Winners of the First Annual 2017 Autobytel Buyer�

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 06, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL ), a pioneer and leading provider of online automotive services connecting consumers with dealers, today announced the winners of the first annual 2017 Autobytel Buyer’s Choice Awards. This award is derived from data collected from October 2015 to October 2016 in 17 car shopping sub-categories. The winning vehicles reflect the strongest combination of both site traffic research and the submission of lead forms – compared to all others in that competitive set.

“After analyzing the data from the past year, it is clear to us that car buyers are most interested in quality, reliability, design, safety, and performance,” said Joni Gray, Autobytel’s Editor-In-Chief. “These are some of the most innovative and beautiful vehicles on the market today. Each one resonates with the current trends in technology, safety, and family-friendly features that win the hearts and pocketbooks of American car buyers. Congratulations to each of the carmakers for this accomplishment.”

The following Autobytel article covers the overall winners and individual articles to each winning vehicle can be found on links within the article:

The 17 Most Wanted Vehicles of 2016: Autobytel Buyer’s Choice Award Winners http://www.autobytel.com/auto-news/awards/the...rs-131627/

The following vehicles are the overall winners.

The following vehicles are the category winners.

The following lists the number of awards each winning manufacturer garnered.

The Autobytel Buyer’s Choice Award is especially significant given the fact that roughly 8 million consumers visit Autobytel properties each month to research their next vehicle purchase. Last year, the company delivered more than 9 million leads to its industry partners and well over 60 million leads to its industry partners since 1995.  According to IHS Automotive ^* , a leading provider of market insights and measurement solutions driven by Polk data, consumers submitting leads via the Autobytel network accounted for over 2.5 million new retail sales from 2011 – 2015, representing an average of roughly 4% of all U.S. Light Vehicle New Retail Sales.

“This is an exceptional award because it represents the vehicles that are most actively researched and requested to purchase,” said Jeff Coats, president and CEO of Autobytel Inc. “In combination, these two factors are very representative of consumer demand, especially considering the number of consumers that visit Autobytel properties every month and the millions of leads we deliver to our industry partners each year. We congratulate all of the representative OEM winners for building vehicles with features that are most important to today’s car buyers.”

*Autobytel contracts with IHS Automotive, a leading provider of market insights and measurement solutions driven by Polk Data to statistically measure the performance of leads submitted through the Autobytel Network. 

About Autobytel Inc.

Autobytel Inc. provides high quality consumer leads and associated marketing services to automotive dealers and manufacturers throughout the United States. The company also provides consumers with robust and original online automotive content to help them make informed car-buying decisions. The company pioneered the automotive Internet in 1995 with its flagship website http://www.autobytel.com/ and has since helped tens of millions of automotive consumers research vehicles; connected thousands of dealers nationwide with motivated car buyers; and helped every major automaker market its brand online.

Investors and other interested parties can receive Autobytel news releases and invitations to special events by accessing the online registration form at investor.autobytel.com/alerts.cfm .

CONTACT: Autobytel Inc. Media Relations Splash Media Jennifer Lange 949-460-3408 jlange@getsplashmedia.com or Autobytel Inc. Investor Relations Kimberly Boren EVP, Chief Financial Officer 949-862-1396 kimb@autobytel.com or Cody Slach or Sean Mansouri Liolios Group, Inc. 949-574-3860 abtl@liolios.com