• October 10, 2007

Cambridge, Mass-based CarGurus, an online automotive community, has finished a six-month study of online auto consumers that shows new-car shoppers spend 62% of their online vehicle-research time looking at photos and videos, rather than reading articles, user reviews, specifications, pricing, etc.

"Given the explosive growth of online photo and video sites like Flickr and YouTube, it is not surprising to see that new-car shoppers prefer to research cars visually," says Langley Steinert, CEO of CarGurus, in a release. "What is surprising is to see how many online auto marketers neglect to spotlight the visual aspects of a new car and instead choose to highlight textual lists of features and specifications."

The group did its research from March to August this year, tracking visitors researching new cars on its site. The company says it had 1.1 million unique visitors during the period.

--Karl Greenberg