Vertical Dealer

Subaru and Honda named best all-around vehicles

YONKERS, New York - Consumer Reports has named Honda and Subaru best all-around vehicle makers in its annual auto issue, marking the fourth consecutive year Honda won top marks from the influential magazine.

The ratings are based on the magazine’s average road test scores and predicted reliability scores.

Chrysler fared the worst in the pack, though Consumer Reports recommended one of its vehicles, the Ram pickup. It did not recommend any Chrysler vehicles last year.

Honda and Subaru, both Japanese car makers, tied for first with an overall score of 77 out of 100 points in Consumer Reports’ ranking.

They were followed by Toyota and Hyundai. Nissan and Volkswagen tied for fourth with a score of 72.

Tags: Subaru

Capitol Hyundai San Jose Locks Gas Prices at $1.49

SAN JOSE - Capitol Hyundai - A new Hyundai promotion lets buyers lock in fuel prices at $1.49 for a year — if they’re willing to give up some other incentives in return. In addition to Hyundai Assurance, which guarantees the buyback of a vehicle after a job loss, the Korean car company now is locking in 12,000 miles worth of gasoline at $1.49 a gallon for people who purchase a new Hyundai by Aug. 31.

But the deal involves giving up $1,000 in rebates, so shoppers will have to do the math. At 30 mpg, Gas Lock would apply to 400 gallons of gasoline. So losing that $1,000 in rebates means that the customer would have to save $2.50 per gallon to break even. And, soon to come, a big marketing push alongside Hyundai Gas Lock to take advantage of the government’s cash for guzzlers program.

Joel Ewanick, Hyundai Motor America’s vice president of marketing, says, “That will be our focus the next 60 days.” Hyundai Gas Lock guarantees the price of gasoline for a year, or the number of gallons that equal about 12,000 miles. It includes every Hyundai vehicle except the base Accent and the Genesis sedan and Coupe.

The factory-issued debit card can be used at almost any gas station in the nation at $1.49 for regular, $1.64 for mid grade and $1.79 for premium. Hyundai will pay the difference.

Consumers also can take advantage of Hyundai’s cash rebates; but if they take Gas Lock, the rebates will be reduced by $1,000.

Capitol VW San Jose - Appeal of Newly Launched Models Improves Dramatically in 2009

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., July 16, 2009 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The automotive industry achieves a three-year high in appeal for new and redesigned models, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study(SM) released today. Seven of these models have received segment-level awards.

In 2009, the APEAL score for all-new and redesigned models averages 790 on a 1,000-point scale–11 points higher than in 2008 and 15 points higher than the 2009 score for carryover models. In addition, seven all-new and redesigned models rank highest in their respective segments, including the Dodge Challenger, Ford F-150 (in a tie), Ford Flex, Hyundai Genesis, Nissan Maxima, Volkswagen CC and Volkswagen Tiguan.

“Most automakers are on track in terms of designing new models that are highly appealing,” said David Sargent, vice president of automotive research at J.D. Power and Associates. “The greater challenge for manufacturers lies in creating models that launch with both strong appeal and high quality, which ultimately lead to improved sales through greater customer loyalty and advocacy.”

Throughout the years, vehicle models achieving high APEAL scores have been shown to benefit from faster sales, less need for cash incentives and higher profit margins on each vehicle sold.

The average APEAL score for all models in 2009 has improved considerably to 779 from 770 in 2008, driven primarily by increased owner satisfaction with fuel economy. This higher satisfaction comes from three main sources. First, fuel prices have decreased significantly during the past year, which has reduced owner concerns about gas mileage. Second, owners are switching to more fuel-efficient vehicles–in 2009, more than one-half of all vehicles included in the study are powered by four-cylinder engines, compared with just 39 percent in 2008. Third, automakers are designing models to be more fuel efficient than their predecessors.

“Although lower fuel prices and the switch to smaller vehicles have undoubtedly helped, there are also many individual vehicles that have made strong improvements in fuel economy ratings,” said Sargent. “For example, the Ford F-150, Cadillac Escalade, Volkswagen Jetta and redesigned Dodge Ram have all made major strides in owner satisfaction with fuel economy through the introduction of more efficient powertrains.”

In 2009, domestic brands comprise the four most-improved nameplates. Dodge posts the largest improvement, followed by Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac, respectively. In addition, the three most-improved models are from domestic manufacturers, including the Dodge Ram, Buick Lucerne and Ford F-150.
“Consumers have a great array of appealing vehicles to choose from by both domestic and import brands,” said Sargent.

The overall gap in APEAL scores between domestic and import models has narrowed considerably during the past several years and is just five index points in 2009, compared with 15 points in 2008 and 27 points in 2007. Among premium models, import nameplates retain a slight edge, while among non-premium models, domestic brands have a similar edge.

APEAL Model-Level and Nameplate Rankings

Volkswagen captures four segment-level awards–more than any other vehicle nameplate in 2009–for the CC, GTI, Passat and Tiguan. Ford, Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Nissan each garner two awards. Ford receives model-level awards for the F-150 (in a tie) and Flex. Honda models receiving awards are the Odyssey (for a fifth consecutive year) and Ridgeline (for a fifth consecutive year). Mercedes-Benz earns awards for the S-Class (for a third consecutive year) and SLK-Class. The S-Class achieves the highest APEAL score of any model in the industry. Nissan receives awards for the Armada and Maxima.

Also receiving awards are the Chevrolet Avalanche (for a second consecutive year), in a tie; Dodge Challenger, Hyundai Genesis, MINI Cooper (for a second consecutive year); Porsche Cayenne (for a second consecutive year); and smart fortwo. The Ford F-150 and Honda Ridgeline are the only two models to rank highest in their respective segments in both the 2009 APEAL Study and 2009 Initial Quality Study (IQS) released in June.

Porsche is the highest-ranking nameplate in APEAL for a fifth consecutive year.

The APEAL Study examines how gratifying a new vehicle is to own and drive, based on owner evaluations of more than 90 vehicle attributes. The 2009 APEAL Study is based on responses gathered between February and May 2009 from more than 80,900 purchasers and lessees of new 2009 model-year cars and trucks who were surveyed after the first 90 days of ownership. The APEAL Study complements the recently released J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study(SM) (IQS), which focuses on problems experienced by owners during the first 90 days of ownership.

Find more detailed findings on new-vehicle APEAL performance as well as model photos and specs by reading an article and reviewing APEAL ratings at JDPower.com. 

    2009 APEAL Nameplate Ranking

   (Based on a 1,000-point scale)
    Porsche                            869
    Jaguar                             859
    Cadillac                           852
    Audi                               846
    BMW                                844
    Mercedes-Benz                      841
    Lexus                              837
    Infiniti                           828
    Land Rover                         822
    Lincoln                            820
    Acura                              818
    MINI                               817
    Volkswagen                         807
    Buick                              801
    Volvo                              793
    Ford                               785
    Dodge                              784
    GMC                                784
    Saturn                             779
    Industry Average                   779
    Honda                              778
    Mazda                              778
    HUMMER                             773
    Scion                              772
    Pontiac                            769
    Nissan                             768
    Mitsubishi                         767
    Smart                              767
    Chevrolet                          764
    Hyundai                            763
    Mercury                            763
    Chrysler                           757
    Toyota                             756
    SAAB                               754
    Kia                                748
    Subaru                             738
    Jeep                               727
    Suzuki                             715
 
    Top Three Models per Segment

    Car Segments

    Sub-Compact Car
    Highest Ranked: smart fortwo
    Scion xD
    Honda Fit
 
    Compact Car
    Highest Ranked: MINI Cooper
    Volkswagen Jetta
    Mitsubishi Lancer
 
    Compact Sporty Car*
    Highest Ranked: Volkswagen GTI
 
    Compact Premium Sporty Car*
    Highest Ranked: Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class
    Nissan Z
 
    Entry Premium Vehicle
    Highest Ranked: Volkswagen CC
    Cadillac CTS
    Audi A4/5
 
    Midsize Sporty Car*
    Highest Ranked: Dodge Challenger
 
    Midsize Premium Car
    Highest Ranked: Hyundai Genesis
    Jaguar XF
    BMW 5 Series
 
    Large Premium Car*
    Highest Ranked: Mercedes-Benz S-Class
    Lexus LS
 
    Midsize Car
    Highest Ranked: Volkswagen Passat
    Mazda 6
    Honda Accord
 
    Large Car
    Highest Ranked: Nissan Maxima
    Pontiac G8
    Toyota Avalon
  
NOTE: For a segment award to be issued, there must be at least three models with sufficient sample that comprise 80 percent of market sales within an award segment. There were only two premium sporty models with sufficient sample size, thus no premium sporty awards have been presented.
*No other model in this segment performs above the segment average. 

   Top Three Models per Segment

   Truck / Multi-Activity Vehicle (MAV) Segments

    Compact MAV
    Highest Ranked: Volkswagen Tiguan
    Saturn VUE
    Mazda CX-7
 
    Midsize MAV
    Highest Ranked: Ford Flex
    Buick Enclave
    Toyota Venza
 
    Large MAV
    Highest Ranked: Nissan Armada
    Chevrolet Suburban
    GMC Yukon
 
    Midsize Premium MAV
    Highest Ranked: Porsche Cayenne
    BMW X5
    Mercedes-Benz M-Class
 
    Large Pickup
    Highest Ranked: Chevrolet Avalanche (tie); Ford F-150 (tie); Dodge Ram Pickup
 
    Midsize Pickup
    Highest Ranked: Honda Ridgeline
    HUMMER H3T
    Toyota Tacoma
 
    Minivan
    Highest Ranked: Honda Odyssey
    Volkswagen Routan
    Toyota Sienna
 
NOTE: For a segment award to be issued, there must be at least three models with sufficient sample that comprise 80 percent of market sales within an award segment. There were three large premium MAV models with sufficient sample, but they comprised less than 80 percent of market sales for the segment. There were no large van models with sufficient sample size. As such, no large premium MAV or large van awards have been presented.

How to Have a Satisfying Used Car Buying Experience

Having Purchased my share of used cars over the years I have found that the reason for most unsatisfying used car purchases, arise from not knowing 3 simple principles that will will completely change the outcome of the used car buying experience.

Whether you have excellent credit or are one of the many more used car buyers with marginal or bad credit, read on, and set yourself up for a better used car buying experience.

Once you have found a dealer with a used car that suits your needs and budget:

1. Ask to have the car looked at by your own mechanic! This is critical, no excuses allowed. With all the Katrina cars literally floating around you will end up feeling like an IDIOT if you don’t have every used car you want to buy looked over by a professional mechanic BEFORE you purchase it.

2. Know your financial credit situation. If you have good credit (650+) then fine, you are in good shape to have an easy time. If however you have poor credit then PREPARE TO WAIT while the dealership attempts to find a lender who will carry you, AND be prepared to pay A MUCH HIGHER INTEREST RATE. Hey it’s your credit rating. You earned it, now you just have to deal with it.

3. Understand the dynamics of buying a used vehicle on an extended credit contract. For poor credit buyers, the most affordable cars will have at least 60K-80K or more miles on them. This means at best only one to two years of driving before expensive major maintenance work will be required in most cases. If you take out a high interest loan for 3-5 years on this vehicle you will end up deep in debt on a car that has little or no value without additional outlays of major cash to fix it. This upside down financial situation can often cause bitter resentment toward the dealer, and if payments are missed can spiral into even more credit problems for the buyer.

In conclusion: Be Aware, be smart. Know what you are getting into.

People with good credit go in with cash down payments and a high quality credit rating. They will almost always have an easy and enjoyable experience.

People with poor credit however almost always have a universally bad experience for all of the reasons outlined above.

A far better solution for poor credit buyers is to pay cash to a private owner, such as you will find in your local paper or on Craigslist.com . The same rule #1 applies. If the owner won’t let you have the car examined by your own mechanic, walk away. If the car checks out OK, then just pay cash and be done with it. This way you are cashed out on the deal with nothing more to owe to the bank. So you won’t end up down and out of luck, with no car and big debt to a lender.

Tags: How to Buy a Used Car, Used Car Sales

San Jose VW - Jetta TDI Sets New World Record at 58 MPG

The world’s most fuel efficient couple, John and Helen Taylor, have broken the current world record for lowest fuel consumption across the 48 contiguous United States averaging 58.82 miles to the gallon. They ended their 20 day trip in West Virginia on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2008. To help them break the world record, they drove the all-new, 50-state-compliant clean diesel Volkswagen Jetta TDI, fueled by Shell Ultra Low Sulfur diesel fuel under real world driving conditions, simply applying easy to use fuel saving tips and the latest efficient engine technology available for good clean diesel fun.”We are very excited and grateful to have broken the current Guinness World Record for lowest fuel consumption across the 48 contiguous United States,” said Helen Taylor. “We would like to thank Volkswagen for providing us their new clean diesel Jetta that helped us get another World Record and to Shell for supplying the diesel fuel.”

The previous Guinness World Record for the lowest fuel consumption on a nationwide drive was 51.58 miles per gallon and the Taylors broke it by setting a new record of 58.82 miles per gallon, a whopping 14 percent improvement. In 20 days, driving across 48 states the Taylors drove 9,419 miles, exceeding 60 mpg on several legs of the record-setting run, spending only 6.9 cents per mile (total was $653).

“The terrain was very diverse, the weather less than ideal, and the traffic heavy at rush hour and the VW Jetta TDI handled it all beautifully, showing its fuel efficiency and its fun-to-drive dynamic capability, just two of this vehicle’s many attributes,” said John Taylor. “The car efficiently helped us to drive to a fuel economy world record.”

People were encouraged to e-mail the Taylors along the way at:fuelacademy@gmail.com with any questions they may have about the tour, the vehicle or about fuel economy tips and join their “Fan” page on Facebook.com. As of the end of the trip, more than 2,000 people have e-mailed the Taylors.

Approximately 12 official check-in and refueling stops across the country were included throughout the duration of the drive. The couple drove on a counter-clockwise route passing through: Washington D.C.; New York City, Rutland, Vermont; Toledo, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Spearfish, S.D.; Missoula, Mont.; Winnemucca, Nev.; Santa Monica, Calif.; Durango, Colo.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Mount Vernon, Ill.; Ponchatoula, La.; and,Beckley, W.V. Some of the fuel saving tips the Taylors advocate include: avoiding idling and higher speeds, minimizing vehicle drag and performing regular vehicle maintenance.

The Taylors have made a 26-year career out of driving economically and conducting workshops globally on fuel-efficient driving techniques. They have collected 82 world fuel economy and vehicle-related records from drives around the globe in Australia, Asia, South Africa, Europe, the
Middle East and North America.

Via their Web site, the Taylors will be sharing their personal experiences on the road. For more information and regular reports from the road, visit http://www.fuelacademy.com and http://www.media.vw.com. For a complete list of fuel-saving driving tips, visit http://www.shell.com/us/fuelstretch.

Volkswagen of America, Inc.

Volkswagen of America, Inc. recently announced Electronic Stability Program (ESP) as standard equipment on all its 2009 vehicles. As a result, Volkswagen is one of the only original equipment manufacturers to offer an electronic stability control system on their entire product line - ahead of
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) deadline requiring vehicles in the 2012 model year to include stability control systems. Volkswagen’s ESP technology works in conjunction with anti-lock brakes and helps reduce loss of control and rollovers to avoid crashes.
NHTSA predicts nearly 10,000 lives could be saved each year if automakers included stability systems as standard equipment.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Herndon, Va. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, Jetta SportWagen, GLI, Passat, Passat Wagon, Eos, Tiguan and Touareg through approximately 600 independent U.S. dealers. Visit Volkswagen of America online at vw.com.

Tags: San Jose VW

San Jose Subaru Gains Traction

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — As the auto industry sputters through its worst sales year since 1993, Subaru of America is clipping along, and it’s doing so without an ad message touting price, performance or gas mileage. The niche brand reported the industry’s biggest percentage jump in U.S. new-vehicle sales — 129,298 units through August, according to Automotive News, some 5.8% better than a year ago.

The new Subaru Forester is credited with helping the automaker drive new-vehicle sales in the U.S.

What makes this feat even more impressive is the fact that most of the Subaru’s loyal owners typically drive their vehicles up to 150,000 miles, meaning they aren’t coming back to the market very often. So where are the new sales coming from?

Beyond referrals and buzz
Referrals and word-of-mouth, said Tim Mahoney, senior VP-chief marketing officer at the automaker, who said Subaru owners love their vehicles and that leads to advocacy. Still, the company wasn’t spreading the love far beyond that circle, which led the company to try its current advertising approach.

Mr. Mahoney said his team and the brand’s ad agency, Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis, did research last fall to learn why more people did not buy Subaru. He expected all-wheel-drive, which is offered standard on all Subarus, would be the main barrier to purchase, believing drivers in warm-weather states would figure they didn’t need that system. But the research found a quarter of consumers simply didn’t know much about the brand.

So Subaru started educating consumers with its umbrella ad theme, titled “Love,” in the spring for the launch of the redone Forester SUV. Mr. Mahoney said emotions play a big role in the car-buying process and he criticized the many industry players that are hammering away at more rational reasons, such as price, fuel economy and performance in their communications.

He said consumers’ favorable opinion of Subaru has jumped by roughly 25 points since last year. “It’s not a matter of money for us,” Mr. Mahoney said. Subaru spent $74 million in measured media in the first half of 2008 compared with $55 million the same period a year ago, according to TNS Media Intelligence. But Mr. Mahoney said his ad budget this year is flat, although he has moved more to national TV and cut the number of markets for spot TV by roughly two-thirds from two years ago. Subaru also isn’t gaining much additional volume from fleet sales, as only 5% to 6% of its total comes from rental outfits, businesses and government fleets, he said.

Credit the Forester
A lot of the credit can go to Subaru’s 2009 Forester, which “has been a smash. They can’t build enough of them,” said Wes Brown, VP of consultancy Iceology.

The model’s bigger size and more SUV-like styling are bringing in more male buyers, he said. Mr. Mahoney said the prior Forester model attracted more females and empty-nesters, but now buyers are better balanced between the genders and are a bit younger. The model is also winning over buyers from Honda’s Cr-V, Toyota’s RAV4 and Ford Escape, he said.

But it’s not just the Forester that’s powering Subaru. Mr. Brown said in each of the past two months half of buyers are new to the brand — a good thing considering its owners hold on to the cars so long. “They are broadening their buyer base,” noted Mr. Brown. Subaru’s Impreza WRX performance car has given the brand some street cred and brought in first-time buyers.

The marque’s U.S. market share was the highest ever in August, at 1.5%, even though Subaru had one of the lowest* average incentives in the industry last month, at $752 per vehicle, said Jesse Toprak, exec director-industry analysis for auto-information site Edmunds.com. “That means your product is strong and selling itself.”

Mr. Toprak said Subaru sales are getting a boost from Americans who are downsizing from big SUVs to smaller, more fuel-efficient models. And buyer consideration for Subaru has jumped in each of the past three months, based on consumers looking at the automaker’s pages on Edmunds — one of the few brands that has seen increases.

Subaru buyers tend to be sensible and practical, said Mr. Mahoney, and “that’s the right place to be, especially now.”