Swapalease.com Reports Increase in General Motors Demand in May; Top 10 GM Searches

GM vehicles remain popular in the lease transfer marketplace despite the recent bankruptcy announced by the troubled automaker, according to Swapalease.com, the world’s largest auto lease marketplace.

The company tracks vehicle searches on a monthly basis in an effort to monitor trends and gauge vehicle demand. For the month of May, Swapalease.com reports that searches for most Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac models have either remained steady or increased in the past month.

The Chevrolet Corvette had the most notable jump in searches last month. Spring and summer are the most popular months for sports cars and the Corvette in years past has always been strong on leasing.

1. Chevrolet Corvette

2. GMC Acadia

3. Cadillac Escalade

4. Cadillac CTS

5. Chevrolet Tahoe

6. Chevrolet Silverado

7. Cadillac Escalade EXT

8. GMC Yukon

9. Hummer H2

10.Hummer H3

Hummer models were heavily searched and only time will tell if this trend continues after GM’s recent acknowledgement of the brand’s sale to a Chinese manufacturing company.

Part of the increase in GM vehicle searches may be attributable to their captive finance company GMAC effectively exiting leasing early in the final quarter of 2008 by no longer offering subvented leases. With fewer attractive leases originating on domestic vehicles, consumers are turning to Swapalease.com and taking advantage of those already in process.

"Our user data indicates that the economy, and a recent uptick in fuel prices have not resulted in a drop in demand in our lease transfer marketplace," says Ron Joseph, co-founder of Swapalease.com. "What we are learning is that people still want to lease GM vehicles. Despite the bankruptcy and general negativity in the news, GM vehicle quality has never been better. We anticipate that as GM reemerges stronger and as the economy recovers, General Motors will once again embrace leasing based on consumer demand and the volume it can bring to the automaker."