2011 was a dynamic year for the U.S. automotive industry

Led by an increase in demand for new vehicles that resulted in a market-wide sales increase for the second consecutive year. At an OEM level we saw the continued rebound of General Motors and Chrysler Group post-bankruptcy as well as significant strides in market share by Hyundai, Kia and Volkswagen. At a segment level, elevated gas prices and a blitzkrieg of model launches drove interest in compact cars, particularly during the 1st half of the year. Lastly, at a model level, Leaf and Volt became household names and a slew of hybrid models debuted as OEMs continued to lessen the dependence on foreign oil in the midst of discussion over new federal MPG targets. Unfortunately, not all news was positive in 2011 as Japanese OEMs were dealt a devastating blow from the March earthquake and tsunami that severely impacted inventory and marketing efforts.

In this special analysis, Kantar Media Compete will investigate several of these key 2011 storylines at a market-wide, make, and model level.

The analysis leverages Compete’s proprietary in-market automotive shopper metrics, which are based on unique consumers (i.e., no double-counting of consumers doing the same activity more than once in a month). Those metrics in turn leverage Compete’s patented normalization technology. Shopping behavior is based on lower funnel shopping activity (e.g., request a quote) on key shopping areas for any of the 40+ 3rd Party online automotive sites that Compete tracks.

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