If you’re planning on buying a new car, you might want to accelerate the process. The market seems primed to improve in the next several months, and that could mean higher prices and limited availability of popular models. The Dataium ASI index, a well-respected indicator of automotive sales, showed the largest month-over-month gain in the past four months, indicating that 2011 vehicle sales are on track to post around a 10-percent increase over last year.
How did Dataium figure this out? They look at Internet research traffic on automobiles. The company found that average lead and visitor counts on automotive websites were down last month, but the so-called “conversion rate” (leads submitted per unique website visitor) was up 10 percent from August for all automotive brands. Since that is a key metric in predicting future sales, Dataium is confident that the final quarter of this year will see auto sales rise significantly.
“It is encouraging to see the Automotive Sales Index (ASI) up again this month with a stronger trend line,” said Eric Brown, CEO of Dataium. “We anticipate continued sales growth despite some weakening components of the ASI index.”
Increases in search volume for automotive-related terms (e.g., makes, models and body styles) also increased last month, and that is another indicator of positive lead volume moving forward. In terms of lead volume, Infiniti and Land Rover led all makes, increasing 34 percent and 29 percent, respectively, over the previous month. Jeep posted the highest gain (10 percent) of the domestic brands with Chrysler following close behind, gaining 9 percent. Still recovering from post-earthquake inventory shortages, two key Japanese brands, Toyota and Honda, were down 33 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
