Honda, Acura take top honors in Edmunds' Best Retained Value awards

(April 21, 2012) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Honda and Acura took home the top prizes in Edmunds.com's second annual Best Retained Value Awards, which recognize the brands and new car models that have the highest projected residual value after five years, expressed as a percentage of their True Market Value (TMV) when sold new.

Honda won the 2012 brand award for non-luxury makes for the second consecutive year, while Acura took home the luxury brand award for the first time. Edmunds.com found that Honda's average projected retained value after five years is 47.9%, while Acura's average projected retained value is 44.6%. In each case, the percentage is based on the average five-year retained value of the carmaker's 2012 models that launched prior to the end of 2011.

"Honda has long had a reputation for dependable used vehicles, and that is reflected in today's booming used car market, " said Joe Spina, Director of Remarketing at Edmunds.com. "And with Acura beating out all other luxury brands, Honda's family of vehicles continues to expand the company's status as one of the best values available to car buyers today. "

Edmunds.com named 23 winners in its model-level categories, ranging from "Sedans Under $20,000 to "Large Heavy Duty Trucks." Ford led all carmakers with five model-level awards, followed by Honda with four.

All model year 2012 vehicles that were launched by the end of 2011 and that had unit sales in February 2012 that were at least 20 percent of the average unit sales for the models in its segment were eligible for this year's model-level Best Retained Value Awards. Edmunds determined each model's competitive segment based on its body type and the sales-weighted average MSRP of all available styles (excluding destination charges) of that model's body type. All makes that had over 100,000 unit sales in 2011 were eligible for this year's brand-level Best Retained Value Awards.

2012 Edmunds.com Best Retained Value Awards Model-Level Winners

Category Year Make Model ^Retained Value
Compact Truck 2012 Toyota Tacoma 57.3%
Convertible $35K-$45K 2012 Lexus IS 250 C 46.8%
Convertible Over $45K 2012 Ford Shelby GT500 46.5%
Convertible Under $35,000 2012 MINI Cooper 48.9%
Coupe $25K-$35K 2012 Ford Mustang 46.8%
Coupe $35K-$45K 2012 BMW 3 Series 44.0%
Coupe Over $45,000 2012 Ford Shelby GT500 47.5%
Coupe Under $25,000 2012 MINI Cooper 50.0%
Hybrid 2012 Honda Civic 46.1%
Large Heavy Duty Truck 2012 Ford F-350 Super Duty 48.6%
Large Light Duty Truck 2012 Ford F-150 48.4%
Sedan $20K-$30K 2012 Subaru Impreza 45.3%
Sedan $30K-$40K 2012 Lexus IS 250 46.3%
Sedan Over $40K 2012 Cadillac CTS 42.0%
Sedan Under $20,000 2012 Honda Civic 50.0%
SUV $25K-$35K 2012 Honda CR-V 54.6%
SUV $35K-$45K 2012 GMC Acadia 46.0%
SUV Over $45,000 2012 Acura MDX 44.2%
SUV Under $25,000 2012 Subaru Forester 44.6%
Vans 2012 Honda Odyssey 43.5%
Wagon $25K-$35K 2012 MINI Cooper Countryman 48.5%
Wagon Over $35,000 2012 BMW 3 Series 42.7%
Wagon Under $25,000 2012 Scion xB 47.3%
Compact Truck 2012 Toyota Tacoma 57.3%
Convertible $35K-$45K 2012 Lexus IS 250 C 46.8%

^ - Retained Value is the projected residual value after five years, expressed as a percentage of the True Market Value (TMV) when sold new