Hyundai Sonata Most-Shopped Vehicle in May According to Compete

Boston MA, –  (Marketwire - June 16, 2010) --  -- Compete, a Kantar Media, today released data showing that the Hyundai Sonata was the most-shopped vehicle in May, extending the automaker's 2010 hot streak. Overall, May 2010 shopper volume (2.8 million) was the strongest for the industry since February 2008, but demand for Hyundai was most notable, hitting an all-time high of 324,000 shoppers. This drove its share of market interest (SMI) to 11.6 percent, up from 7.4 percent in Dec. 2009. That growth propelled Hyundai past Nissan (11.2 percent) and has the brand closer to eclipsing Honda (12.9 percent) and Toyota (14.2 percent), both of which experienced well-documented struggles recently.

Hyundai's recent surge was helped by successful launches of the new 2010 Tucson and the hot-selling 2011 Sonata, which was the number-one shopped model in the industry in May. It was on the list of more than 130,000 shoppers, more than Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Honda Civic or Ford Fusion.

"We saw interest rising for the Sonata immediately after its introduction around the Super Bowl, and it has stayed red hot ever since," said Dennis Bulgarelli, Director of Automotive at Compete. "Not only are we seeing prospects put Hyundai on their shopping lists in record numbers, we're also seeing Hyundai do a great job converting those shoppers to buyers. Its May sales of nearly 50,000 were 33 percent higher than a year ago, with Sonata sales nearly doubling year-over-year."

About Compete
Compete, a Kantar Media company, helps the world's top brands improve their marketing based on the online behavior of millions of consumers. Leading marketers such as Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Hyundai Motor America, Upromise, Chrysler, and Verizon Wireless rely on Compete's services to create effective online experiences and highly profitable advertising campaigns. Compete's online behavior database—the largest in the industry—makes the Web as ingrained in marketing as it is in people's lives. Compete was founded in 2000 and is located in Boston, MA, with offices throughout the U.S. For more information about us, please visit www.competeinc.com/, or to join the conversation visit www.compete.com/.

About Kantar Media
Established in more than in 50 countries, Kantar Media enables exploration of multimedia momentum through analysis of print, radio, TV, internet, social media, and outdoors worldwide. Kantar Media offers a full range of media insights and audience measurement services through its global business sectors -- Intelligence, Audiences and TGI & Custom. Combining the deepest expertise in the industry, Kantar Media tracks more than 3 million brands and delivers insights to more than 22,000 customers around the world. (www.KantarMediaNA.com).

About Kantar
Kantar is one of the world's largest insight, information and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of its 13 specialist companies, the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and inspirational insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 95 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies. For further information, please visit us at www.kantar.com.