SAN FRANCISCO -

With the arrival of this year’s vehicle refreshes and upcoming launches, both the pickup truck and sport utility vehicle/crossover utility vehicle segments have seen recent rises in year-over-year shopper interest unmatched by the gains produced by sedans.

Last month, one-ton, full-size, and midsize pickup truck segments saw sizable year-over-year increases in shopper interest ranging from 28 percent to 66 percent, according to the latest shopper interest data released by Jumpstart Automotive Media on Monday.

GMC’s Sierra 1500 dominates all full-size pickups. Not only did the Sierra 1500 see a 79-percent year-over-year shopper interest increase last month, but the model also saw month-over-month growth of 108 percent in share of full-size truck shopper interest.

Meanwhile, with the help of new entries, crossover and SUV shopper interest also showed gains last month.

“March illustrated a handful of interesting shopper interest trends displayed by consumers, as the month included a sprinkling of interest among trucks, utility vehicles, cars and sedans,” Jumpstart vice president marketing and strategic insights Libby Murad-Patel said in a news release.

With new SUV/CUV entries, including the Toyota C-HR, Hyundai Kona and Nissan Kicks — the subcompact (non-luxury) SUV/CUV segment, in particular, saw shopper interest boost by 15 percent from March of last year.

In addition to shopper interest growing 19 percent compared to March of last year, the compact luxury SUV/CUV segment was up 14-percent from February.

Out of 14 vehicles in the segment, most of its recent growth can be attributed to new entries, the Cadillac XT4 and the Acura RDX.

Along with ranking 6th in the segment, in its first month of reveal, the XT4 captured 7 percent of shopper interest among the compact luxury SUV/CUV segment.

From February to March of last year, the RDX saw shopper interest jump from 29-percent to 36-percent.

“The interest in trucks and utility vehicles is well-documented as a new mainstay of American interest, but it will be interesting to see if consumers continue to show rising interest in select cars given the still-moderate price of gas today,” said Murad-Patel.

Meanwhile, in addition to the midsize sedan segment, the midsize and full-size luxury sedan segments also saw modest year-over-year growth stemming from new entries.

“A handful of car segments continued to see increases in shopper interest, a trend that began around the beginning of 2018,” Jumpstart explained.

Midsize sedan interest is up nine percent from March of last year.

Both the Nissan Altima and Mazda 6, which are in model-year refreshes — saw shopper interest rise 73-percent and 23-percent year-over-year, respectively. 

Midsize sedan segment gains came from the Kia K900, Lincoln Continental, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Audi A6, while the Cadillac CT6 and Audi A8 contributed to the full-size luxury sedan segment’s growth this year.