Hybrids Dominate Vincentric’s Best Value in America Awards

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan – January 17, 2006 – Vincentric’s Best Value in America™ awards were announced today, with hybrid vehicles leading the way. The Toyota Prius, along with the hybrid versions of the Ford Escape, the Honda Civic, and the Toyota Highlander each won the Best Value in America™ award in their segment. Other hybrids receiving Excellent Value ratings are the Mercury Mariner hybrid, the Lexus RX 400h, and the Honda Insight.

To determine Vincentric’s Best Value in America™, Vincentric analyzed over 1,800 different vehicle configurations and computed the cost to own and operate each vehicle. Eight different cost factors were calculated to determine overall Cost of Ownership: depreciation, fuel, insurance, opportunity cost, financing, maintenance, taxes and state fees, and repairs.

Using a statistical model, the company identified the Best Value in America™ by measuring which vehicles have a lower than expected ownership cost given their market segment and price. The strong value of hybrids was clear when both a hybrid and non-hybrid version of the same vehicle were compared to other vehicles in the same segments. In those instances, the hybrid version had ownership costs that averaged 16.2% lower than a similarly priced competitor, while the non-hybrid version had ownership costs 7.9% lower.

“Hybrids benefited from three main factors”, stated David Wurster, President of Vincentric. “First was their strong fuel economy ratings, resulting in lower fuel costs for these vehicles. Second was their strong residual values due to high demand, resulting in lower depreciation costs. And third was the federal tax credit that went into effect this year. This combination of factors creates extremely strong value for consumers.”

Including the Prius and Highlander hybrid, Toyota had eleven Best Value in America™ awards, with Honda also faring well with six winners.

In addition to the annual Best Value in America™ awards, Vincentric compiles updated results each month to incorporate current fuel prices, manufacturer rebates and incentives, interest rates and residual values.

The categories and the winners of Vincentric’s Best Value in America™ for the 2006 model year are listed below.