IRVINE, Calif. -

Minivans have their stereotypes, but evidently Kelley Blue Book shoppers are flocking to a redesigned version of the large family hauler.

For the second week in a row, KBB.com editors found the 2011 Honda Odyssey posted the largest amount of new-vehicle shopper activity. The site’s most recent Hot Car Report indicated the Odyssey led all models by climbing 47.8 percent, edging out the Nissan LEAF that moved higher by 47.3 percent.

When looking at only newly introduced or redesigned vehicles, the Odyssey’s week-over-week gains were even more astounding. Editors determined shopper activity for the 2011 Odyssey ballooned by 102.4 percent, easily surpassing growth for the 2011 LEAF, which came in a 47.3 percent.

“The Odyssey is going to market with a premium product that emphasizes style, design and refinement just as much as the segment’s usual reliance on family-friendly features and overall utility,” KBB editors surmised.

“Much has been written and said about the slow decline and shrinkage of the minivan segment, which saw a past high of more than 1 million sales per year fall to around 400,000 in 2009, but Honda obviously is confident that this new mix of characteristics will find unexpected appeal,” they went on to say.

However, KBB didn’t completely dismiss the strong weekly gains posted by the LEAF.

“The Nissan LEAF also continues to generate interest, further setting the stage for an electric vehicle ‘showdown’ with the also highly researched Chevrolet Volt when they both hit showrooms later this year,” KBB stated.

Looking at the rest of the Hot Car Report, Auto Remarketing found that three other vehicles enjoyed week-over-week shopper activity growth of at least 30 percent. That cluster included Scion tC (up 33 percent), Honda CR-Z (up 32.6 percent) and Subaru Legacy (up 30.4 percent).

The five vehicles KBB listed as suffering the largest shopper activity drops mostly came from luxury brands.

Pacing the downward trend was the Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class at 22.6 percent. The other luxury vehicles sustaining heavier activity drops included the Volvo S80 (off by 21.5 percent) and the Porsche Boxster (off 19.7 percent).

The other vehicles that dropped the most were the Suzuki Grand Vitara (down 22.1 percent) and the Chevrolet HHR (down 18.6 percent).

Turning specifically to newly introduced and redesigned models, the vehicles that followed the Odyssey and LEAF in this report segment included the 2011 Honda CR-Z (up 32.6 percent) and 2011 Chevy Volt (up 28.5 percent). Also squeaking out a gain in the report was the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta (up 2.3 percent).

New and redesigned models that slipped by double digits last week included the 2011 Kia Sportage (off by 15.3 percent), the 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS-Class (off by 13.4 percent) and the 2011 Volvo S60 (off by 10.8 percent).

Also dropping were the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze (down 7.0 percent), the 2011 Nissan Juke (down 2.3 percent) and the 2011 Ford Explorer (down 0.7 percent).