SANTA MONICA, Calif. -

Record-high numbers of vehicles are coming off lease in 2019. At the same time, prices and interest rates are edging higher.

With those trends in mind, understanding a vehicle’s retained value is extremely important for a shopper in knowing how much he or she can afford when buying a new vehicle, Edmunds senior consumer advice editor Matt Jones said in a news release.

To help those shoppers, Edmunds announced its 2019 Edmunds Best Retained Value Awards, recognizing the new 2019 vehicles and brands with the highest projected residual values after five years.

Toyota and Lexus won brand-level awards in the standard and luxury categories, respectively. That means they had the highest aggregate retained value scores in their class.  

“Savvy shoppers know that vehicles on the Edmunds Best Retained Value list are likely to hold their value down the road, which is key to getting a reasonable lease payment or a good trade-in price,” Jones said.

Edmunds determines the 2019 Edmunds Best Retained Value Awards based on the qualifying new models with the highest projected private-party residual value five years after their launch, expressed as a percentage of their initial True Market Value.

Toyota and Subaru claimed three model-level wins apiece, while Honda won two.

The 2019 Sequoia (large SUV), the 2019 Tundra (large truck) and the 2019 Tacoma (midsize truck) were the winning Toyota vehicles.

The 2019 Impreza (compact car), the 2019 Crosstrek (compact SUV) and the 2019 WRX (sports car) were winners for Subaru. The winning Honda models are the 2019 Accord (midsize car) and 2019 Odyssey (minivan).

Other winners included the 2019 Dodge Charger (large car), the 2019 Jeep Wrangler (midsize SUV), and the 2019 Ford Transit Van (van). 

Lexus led the pack among luxury automakers with three model-level awards: the 2019 NX 300 (luxury compact SUV), the 2019 ES 350 (luxury midsize car) and the 2019 GX 460 (luxury midsize SUV).

Additional luxury winners included the 2019 Mercedes-Benz CLA-Class (luxury compact car), the 2019 Audi A7 (luxury large car), the 2019 Land Rover Range Rover (luxury large SUV), and the 2019 Porsche 911 (luxury sports car). 

To be considered for a model-level award, a vehicle must be a 2019 model year that launched on or before Dec. 31 with sales in January that are not less than 25 percent of the average aggregate sales in that month for all of the other models in its award segment.

For brand-level award eligibility, an automaker must have eligible vehicles competing in at least four of the 18 award segments.