CHICAGO, Jan. 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cars.com, the leading online resource for buying and selling new and used vehicles, estimated today that the average transaction price (ATP) for light vehicles in the U.S. was $29,882 in January 2014, down $356 (-1.2 percent) from January 2013; and down $1,032 (-3.3 percent) from December 2013.

In addition, Cars.com estimated that the average incentive for light vehicles was $2,383 in January 2014, down $151 (6.0 percent) from January 2013; and down $425 (-15.1 percent) from December 2013.

"After what appeared to be an unstoppable run, transaction prices finally experienced a measurable drop in January," said Jesse Toprak, Chief Analyst for Cars.com. "The Dow dropped more than 500 points causing buyers to hesitate in purchasing vehicles with higher price tags while vehicles under $30,000 carried the industry sales to an essentially flat performance. Even though the incentives dropped this month, the current pace of inventory accumulation at the dealerships has the potential to cause heated incentive battles in competitive segments in the coming months."



              Manufacturer January 2014          December           January 2013            Percent          Percent

                            Transaction                        2013  Transaction            Change            Change

                               Price            Transaction             Price            January 2013        December

                                                   Price                                  to January         2013 to

                                                                                                     2014  January 2014
    ---                                                                                              ----  ------------

    Chrysler Group                      $31,064             $31,749              $31,201             -0.4%              -2.2%
    --------------                      -------             -------              -------             ----               ----

    Ford                                $32,032             $32,715              $32,204             -0.5%              -2.1%
    ----                                -------             -------              -------             ----               ----

    GM                                  $33,845             $34,838              $34,662             -2.4%              -2.9%
    ---                                 -------             -------              -------             ----               ----

    Honda                               $26,312             $26,746              $26,031              1.1%              -1.6%
    -----                               -------             -------              -------              ---               ----

    Hyundai/Kia                         $22,476             $22,422              $21,977              2.3%               0.2%
    -----------                         -------             -------              -------              ---                ---

    Nissan                              $25,262             $26,257              $25,069              0.8%              -3.8%
    ------                              -------             -------              -------              ---               ----

    Toyota                              $28,502             $29,601              $28,105              1.4%              -3.7%
    ------                              -------             -------              -------              ---               ----

    Volkswagen                          $35,442             $36,433              $33,479              5.9%              -2.7%
    ----------                          -------             -------              -------              ---               ----

    Industry                            $29,882             $30,914              $30,238             -1.2%              -3.3%
    --------                            -------             -------              -------             ----               ----

              Manufacturer January 2014        December         January 2013          Percent          Percent

                            Incentives                     2013  Incentives           Change            Change

                                              Incentives                           January 2013        December

                                                                                    to January         2013 to

                                                                                               2014  January 2014
    ---                                                                                        ----  ------------

    Chrysler Group                     $2,776            $2,992             $3,368            -17.6%               -7.2%
    --------------                     ------            ------             ------            -----                ----

    Ford                               $3,264            $3,625             $2,833             15.2%              -10.0%
    ----                               ------            ------             ------             ----               -----

    GM                                 $2,792            $3,458             $3,004             -7.1%              -19.3%
    ---                                ------            ------             ------             ----               -----

    Honda                              $1,661            $1,706             $1,116             48.8%               -2.6%
    -----                              ------            ------             ------             ----                ----

    Hyundai/Kia                        $1,945            $2,042             $1,803              7.9%               -4.8%
    -----------                        ------            ------             ------              ---                ----

    Nissan                             $2,359            $2,998             $2,419             -2.5%              -21.3%
    ------                             ------            ------             ------             ----               -----

    Toyota                             $1,920            $2,174             $1,874              2.5%              -11.7%
    ------                             ------            ------             ------              ---               -----

    Volkswagen                         $2,098            $2,319             $2,114             -0.8%               -9.5%
    ----------                         ------            ------             ------             ----                ----

    Industry                           $2,383            $2,808             $2,534             -6.0%              -15.1%
    --------                           ------            ------             ------             ----               -----

Cars.com shares industry news, insights and dealership best practices to help dealers and manufacturers better understand the automotive landscape, automotive shopping trends and new consumer behavior. For more information, visit http://dealeradvantage.cars.com/.

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Cars.com is an award-winning online destination for car shoppers that offers information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. Cars.com offers thousands of new and used vehicle listings, consumer reviews, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and many other tools. Cars.com puts millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions. Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including A.H. Belo (NYSE: AHC), Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).

SOURCE Cars.com