(April 15, 2016) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Twenty-four new car models took home top prizes in the sixth annual Edmunds.com Best Retained Value Awards, which recognize the 2016 model year vehicles that have the highest projected residual values after five years. Acura and Toyota, meanwhile, won brand-level awards in the luxury and non-luxury categories, respectively.

Toyota won more model-level categories than any other automaker with  five awards, followed by Honda, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz with three each.

Toyota stood out as the winning non-luxury brand for the second year in a row with a projected 53.8 average percent residual value after five years. Acura earned the luxury brand award for the fifth straight year with a projected residual value of 47.6 percent.

“It’s no secret that a new car starts depreciating the moment that you drive it off the lot, but car shoppers owe it to themselves to understand exactly how much they can expect their cars to depreciate over time,” said Edmunds.com Consumer Advice Editor Carroll Lachnit.

“If shoppers are deciding between competing models, we advise them to see if any of the cars on their list earned a Best Retained Value Award. This one simple step could bring them more money down the road when it’s finally time to trade in or sell the car.”

Edmunds.com's Best Retained Value Awards recognize the brands and models that have the highest projected private party residual value five years after their launch based on their average “cash” True Market Value (TMV) price during their first five months in the market (or, for vehicles introduced in November or December 2015, through March 2016), expressed as a percentage of their average True Market Value when purchased new, and assuming 15,000 miles driven per year.

Each brand with both more than 100,000 unit sales in 2015, and models offered within at least four vehicle-type categories was eligible for this year's brand-level Best Retained Value Awards.

Each model year 2016 vehicle that was launched by the end of 2015, that had unit sales in February 2016 that were at least 25 percent of the average unit sales for the models in its segment, and for which Edmunds had TMV data for a minimum of three months was eligible for this year's model-level Best Retained Value Awards.

Edmunds determined each model's category for the 2016 awards based on its body type segment; (ii) for certain categories, the size of the model within its body type segment; and for certain categories, the model's price and/or its competitive segment.