The holidays are upon us.
Obviously, that means people will be shopping – for new vehicles.
Well, not everyone. But the ad slogan “December to Remember” could take on a whole new meaning.
More people have purchased vehicles in 2015 than almost any year this millennium – perhaps ever – and December should play its part as Americans flock to dealerships to take advantage of yearend deals.
If you are among the shoppers this holiday season and need help selecting the right car, truck or SUV, you can get some idea, at least, of what other shoppers are thinking at fueleconomy.gov, the website that comprises the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s fuel-economy ratings.
For example, we recently sifted through the EPA’s top-five lists of most-viewed-vehicles in 10 categories from sedans to sports cars to SUVs, 14 categories if you count five different sedan lists.
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And the five most-viewed vehicles at fueleconomy.gov overall on the day we looked?
In order they were, the 2016 Honda Civic four door, 2016 Toyota Rav4 Hybrid AWD, 2015 Toyota Prius, 2016 Honda Accord and 2016 Nissan Leaf. This shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise since the Civic, Rav4 and Accord are among the top sellers of 2015, according to data from motorintelligence.com.
But if these vehicles don’t rev your engine, you just might have to dig a little deeper. In all, 70 models are represented (minus several that made more than one list).
Most viewed brands and the number of positions they held on the top-5 lists were Chevrolet (12), Honda (10), Ford (9), Tesla (7), Toyota (6) and Dodge (5). Five of the Tesla positions, however, were versions of the Model S that took all five places on the luxury sedan list.
Other manufacturers represented were Volkswagen, three places; Cadillac, Kia, Mazda, Nissan, Ram, Smart and Subaru, two places each, and Audi, GMC and Volvo, one each.
Besides the Tesla Model S, vehicles generating the most interest included the Chevrolet Camaro, with three models taking five places across three categories – coupes, convertibles and sporty cars – the Dodge Charger, with the 2008, 2013 and 2015 models among the five places in the large cars category, and Ford Transit and Econoline, which captured three positions in the vans category.
The top-five lists may be different when you look, but, at least, you should get some fresh ideas.
Top-five lists are provided for small, family, large, luxury and upscale sedans, plus hatchbacks, wagons, coupes, convertibles, sporty cars, SUVs, pickups, minivans and vans.
More details on all 14 categories are available at Today’s Most Viewed Vehicles at fueleconomy.gov.
