Porsche sizzles, Jaguar fizzles in analysis of L.A. Auto Show

(December 9, 2012) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The 2014 Porsche Cayman generated more buzz than any other car making its world or U.S. debut at the 2012 LA Auto Show, according to site consideration data from Edmunds.com. Web traffic patterns show that interest in the Cayman, pictured above, on Edmunds.com climbed 61 percent during the week of the car's unveil, more than doubling the buzz generated from the show by any other vehicle.



At the other end of the luxury car spectrum, interest for Jaguar's two U.S. debuts — XFR-S and F-Type — failed to move the needle on Edmunds.com. Consideration for the XFR-S inched up just 0.6 percent, while interest in the F-Type climbed just 1.3 percent.

"It has to be disappointing for Jaguar not to generate buzz because the XFR-S and F-Type really are two very impressive cars," says Edmunds.com Sr. Analyst Jessica Caldwell. "The LA Auto Show was Jaguar's one big hurrah for the next year, and with no other all-new product launches on the horizon, it will be tough for the company to spark grassroots momentum in the near future."

Visitors to Edmunds.com also had divergent reactions to the two compact crossover SUVs that debuted at the LA Auto Show — Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander. Consideration on Edmunds.com for the RAV4, pictured at right, climbed 26% last week, accounting for the second-biggest buzz of any debuting vehicle. Consideration for the Outlander, meanwhile, actually fell 8 percent last week; it was the only new car unveiled at the auto show to see its consideration fall on Edmunds.com.

Other notable auto show debuts that saw increased consideration on Edmunds.com include the Mazda6 (+18%), Kia Forte (+7.1%), Ford Fiesta (+7%) and Honda Civic (+4%).

Edmunds.com defines "consideration" as the number of site visitors who view content (pricing, reviews, specifications, photos, etc.) about a specific new vehicle, expressed as a percentage of traffic for similar content about all new vehicles within the same market segment. Consideration is a valuable metric for measuring an automaker's marketing effectiveness. The 2012 LA Auto Show analysis compared consideration levels for the week ending 11/25/12 with the week ending 12/2/12.