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SAN FRANCISCO — Jumpstart Automotive Group learned on Tuesday that another automaker not only has passed Chevrolet in consumer shopping interest within its 11 industry websites, but increased its advantage by 10 percent.

Executives claim Ford overcame Chevrolet at the midway point of 2009 to become the No. 1 shopped and researched brand across the Jumpstart channels, which boast an average of 13 million monthly potential buyers and enthusiasts. They indicated Ford's margin over Chevrolet at the end of the year stood at about 1 percent.

Then in May of this year, Jumpstart determined that Ford's advantage over the General Motors' nameplate ballooned to 10 percent. The media company added Ford also holds a significant advantage over other primary competitors such as Toyota and Honda.

Executives reiterated that Jumpstart properties include Vehix, Consumer Guide Automotive, J.D. Power Autos, Shopping.com Autos, Car and Driver and Road & Track.

"Ford's 2010 surge reflects continuous improvement of the automaker's brand perception and awareness," explained Joe Kyriakoza, vice president of marketing communications at Jumpstart.

"Ford vehicle redesigns and refreshes, as well as the development of industry-leading technologies like SYNC, have helped the company resonate exceptionally well among consumers," Kyriakoza continued.

Jumpstart believes consumer interest generated by its websites have aided Ford's sales performance thus far this year. The company noted Ford is enjoying 30-percent growth in sales from January through May compared to that same time frame last year. Executives went on to mention that vehicles like the Focus, Taurus and Fusion are challenging the historic segment leaders, while they added Ford's F-Series continues to dominate competitive brands with 35-percent sales growth so far in 2010.

Kyriakoza expects Ford's run of strong sales performance to continue as the highly anticipated Fiesta hits dealerships soon. He credited the automaker with creating a significant build-up with the 18-month promotional campaign, Fiesta Movement.

Jumpstart indicated that just in the last month within its online properties, activity interest in the Ford Fiesta spiked 71 percent. The company stressed the activity level placed the unit greatly ahead of segment leaders such as the Honda Fit, Chevrolet Cobalt and Toyota Yaris as well as vehicles set to be launched like the Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt.

Kyriakoza emphasized that Jumpstart's marketplace position can provide a solid reading of how consumers are behaving through analysis by its strategic insights team. The group reviews usage patterns and shopping trends of more than 13 million in-market shoppers and influencers per month, demonstrating what Jumpstart believes to be a relevant proxy to true market conditions.

"Not only can we monitor the online behaviors of millions of automotive shoppers and enthusiasts, we can tie those behaviors into what's happening at the retail sales level," Kyriakoza asserted.

With that stance as a backdrop, Jumpstart is just as curious to learn how Ford could perform during the rest of this year as the automaker itself might be.

"At this trajectory, it will be interesting to see how Ford rounds out 2010 and how it positions itself for continued growth into 2011," Kyriakoza concluded.