Dataium’s ASI™ index points to increasing consumer demand for the Ford F-150 and the redesigned Fusion
Nashville, TN— Dataium, the largest aggregator of online automotive shopper behavior, today released its monthly Automotive Shopper Intensity (ASI™) report. The ASI index, a leading predictive indicator of automotive retail sales, grew 2.38% from the previous month, representing a slightly larger increase than the 1.03% observed last year. Based on this, Dataium forecasts the US Retail SAAR in December to be 13 million retail units.
The uptick in the index suggests that December will be good month for auto manufacturers, as a number of them, including Toyota and Nissan, started their year-end events earlier than usual, in an attempt to attract more buyers before the start of the New Year. US Retail SAAR numbers were positively impacted by Hurricane Sandy, increasing November’s numbers by as much as 300 to 400 thousand vehicles.
Dataium ASI % Change vs. US Retail SAAR % Change
The report notes an overall increase in shopping intensity for the domestic automaker, Ford, with four of its models: the F-150, Fusion, Escape, and Focus, included in the top ten new vehicle ASI ranking. Additionally, the popular F-150 truck took the top spot from the Japanese import, the Toyota Camry, to rank highest in ASI for new vehicles. Despite steep declines in shopping intensity last month, the F-150 started a turnaround, up almost 10% from October, and indexing higher than most other vehicles within the truck segment.
Dataium ASI – New Vehicle Ranking
This month, almost half of the autos in the top ten ASI for new vehicles list were within the midsize sedan segment. As a group, midsize sedans have exhibited a month over month increase in intensity of 30%, with all but one of the models in the top ten list of ASI for new vehicles, exhibiting an increase of over 50% from the prior month. Notably, the Camry, which still boasts the highest shopping intensity within the segment, was the only model to demonstrate a month over month decline of 18%. Conversely, the Ford Fusion elicited the largest month over month growth (65%) of vehicles within the segment, indicating a budding interest for the newly redesigned sedan.
Month over Month SUV ASI % Change
Eric Brown, CEO of Dataium noted, “The holiday sprint is underway as consumers pursue year-end sales incentives.” He added “Hurricane Sandy’s impact is also reflected in the index, as consumers wish to replace lost vehicles.”
Dataium provides data and research on auto shopper/buyer behavior nationally, and by specific makes, models, vehicle segments, and markets. The national ASI report is available for download at www.dataium.com/library. Dataium reports and dashboards are available on a subscription basis or may be customized to access real-time updates to measure in-market behavior, sales forecasting, advertising effectiveness, digital marketing performance, and website design proficiency.
To request complete access to Dataium’s ASI predictive modeling tool on future consumer demand by make, model, trim level, segment, region, and market, contact Dataium at www.dataium.com/contact.
About Dataium, LLC
Dataium is the largest aggregator of Internet automotive shopping activity. With its Cloud Intelligence® platform, the company collects, analyzes, and indexes billions of online automotive shopping events from over 20 million active auto shoppers monthly. The company supports cutting-edge data collection and reporting technology; VisiCogn® Knowledge Center, and is also known for its ASI™ index. For more information, visit www.dataium.com, email: info@dataium.com, or call 877-896-DATA (3282).
