Audi Earns Top Honors "Best Overall Luxury Brand

Online, May 5, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Commonwealth Audi of Santa Ana is proud to announce that Audi has been awarded the title of "Best Overall Luxury Brand" in the 2012 Total Cost of Ownership Awards presented by Kelly Blue Book. In the inaugural year for the Total Cost of Ownership Awards, Audi won three categories, and beat out all other luxury automotive brands for the highest honor of "Best Overall Luxury Brand".

"We are very excited to share this news with our Audi customers," says Commonwealth Audi General Manager Matt Crandall. "Audi works hard to provide exceptional vehicles at a great value, and we are fortunate to have this award confirm our efforts."

The Total Cost of Ownership Awards is a new set of awards given by Kelly Blue Book, an esteemed third-party automotive market analysis service that provides objective market values for vehicles. The "Best Overall Luxury Brand" was awarded based on the lowest projected total cost of ownership during the first five years.

The value takes into account ownership expenses including depreciation values, average registration fees, estimated fuel costs, insurance costs, and general maintenance and repair costs that can be expected during the initial five year period. The ultimate residual value was then compared to the average residual value across a panel of luxury brands. Audi beat out all the other luxury brands for total cost of ownership, including those that offered free maintenance and service during the initial five year ownership period.

Kelly Blue Book collects the valuation data from third party services. Total cost of ownership values are available on many different makes and models and can be accessed on the Kelly Blue Book website. Visitors to the website can access charts and graphs to better understand cost breakdowns and view comparisons over an initial 5 year ownership period, providing objective insight into the true cost of a vehicle.