SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Honda and Lexus took home the top prizes in Edmunds.com’s inaugural Best Retained Value Awards, which recognize the brands and new-car models that have the highest projected residual value after five years.

Honda won the 2011 brand award for non-luxury makes, while Lexus took home the award for luxury brands. Edmunds.com found that Honda’s average projected retained value is 50.4 percent, while Lexus’ average projected retained value is 48.1 percent. In each case, the award was based on the average five-year retained value of the carmaker’s 2011 models that launched prior to the end of 2010.

Edmunds.com also named winners in 23 model-level categories. Both Honda and Lexus were well-represented at the model level, with each carmaker taking home four more awards.

“A reliable assessment of a vehicle’s resale value can be a critical piece of information for consumers in the car-buying process,” said Danny Zhou, senior analyst at Edmunds.com. “Car shoppers should consider these award winners to help them choose a car with high retained value so they can maximize its worth at trade-in or sale. And for consumers who lease, selecting a car with strong resale value is just as important, because resale value is a key factor in determining the monthly lease payment.”

Edmunds.com also encourages car buyers to keep the vehicle’s retained value in mind when considering trims and options. Power sunroof, leather seats, and DVD entertainment systems are all features known to improve a car’s long-term value. Unfortunately, Edmunds.com found that added safety features don’t typically boost a car’s retained value. More details about the best options for maximizing a car’s retained value are available on Edmunds.com.

All model year 2011 vehicles that were launched by the end of 2010 and that had unit sales in February 2011 that were at least 20 percent of the average unit sales for the models in its segment were eligible for this year’s model-level Best Retained Value Awards. Edmunds determined each model's competitive segment based on its body type and the sales-weighted average MSRP of all available styles (excluding destination charges) of that model's body type. All makes that had over 100,000 unit sales in 2010 were eligible for this year’s brand-level Best Retained Value Awards.

The Best Retained Value Awards will be given annually. They join Edmunds.com’s other awards, including the annual True Cost to Own Awards, the Breakthrough Technology Award and the Green Car Breakthrough Award.

For more information, please visit Edmunds.com’s Best Retained Value Awards page at http://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/best-retained-value-cars.html.