Edmunds.com Announces Consumers' Most Wanted Vehicle Awards for 2006; Consumers Echo Edmunds.com Editors in Choosing Pontiac Solstice as Most Significant Vehicle of the Year

Business Wire, May 17, 2006

SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, today announced the winners of the fifth annual Edmunds.com Consumers' Most Wanted vehicle awards.

"It's always interesting to tap into the minds of consumers," said Karl Brauer, editor in chief of Edmunds.com. "These annual awards provide insight into consumers' collective impressions while the Edmunds.com Forums and our social networking Web site CarSpace give glimpses into individual opinions every day of the year."

The Pontiac Solstice, which was named Most Significant Vehicle of the Year by Edmunds.com editors in November, won that title again when consumers served as the judges earlier this month. The Solstice earned nearly 50 percent more of consumers' votes than the next highest finisher, the Honda Civic. In third place was the Chevrolet Corvette.

"The domestic automakers made some real traction this year among the consumers who voted," observed Brauer. "Domestic vehicles won twice as many awards as they did last year -- a good sign for Chrysler, Ford and GM."

Comparing manufacturers, BMW led the pack, winning six awards, while Chevy, Ford and Honda tied for second place, each winning three awards in this year's survey.

The 2006 winners are:

Most Significant Vehicle of the Year   Pontiac Solstice

Coupe Under $15,000                    Honda Civic

Sedan Under $15,000                    Mazda 3

Wagon Under $15,000                    Scion xB

Coupe Under $25,000                    Ford Mustang

Convertible Under $25,000              Pontiac Solstice

Sedan Under $25,000                    Honda Accord

Wagon Under $25,000                    Audi A3

SUV Under $25,000                      Toyota RAV4

Coupe Under $35,000                    Infiniti G35

Convertible Under $35,000              BMW Z4

Sedan Under $35,000                    BMW 3 Series

Wagon Under $35,000                    BMW 3 Series

SUV Under $35,000                      Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon

Wagon Over $35,000                     BMW 5 Series

Coupe Under $45,000                    Chevrolet Corvette

Convertible Under $45,000              Porsche Boxster

Sedan Under $45,000                    BMW 5 Series

SUV Under $45,000                      Cadillac SRX

Coupe Over $45,000                     Porsche 911

Convertible Over $45,000               Chevrolet Corvette

Sedan Over $45,000                     BMW 7 Series

SUV Over $45,000                       Cadillac Escalade

Compact Truck                          Toyota Tacoma

Large Truck                            Ford F-Series

Minivan                                Honda Odyssey

Exotic                                 Ford GT

Details on all award winners are listed at: http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/consumersmostwanted/2006/index.html.>

Each October, Edmunds.com editors choose their favorite vehicles in the Editors' Most Wanted Vehicle awards. The most recent list of those winners can be found at http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/mostwanted/2006/index.html.>

About Edmunds.com, Inc.

Edmunds.com is the premier online resource for automotive information. Its comprehensive set of data, tools and services is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions and is licensed to third parties and used by over 15,000 cars dealers, including 98 of the 100 dealers named to the Ward's Dealer Business "e-Dealer 100" list. Perhaps the most popular consumer product, Edmunds.com True Market Value(R) pricing, is relied upon by millions of people seeking market-reflective valuations for new and used vehicles. The company also supplies content for the auto sections of NYTimes.com, AOL, CNN.com and About.com; provides weekly data to Automotive News; and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts. In addition, Edmunds.com publishes Inside Line (www.insideline.com), a free high-speed online magazine for auto enthusiasts, and CarSpace (www.carspace.com), an automotive lifestyle social networking Web site for anyone with an interest in automobiles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site" according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study(SM), was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated No. 1 in Keynote's study of third-party automotive Web sites. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.