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Automotive Lease Guide (ALG) Announces Fifth Annual Residual Value Awards for the Top Segment Leaders and Brand Residual Value Awards

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- ALG's annual Residual Value Awards honor those vehicles in each segment predicted to retain the highest percentage of their original price. This year's awards are based on 2004 model year vehicles. For the second year, ALG has also added awards for the brand with the highest predicted resale value of all industry and luxury vehicles. The awards are arrived at after careful study of segment competition, historical vehicle performance and industry trends. Award winners are featured on ALG.com, The Wall Street Journal, Automotive News, and other automotive websites dedicated to bringing the industry's best performing models into the public eye.

Heading the list this year is American Honda Motor Company, Inc. with the Honda Brand winning the Industry Brand Residual Value Award. Honda also received four individual segment awards: the Accord for the Midsize Car Segment; the Odyssey for the Minivan Segment; the CR-V for the Compact SUV Segment; and the Pilot for the CUV Segment. Both the Honda Odyssey and CR-V are repeat winners from last year.

BMW of North America, LLC also made a strong showing in this year's awards winning the Luxury Brand Residual Value Award. MINI USA, a division of BMW of North America, won the Compact Car Segment for the MINI Cooper for the second consecutive year.

Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. continued a strong tradition in the Residual Value Awards winning four individual segment awards: the Tacoma for the Compact Truck Segment, Sequoia for the Fullsize SUV Segment, 4Runner for the Midsize SUV Segment, and the Tundra for the Fullsize Truck Segment. All, excluding the 4Runner, are repeat segment leaders from last year.

Another repeat winner this year is Mercedes-Benz USA LLC for the CLK, which won the Luxury Segment award.

Nissan North America Inc. is the winner of this year's Sports Segment award for the 350Z.

And last but not least, the Near Luxury Segment award goes to Lexus for the ES330.

"Residual Value performance continues to be a leading indicator of the success of a vehicle or brand," said John Blair, Automotive Lease Guide's Chief Executive Officer. "ALG individual segment award winners represent a combination of desirability as new cars and long term appeal in the used vehicle marketplace. Honda and BMW have captured the industry brand awards due to the strength of their entire product lines, which is quite an accomplishment given the fierce competition in today's automotive industry."

Summary of 2004 Residual Value Award Winners

Brand Awards Brand

Industry Brand Residual Value Award American Honda

Motor Company, Inc.

Luxury Brand Residual Value Award BMW of North America, LLC

Segment Awards Vehicle

Compact Car MINI Cooper

Midsize Car Honda Accord

Sports Car Nissan 350Z

Near Luxury Car Lexus ES330

Luxury Car Mercedes-Benz CLK

Minivan Honda Odyssey

CUV* Honda Pilot

Compact SUV** Honda CR-V

Midsize SUV*** Toyota 4Runner

Fullsize SUV Toyota Sequoia

Compact Truck Toyota Tacoma

Fullsize Truck Toyota Tundra

* CUV Segment new this year.

** Compact SUV segment has replaced last year's Sub Compact SUV

segment.

*** Midsize SUV segment has replaced last year's Compact SUV segment.

Industry Brand Residual Value Rankings

Rank Brand

1 HONDA

2 TOYOTA

3 VOLKSWAGEN

4 NISSAN

5 SUBARU

6 JEEP

7 MAZDA

8 FORD

9 GMC TRUCKS

10 DODGE

Only brands above the industry average were ranked. Below industry average were the following brands (listed in alphabetical order): Buick, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Hyundai, Kia, Mercury, Mitsubishi, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, and Suzuki.

Luxury Brand Residual Value Rankings

Rank Brand

1 BMW

2 LEXUS

3 ACURA

4 MERCEDES-BENZ

5 AUDI

6 INFINITI

7 VOLVO

Only brands above the luxury average were ranked. Below luxury average were the following brands (listed in alphabetical order): Cadillac, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, and Saab.

Note: All brands with vehicles in at least two segments and minimum annual volume of 40,000 units were included. As a result of this requirement, MINI and Porsche as well as other brands were excluded from the above rankings.

Based in Santa Barbara, California, Automotive Lease Guide is a privately held company that has been forecasting automotive residual values for over 35 years in both the U.S. and Canadian markets.

Please visit us at www.alg.com to learn more about the 2004 Residual Value Awards, or any of ALG's other products and services. For further information, please contact Matt Walker, 805-563-0777 x116, or email: mwalker@alg.com.

SOURCE Automotive Lease Guide (ALG)

CO: Automotive Lease Guide; ALG

ST: California

SU: AWD

Web site: http://www.alg.com

http://www.prnewswire.com

11/10/2003 13:01 EST

XeroK00L

This is great news! The ES330 does stand a tremendous value at MSRP and the fact that its build quality and reliability is among (if not THE) the best surely makes it the undisputed winner of this award in the segment.
Hopefully we'll see more Lexus models getting this award in the future.

AusLex300

Yeah. But what does near luxury mean? It is or it isnt a luxury car?

Chris

sk8er251cc

yeah!?, near luxury, what's up with that?