As the volume of Internet leads skyrocketed in 2003 and lead close rates caught their tail winds, certain vehicles clearly made their mark with Internet customers.  The Saturn ION, in particular, deserves accolades as the vehicle with the highest overall close rate for the year. 

In general, Saturn leads have the highest close rates of any other make, according to Dealix Business Intelligence.  Saturn credits this with its very hands on approach to the way every one of its retailers work with its Internet prospects. After all, Saturn was one of the first OEMs to capitalize on the use of Internet leads and almost deserves cult status in terms of how loyal its customers are. 

The performance of the Acura TL is also noteworthy – close rates remained consistently high all year long.  Finally, the MINI Cooper, named car of the year by Edmunds, J.D. Power, Women’s Road and Travel, and many others, was the Web’s shining star in 2003. Internet-savvy Generation Xers and Yers snapped them up as fast as the little factory in England could pump them out.  Kudos.

About the Study
The Dealix Vehicle Close Rate Index^SM is a weighted index based on the number of Internet sales leads that are generated from the Dealix Lead Trading Platform^SM and result in a sale.  The vehicle with the highest close rate is given a perfect score of 1000 and all subsequent vehicle close rates are weighted against the leading vehicle.  Primary data is derived from email and phone surveys conducted on customers that Dealix Corporation delivers to its dealer partners as Internet sales leads.  The smallest accepted sample size per vehicle was 100 surveys.  This study does not intend to represent data for close rates for all vehicle sales leads.  All vehicle categories were included in the study - cars, trucks, SUVs, and minivans.  This report is brought to you by Dealix Business Intelligence^SM  (DBI).