IRVINE, Calif., March 31, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq:ABTL), pioneer of the automotive Internet and the company dedicated to connecting automotive consumers with dealers, today announced that consumers submitting leads sold by the company accounted for new vehicle retail sales of 590,087 in 2014, which makes over 1.9 million new vehicles sold to consumers who submitted leads through the Autobytel network since 2011.
An incredible 4.35% of all retail new vehicle sales in the United States in 2014 were from consumers who submitted a lead through the Autobytel network.
| Autobytel Consumer New Vehicle Retail Sales | ||
| Year | % of OEM Sales | Sales to ABTL Consumers |
| 2011 | 3.78% | 388,578 |
| 2012 | 3.72% | 435,221 |
| 2013 | 3.93% | 501,688 |
| 2014 | 4.35% | 590,087 |
Autobytel recently completed its analysis in collaboration with IHS Automotive, driven by Polk. The analysis shows that consumers who submitted leads sold by Autobytel to dealers accounted for a combined total of 3,851,969 new and used vehicle registrations from 2011 to 2014.
| Autobytel Consumer Vehicle Sales | |||
| Year |
Autobytel Consumer New Car Retail Sales |
Autobytel Consumer Used Car Retail Sales |
Total Autobytel Consumer Retail Sales |
| 2011 | 388,578 | 443,275 | 831,853 |
| 2012 | 435,221 | 469,422 | 904,643 |
| 2013 | 501,688 | 483,923 | 985,611 |
| 2014 | 590,087 | 539,775 | 1,129,862 |
"The numbers tell the story here," said Jeff Coats, president and CEO of Autobytel Inc. "Once more, you can clearly see that Autobytel delivers high quality consumer connections resulting in actual sales – sales generated from millions of consumers who rely on Autobytel for unbiased automotive information and for connecting them to dealers across the U.S. who service all their car buying and ownership needs."
The following chart shows the top ten brands by percentage of retail new vehicle sales that resulted from Autobytel:
| Sales to Autobytel Consumers as % of 2014 OEM Retail Sales | |
| Make | % of OEM Sales |
| KIA | 6.66% |
| HYUNDAI | 6.54% |
| MAZDA | 6.27% |
| SUBARU | 6.17% |
| HONDA | 5.93% |
| NISSAN | 5.57% |
| MITSUBISHI | 5.41% |
| TOYOTA | 5.29% |
| VOLVO | 4.77% |
| VOLKSWAGEN | 4.66% |
"Since 1995, our focus has been to build dealer brands – not our own – and we have never come between dealers and their customers, especially when it comes to price," said Coats. "Autobytel continues to drive business to its industry partners, not only with core leads products but also with advanced mobile, text, and virtual showroom technologies that have improved the car buying process for millions of consumers across the country."
Visit http://dealer.autobytel.com and http://mobile.autobytel.com to learn about the company's leading industry products. Visit http://autobytel.com/ for leading automotive information; watch exclusive new car videos, test drives and car reviews at Autobytel's YouTube channel; or join the conversation at the Autobytel Facebook Fan Page.
About Autobytel Inc.
Autobytel Inc. provides high quality consumer leads and associated marketing services to automotive dealers and manufacturers throughout the United States and offers consumers robust and original online automotive content to help them make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the automotive internet in 1995 with its flagship website http://www.autobytel.com/ and has since helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and helped every major automaker market its brand online.
Investors and other interested parties can receive Autobytel news releases and invitations to special events by accessing the online registration form at investor.autobytel.com/alerts.cfm.