Auto sites look to mobile apps to generate leads, drive people to dealerships and provide info to auto shoppers when they are “on the go.” A panel during last week’s Automotive Internet Roundtable by J.D. Power in Las Vegas reasserted these mobile strengths.

Cars.com President Mitch Golub, for instance, noted that the company launched Cars.com Mobile in March and is now getting 1.5 million page views a month. “Traffic is doubling every two months” without any promotion to speak of. “It is amazing how consumers are using this product,” he says. The traffic is constant … the same on Saturday as on Monday. Consumers use it when they shop on weekends, and even when they are driving between dealerships.

Golub says the next step is to leverage the usage with advertising. “It is in the early days of functionality,” he says. But coming up is targeted advertising … e-mail notification.

But how important is mobile in the scheme of things? Yahoo! Marketplace GM Jennifer Dulski says that mobile is important to local, and that automotive marketing is a big part of that. “Automotive isn’t at the top of the list (for mobile),” she says. “Making the entire site mobile ready is not entirely necessary.”