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AUTO TRADER ANNOUNCES DESIRABILTY INDEX RESULTS

August 23rd, 2006

According to a new study by Auto Trader ‘s Desirability Index, the definitive answer to which used cars are in demand, the three most successful manufacturers in the desirability index are Porsche in pole position, followed by Subaru and BMW.

The Desirability Index correlates 200 million used car searches with 7 million new car sales and shows which cars will be easy to sell with the smallest financial loss.

The Desirability Index also shows which are the winners in each category of car:

Figure One: The most desirable cars by vehicle segment:

Following the huge success of the Auto Trader/Spyder Automotive Desirability Index for 2005, it has been updated for the first quarter of 2006. The Desirability Index has already established itself as the best way of gauging long-term demand for a car. It does this by comparing the number of searches on Auto Trader’s website with corresponding new car sales over a three year period. The results are startling - for every Toyota MR2 sold in Britain, there were no fewer than 130 searches on the Auto Trader website during the first quarter of 2006. At the other end of the scale, there were only two searches for every Vauxhall Agila.

Figure Two: The most desired cars by make and model:

Model	Overall Position	Total searches
Toyota MR2	1	129.7
Subaru Impreza	2	100.2
BMW 7 Series	3	95.0
Porsche 911	4	93.1
Land Rover Defender	5	87.7
Land Rover Range Rover	6	65.8
Toyota Celica	7	65.5
Mercedes S Class	8	58.7
Porsche Boxster	9	55.4
Mercedes SL	10	54.0
Alfa 156	11	47.3
BMW 5 Series	12	45.4
Audi A6	13	45.3
BMW 6 Series	14	42.3
Lexus IS200	15	41.4
BMW 3 Series	16	39.6
Toyota Land Cruiser	17	38.7
Audi TT	18	37.8
Jaguar XJ Saloons	19	35.7
Mercedes ML	20	33.8

The Auto Trader/Spyder Desirability Index is the best guide to the long-term appeal of any car. A manufacturer can always encourage new car registrations by giving big discounts, but it cannot influence whether people want to actually buy it once it’s been around the block a few times. The Desirability Index not only shows how much interest there will be in the car, but also accurately predicts the cars which will be most valuable after three years.
 

Jim Murray-Jones, Publishing Director at Trader Media Group comments: “As we have the largest audience of UK motorists, we are in a unique position to track trends in car choice through our 6.5 million website users.  This data is invaluable in helping motorists understand how desirable the car is that they own, or want to own in the future.  Obviously the more desirable the car is, the more likely it is to sell quickly as there are greater numbers of potential buyers.” 

Jay Nagley, Managing Director of Spyder Automotive said: “It is interesting to note that demand for off-roaders has actually increased despite all the adverse publicity about their environmental impact. In the first quarter of 2006, there were two off-roaders in the Top 10 and three in the Top 20, whereas in 2005, there was only one model in the Top 20. The Land Rover Defender came in at Number 5, the Range Rover at Number 6 and the Toyota Land Cruiser at Number 17.
 

“The rising interest in used off-roaders mirrors the increasing sales of new versions in the first quarter of 2006 (in the new car market, the share of off-roaders rose to 8.0%, an all-time high). This underlines how good the Desirability Index is in picking up trends in the car market.”
 

Auto Trader, the UK’s no 1 destination for new and used cars, has achieved all time record audience growth at the start of this year, reaching a combined audience of over 8 million motorists* in March 2006.  Auto Trader is the undisputed market leader with the largest motoring magazine and website in the UK. (*Source: Auto Trader internal audit, March 2006).
In March 2006, Auto Trader’s website, www.autotrader.co.uk enjoyed 6.5 million unique users**, who carried out over 67 million searches on new and used vehicles.  (Source: Auto Trader Audit, March 2006).  Today, Auto Trader ranks as the UK’s fifth largest ABCe audited website*** (***Source: ABCe 2005).
The record online audience figures, when combined with the readership of Auto Trader’s 13 regional editions which is 1.7 million**** (**** Source: NRS October 2004– December 2005) gives the brand a total audience reach of 8 million.  It now reaches significantly more UK motorists than any of its closest competitors.
 Auto Trader has positioned itself as the channel of choice for buying and selling a new and used vehicle, built on the combination of local targeting and comprehensive national coverage and can be accessed via its magazine, website, Digital TV and WAP components.Auto Trader has positioned itself as the channel of choice for buying and selling a new and used vehicle, built on the combination of local targeting and comprehensive national coverage and can be accessed via its magazine, website, Digital TV and WAP components. 

- Ends -
 

Notes to Editor:

• AutoTrader.co.uk has been voted amongst the top 10 most trusted online brands, reliable websites and best websites to visit* according to The eSuperbrands Council – experts in marketing, managing, creating or reviewing Internet brands. (*Source: eSuperbrands 2006)

·         With 13 regional Auto Trader magazines across the UK and the Republic of Ireland, the brand is building a competitive position across all effective channels including print, the web, DTV and MIS. Auto Trader provides buyers and sellers including dealer groups and motor manufacturers with a unique interactive digital offering across digital TV (NTL, Telewest, KIT, reaching 3.3m households), mobile (Orange, O2 and T Mobile) and online (AOL and MSN). Auto Trader has a 37% market share****** of visits to classified websites and has over 320,000 classified vehicles for sale at any one time. (******Hitwise December 2005).·         Auto Trader is owned by Trader Media Group, which also publishes market leading niche titles such as Top Marques, Bike Trader, Truck & Plant Trader, Ad Trader, Motorhome and Caravan Trader, Boats and Yachts for Sale, Buy a Boat , Farmers Trader, Marine Trader, Auto Freeway, TNT – all leading their sectors with magazine readership and web visitors.
        

• Trader Media Group publishes over 70 titles every week with a combined circulation of 1.5 million and has market-leading websites for its top titles.
• Trader Media Group, a division of the Guardian Media Group, employs over 3,900 people across 40 locations in the UK, Ireland, Holland, Italy and South Africa.  The Group is looking to expand on its winning formula - developing a car supermarket and one-stop-shop for motorists; dominating all effective channels to market; building the service and relationship with dealers and manufacturers; and strengthening its portfolio of automotive and specialist classified titles.

• Spyder Automotive is a division of Spyder Redspy Ltd, a leading supplier of analysis and forecasting to the UK motor industry with clients such as Audi, Citroen and Hyundai. It also develops web systems and web sites for car companies, dealer groups and media organisations, such as Channel Five.

For further information, please contact:
Karen Hughes/Caroline Burnell
The Drum Consultancy
Tel:      020 7025 8044
Fax:     020 7025 8100
Email: karenh@drumbeat.co.uk

                           Auto Trader has positioned itself as the channel of choice for buying and selling a new and used vehicle, built on the combination of local targeting and comprehensive national coverage and can be accessed via its magazine, website, Digital TV and WAP components.

                           Auto Trader has positioned itself as the channel of choice for buying and selling a new and used vehicle, built on the combination of local targeting and comprehensive national coverage and can be accessed via its magazine, website, Digital TV and WAP components.

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