How many leads does it take for a dealer to sell a car?

No, that’s not the setup to a joke.

It’s the question asked in a study conducted by sales software firm Foureyes, which looked at dealership data in the first quarter of 2024 to identify how many leads dealers received on average per new vehicle sold.

The answer, based on volume of leads generated per sold VIN in new 2023 and 2024 models: 3.5 leads per sale on average for U.S. dealerships.

“We published this data for dealers to use when it comes to their marketing, pricing and other inventory strategies,” Foureyes founder and CEO David Steinberg said in a news release. “It’s data dealers can directly apply to their decision-making and processes to gain a competitive jump.”

The study analyzed the lead-to-sale data to determine an “efficiency” metric among makes and models.

Among the 26 brands studied, Nissan was the most efficient, needing just 2.8 leads to make a sale, followed by Subaru (2.9), MINI (3.0) and Toyota (3.1). On the opposite end, Stellantis siblings Chrysler (5.4 leads per sale) and Dodge (5.2) were the least efficient, with Land Rover (5.2) and Audi (5.1) also averaging more than five leads to a sale.

Not surprisingly, a Nissan (the Sentra) led all models in efficiency at 2.0 leads per sale.  The Ford Edge and Kia Soul were right behind at 2.3, ahead of the Nissan Kicks, Nissan Altima and Kia Forte, all at 2.5.

The two least efficient models to sell in terms of leads per sale were electric vehicles, with the Volkswagen ID.4 on the bottom at 6.9, behind the Hyundai Ioniq 5 (6.2). Stellantis’ Jeep, Dodge and RAM, along with Kia, had multiple vehicles ranked among the 15 least efficient.

“While the study presents this make and model data as a measure of ‘efficiency,’ Foureyes recognizes multiple factors are actually in play here,” Steinberg said. “For example, are those vehicles actually harder to sell, or do some simply garner more attention because they’re desirable and innovative?

“In the end, we simply wanted to show dealers what they can generally expect for the average vehicle.”

The full report can be found here.