Audi A6 Voted 'Most Anticipated New Car'

IRVINE, Calif., March 17 -- Automotive.com, a leading Internet automotive marketing company, announced Audi A6 as the winner of the "Most Anticipated New Car" of 2005. After months of voting and tallying over 200,000 votes submitted by consumers in the Automotive.com 2nd annual Consumer Choice Awards, the Audi A6 came out on top.

"The most anticipated new car award encompasses both new models and complete redesigns of current models which is what an automotive enthusiast thrives on" said Jason Phillips, vice-president of Automotive.com. "Audi winning this award proves you can take a tried and true model like the A6 and improve on it."

Voted as the most anticipated car of 2005, the new Audi A6 is a showcase of design breakthroughs. Starting with the visible, the A6 is the first to wear the striking new face destined to be worn by all Audis from this day forward. Underneath the hood beats an all-new V6 engine with direct injection technology for more efficient operation. Pumping 255 horsepower from only 3.1 liters, it's as powerful as it is efficient. Top it all off with Audi's secure, performance-enhancing Quattro all-wheel-drive system and the new A6 becomes the most noteworthy automobile to receive this award.

"Consumer voting is what differentiates the Automotive.com Award process from other industry awards," said Phillips, "Our visitors trust the Automotive.com brand to provide the most complete, up-to-date, and unbiased vehicle information online. That's why we don't pick whose best -- our customers do."

Consumers visiting Automotive.com voted for last year's consumer "best" in 15 vehicle categories, from sports cars to minivans, picking the automobile they felt best represented exceptional value, superiority in its class, and overall customer satisfaction.

The following models were included in the voting for 2005 consumer "Most Anticipated New Car": Ford Mustang, Mercedes SLK, Chrysler 300, Dodge Magnum and Audi A6. Additional information on Automotive.com Award winners can be found at http://awards.automotive.com/.

The Award Voting Process

The Automotive.com Awards are based solely on votes from consumers placed online at http://www.automotive.com/. Voting information is used to compile the rankings and standard industry vehicle categories are used to group vehicles for voting purposes. The number of automotive award categories is aligned with the number of model-level segments within the automotive industry. The top 5 vehicles in each category are influenced by the millions of consumers across the U.S. who utilized Automotive.com for their new car buying services during the year. Rankings are in no way influenced by the opinion of Automotive.com or its staff.

About Automotive.com

Automotive.com, founded in 1999 and headquartered in Irvine, Ca., is the Internet's leading auto buying portal and consumer information website. Automotive.com has helped more than 30 million consumers research and price new cars, http://www.automotive.com/new-cars/, and used cars, http://www.automotive.com/used-cars/, leading to more than 3 million vehicle sales. Automotive.com unites the new car buyer with a local new car dealer, large dealer group or direct with the manufacturer online -- dramatically improving the way consumers research, locate and buy new vehicles. Automotive.com is a privately held corporation. For more information, visit http://www.automotive.com/ or call 1-888-446-8742.