Recently the Nielsen Online Automotive Team developed and released to clients the premiere edition of our “Monthly Automotive Industry Overview.” In the wake of the surprising announcement that Chrysler will no longer offer vehicle leases, it seemed appropriate to focus our hot topic analysis on consumer discussions about leases.

We discovered that consumers rely on one another when researching vehicle leases online by asking questions, sharing lease experiences and directing others to Edmunds.com for more information. Our Association Map revealed that luxury brands and vehicles have the strongest association to lease discussion, while Chrysler and Cerberus emerge in late July as a main topic of lease conversation. Additionally, GMAC and Honda Finance are the only two financial institutions that are closely correlated to lease discussion.

In the coming months, each edition of the “Monthly Automotive Industry Overview” will include staple features such as top blog posts, most-cited online news articles, “buzz” trends of the top six automotive manufacturers, as well as the key topics that are influencing online discussion about the automotive industry. It will also showcase Web traffic metrics and a “hot topic” section designed to highlight the biggest news or emerging issues in the automotive industry for that month.

If you are interested in a copy of this first “Monthly Automotive Industry Overview,” we would love to share it with you. Please contact Larry Black at 562.947.2360 or larry.black@nielsen.com for a copy. Please remember to check back here each month as we continue to update the blog with news about our latest automotive hot topics.

During June 2008, the top 5 automotive sites remain the same with regards to total unique visitors, while the order has changed slightly as indicated in the graph below. Yahoo! Autos witnessed a significant increase in unique visitors from May to June (+24.2%), while AOL Auto has the most loyal repeat visitors from May to June (36.88%).

Interest in Autoblog, a highly-influential CGM site, continues to witness an upward trend over the last 13 months with an increase of roughly 50% in unique visitors from June ‘07 to June ‘08. Autoblog has moved from 11^th most visited auto site in May, to 9^th in June, surpassing Automotive.com. The growing interest in Autoblog is yet another confirmation of how important CGM is in today’s fast-paced world.

Note: Number in parentheses indicates May ranking in auto sites category.