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Irvine, CA - August 26, 2002 - If you have strong feelings about your car's cup holders, you're not alone. In fact, 27% of car shoppers who participated in a recent Autobytel online survey1 indicated that they would be willing to look for an altogether different make or model of vehicle to find the perfect cup holders. Indeed, the survey confirms the cup holder's ascendance from a novelty accessory to an essential part of the American daily grind, with 70% of respondents indicating that they use their cup holders at least two to four times a week and nearly half (46%) indicating that they use them "pretty much every day."
Seventy percent of survey respondents indicated that their cup holders are either too shallow or too narrow. When asked what they would tell auto manufacturers to improve in terms of cup holder design, respondents most often said "adjustability" (40%), suggesting the creation of "something flexible enough to accommodate the beverage spectrum." This call for more flexibility may reflect the rise of the Big Gulp-sized beverage, but it also reflects the fact that, these days, cup holders really aren't just cup holders: seventy-five percent of those surveyed said that they also used cup holders as makeshift cell phone-holders.
Survey takers who own U.S. vehicle brands were somewhat more satisfied with their cup holders than those who own European or Asian models, with 48% indicating that they are either "extremely satisfied" or "satisfied" with their car's cup holders. (Only 41% of Asian car owners and 20% of European car owners indicated the same.)
As the nation's food giants develop a range of portable 'cup holder foods' - from snack chips to soups - 67% of survey-takers indicated that this dashboard dining trend is either "a very serious concern" or "potentially a concern" with 33% expressing an interest in seeing studies done on the relationship between driving while eating/drinking and accident rates.
For complete survey results and comprehensive cup holder analysis from the auto experts at Autobytel, log on to http://www.autobytel.com/content/research. Find out who makes the best cup holders, how to judge your vehicle's cup holders, and much more!
About Autobytel Inc.
Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL), a leading Internet automotive marketing services company, helps retailers sell cars and manufacturers build brands through marketing and CRM (customer relationship management) programs. Autobytel Inc. owns and operates the popular websites Autobytel.com, Autoweb.com, Carsmart.com and Autosite.com, as well as AIC (Automotive Information Center), a leading provider of automotive marketing data and technology. Autobytel Inc. generated an estimated four percent of all domestic new vehicle sales - $17 billion in car sales in 2001 - for dealers through its websites. With approximately 9,400 dealer relationships and 30 international automotive manufacturer customers, Autobytel Inc. is the largest syndicated car-buying content network, reaching millions of unique visitors as they are making their vehicle buying decisions. Autobytel Inc. content and technology has potential exposure to over 90 percent of total web traffic.*
*Jupiter Media Metrix October 2001 Digital Media Audience Report (Autobytel Inc. sites is the unduplicated audience of the Autobytel and Autoweb properties and Carsmart.com. The car-buying and ownership category as defined by Autobytel. Autobytel Inc. provides content to Yahoo! Inc., AOL websites, MSN.com and Lycos.com. The unduplicated audience of these four sites accounts for over 90 percent of total traffic.)
Contact: Media Relations
Melanie Webber, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Autobytel Inc., 949.862.3023 (melaniew@autobytel.com)
Joe Foster, RBI Communications, 323.960.1360, ext. 13 (joe@rbicom.com)
Betsy Smith Isroelit, RBI Communications, 323.960.1360, ext. 17 (betsy@rbicom.com)
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