SUVs Dominate List of Most Researched Vehicles in 2016 on Edmunds.com

SANTA MONICA, CA — December 27, 2016 — Edmunds.com today announced the vehicles that were the most researched on its site in 2016 — demonstrating that while SUVs continue to dominate the automotive market, passenger cars are still an important segment. The Honda CR-V was the most researched vehicle on Edmunds for the second year in a row, followed by the Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota RAV-4 and Honda Pilot. While the order of popularity shifted a bit, the list of the top ten most researched vehicles was unchanged from 2015. Edmunds determined its list of "most researched" vehicles by calculating which vehicles had the most monthly unique visitors to the new car research and inventory pages for that model on both Edmunds’ desktop and mobile sites.

"As SUVs become more fuel efficient, shoppers are finding they can have the best of both worlds — utility and fuel economy," said Jeremy Acevedo, Edmunds senior analyst. "But there is still a strong contingent of consumers who love their cars, and it remains an important segment for automakers’ investment."

Edmunds analysts predict that the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Camry, Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla will be the best-selling vehicles of 2016, in that order. This represents a slight shift from 2015, when the Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla and Honda CR-V were the top five best-selling vehicles. Despite the fact that market share of passenger cars is down ten percent during the first eleven months of 2016 compared to the same period last year, the list of top ten best-selling vehicles is expected to remain evenly split between trucks/utilities and passenger cars.

"Even as the popularity of SUVs and light trucks soar, given the sheer volume of vehicles sold in the U.S. it will take a major shift in consumer preferences to unseat passenger cars from the best-seller lists," Acevedo said. "And with Toyota preparing to introduce a new Camry next year, it could help breathe a bit of life into a slowing segment."

About Edmunds.com
Car shopping destination Edmunds.com serves millions of visitors each month. With Edmunds Price Promise^®, shoppers can buy smarter with instant, upfront prices for cars and trucks currently for sale at 10,000 dealer franchises across the U.S. Shoppers can browse not only dealer inventory, but also vehicle reviews, shopping tips, photos, videos and feature stories on both Edmunds' wired site and on its acclaimed mobile apps. Regarded as one of the best places to work in Southern California, Edmunds.com was also named one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2015 in Automotive" by Fast Company. Edmunds welcomes all car-shopping questions at our Help Center and on Twitter and Facebook. The company is based in Santa Monica, Calif. and has a satellite office in downtown Detroit, Mich., but you can find Edmunds from anywhere on YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, Google+ and Flipboard.