October '08. Demand for the Corolla remains high as many consumers continue to purchase more fuel efficient cars and demand for the Malibu continues to be driven by strong marketing and good buzz about the car from automobile writers and the public.

Larger Used Vehicles Continue Price Drops

The top six used vehicles on AutoTrader.com's Trend Engine list for October '08 held the exact same position in October '07. In order from No. 1 to No. 6 on the used vehicle list for this October and October '07 were the Ford F-150, the Ford Mustang, the Chevrolet Silverado, the Honda Accord, the Honda Civic and the Dodge Ram 1500. Average prices for the larger vehicles in the top six on this list fell between 8.19% and 17.72% while average prices for the used Honda Accord and the used Honda Civic increased 1.17% and 6.97% respectively.

Almost across the board on the Trend Engine used vehicle top 20 list, average prices for larger vehicles fell by double digits year over year while average prices for smaller vehicles fell by single digits or rose slightly.

"Falling prices for these larger used vehicles mean we're continuing to see some excess inventory of these larger cars, SUVs and trucks," said Perry. "But as manufacturers continue to cut production of larger vehicles and demand for larger vehicles normalizes as gas prices go down we may in the coming months actually see a shortage of some historically popular new SUVs and trucks, which may make this used inventory more attractive to the buyers who need these vehicles to accommodate their work or lifestyles."

AutoTrader.com is the ultimate automotive marketplace with over 3.5 million vehicle listings. Using research gathered by studying the shopping habits of over 14 million unique monthly visitors to the site, many of whom are in-market shoppers looking to complete a vehicle purchase within the next 90 days, AutoTrader.com regularly compiles this data to offer insight into current and emerging sales trends in the automobile industry.

About AutoTrader.com

AutoTrader.com, created in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is the Internet's leading auto classifieds marketplace and consumer information website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location more than 3.5 million new, used and certified pre-owned vehicle listings from 40,000 dealers and 250,000 private owners and the site attracts more than 14 million unique monthly visitors. Through innovative merchandising functionality such as multiple photos, videos, detailed descriptions and comprehensive research and compare tools, AutoTrader.com unites new and used car buyers and sellers online to improving the way people research, locate and advertise vehicles. AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. The venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visit http://www.autotrader.com/ .

                                    Change                           Change
                       Rank  Rank    from   Avg Price   Avg Price     from
  MAKE       MODEL     10/08 10/07   10/07   - 10/08     - 10/07      10/07
  Honda      Accord       1     3   34.47%  $26,330.12  $25,663.64    2.60%
  Toyota     Camry        2     8   84.38%  $24,060.44  $24,789.51   -2.94%
  Ford       F-150        3     2   17.35%  $30,150.27  $32,253.42   -6.52%
  Dodge      Ram 1500     4    12  109.61%  $32,689.02  $32,398.90    0.90%
  Chevrolet  Silverado
              1500        5     1  -10.19%  $29,341.87  $29,950.88   -2.03%
  Nissan     Altima       6     5   41.63%  $24,781.63  $24,595.48    0.76%
  Honda      Civic        7     7   29.95%  $20,635.74  $19,882.28    3.79%
  Dodge      Challenger   8   N/A     N/A   $35,308.10      N/A        N/A
  Honda      Odyssey      9    35  146.62%  $33,356.46  $32,363.61    3.07%
  Toyota     Corolla     10    19   81.87%  $18,961.67  $17,183.74   10.35%
  Jeep       Wrangler    11     9   24.98%  $27,813.83  $26,770.29    3.90%
  Honda      Pilot       12    53  172.38%  $35,285.34  $32,783.00    7.63%
  Toyota     Tacoma      13    15   58.00%  $25,874.54  $25,221.38    2.59%
  HONDA      CRV         14    21   60.58%  $25,272.99  $24,180.81    4.52%
  Ford       Mustang     15     4   -8.13%  $31,473.67  $29,677.56    6.05%
  Ford       Edge        16    23   64.70%  $31,840.78  $30,678.79    3.79%
  Chrysler   Town and
              Country    17    32   80.46%  $32,359.40  $30,257.81    6.95%
  Chevrolet  Malibu      18   141  445.94%  $24,339.15  $20,283.29   20.00%
  GMC        Sierra 1500 19    13   15.47%  $31,462.75  $32,236.78   -2.40%
  Toyota     Highlander  20    51  121.94%  $35,734.13  $32,745.62    9.13%

                                Used Cars
  Ford       F-150        1     1  -34.56%  $16,024.51  $19,376.66  -17.30%
  Ford       Mustang      2     2  -31.26%  $16,748.65  $18,243.57   -8.19%
  Chevrolet  Silverado
              1500        3     3  -33.70%  $16,111.61  $19,480.05  -17.29%
  Honda      Accord       4     4  -37.36%  $16,452.70  $16,262.11    1.17%
  Honda      Civic        5     5  -36.12%  $15,026.97  $14,047.42    6.97%
  Dodge      Ram 1500     6     6  -27.63%  $14,413.97  $17,519.00  -17.72%
  Infiniti   G35          7    10  -24.46%  $21,324.76  $24,355.14  -12.44%
  Ford       F-250        8     7  -36.17%  $20,080.38  $24,817.48  -19.09%
  Jeep       Grand
              Cherokee    9     8  -35.92%  $14,276.17  $16,696.39  -14.50%
  Nissan     Altima      10    11  -32.50%  $15,087.04  $15,346.46   -1.69%
  Chevrolet  Tahoe       11    12  -32.22%  $19,238.63  $23,108.30  -16.75%
  Jeep       Wrangler    12    18  -21.15%  $16,862.51  $18,661.25   -9.64%
  Ford       Explorer    13     9  -43.00%  $13,632.28  $16,235.69  -16.04%
  Toyota     Tacome      14    13  -39.44%  $18,284.63  $19,235.07   -4.94%
  Audi       A4          15    17  -32.98%  $21,784.71  $22,533.08   -3.32%
  Toyota     Camry       16    16  -33.89%  $17,045.12  $17,010.39    0.20%
  Volkswagen  Jetta      17    15  -34.44%  $14,047.21  $14,363.51   -2.20%
  Dodge      Ram 2500    18    19  -29.44%  $20,482.94  $24,474.15  -16.31%
  Chevrolet  Silverado
              2500       19    14  -38.13%  $19,341.52  $22,984.90  -15.85%
  Chevrolet  Corvette    20    21  -28.47%  $36,815.38  $39,625.94   -7.09%

SOURCE: AutoTrader.com

CONTACT: Brian Gluckman, +1-404-568-7914 (ph), +1-404-580-4020 (cell),
brian.gluckman@autotrader.com

Web site: http://www.autotrader.com/