22 vehicles that might work better for longer-term contracts

With contract terms continuing to lengthen, perhaps this year’s contingent of Best Resale Value Awards from Kelley Blue Book might provide finance companies with vehicles to enhance underwriting and origination decisions.

The 2016 model-year brand and category winners of the annual award program recognizes vehicles for their projected retained value through the initial five-year ownership period.

“KBB Best Resale Value Award winners are great for long-term financing because they increase the odds that the vehicle will have equity should the customer or the finance company have to sell the asset prematurely,” said Eric Ibara, director of residual values at Kelley Blue Book.

"By definition, BRVA winners enjoy greater consumer demand which helps the vehicle retain its value better than average," Ibara continued.

For the second year in a row, Subaru and Lexus earned top honors for best brand and best luxury brand (respectively), with Subaru claiming four model winners and Lexus producing six model winners from a total of 22 different segments.

In addition, Toyota and General Motors each have an impressive five models winning 2016 Best Resale Value Awards, Porsche has two models taking home resale value honors this year, and Tesla is receiving its first-ever Best Resale Value Award. 

“Lexus notably captured the top luxury brand award for the fifth year in a row, and after previously winning the brand award in 2011 and 2015, Subaru is back on top once again for 2016 as the best mainstream brand for resale value across its entire lineup,” Ibara said.

“While both Subaru and Lexus deliver incredible resale value, we also continue to be impressed with General Motors, which tops domestic automakers with seven combined awards for Chevrolet and GMC and places four of its vehicles in our Top 10,” he continued.

“In addition, the majority of the Top 10 Best Resale Value vehicles this year are trucks and SUVs, which is further testament to the strength these segments will carry in the future.  Five out of the Top 10 vehicles with Best Resale Value for 2016 are pickup trucks,” Ibara went on to say.

Kelley Blue Book's Best Resale Value Awards are in its 14th year and are based on projections from the Kelley Blue Book Official Residual Value Guide.  Kelley Blue Book Residual Values are established by experienced automotive analysts that review the output from the statistical models built upon millions of transactions. 

Vehicles that earn the highest five-year residual values, expressed as a percentage of their original manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP), are selected for these awards.  Low-volume vehicles and vehicles with an MSRP of more than $60,000 are excluded from award consideration, except in the plug-in vehicle, luxury and high-performance categories.

Here's the full list of KBB's 2016 Best Resale Value Awards by vehicle category:

Editor’s note: Sister publication Auto Remarketing also talked with Ibara to get more details about KBB compiled this year’s list of honorees for a report available here.