Three vie for World Car of Year award
PHOTO COURTESY OF RM AUCTIONS
This Ferrari 250 GTO has been put on sale for $20 million by Canadian-based specialists RM Auctions. It's the property of a Japanese collector but was owned at one time by Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason.
If you're feeling some withdrawal symptoms after the end of the exciting 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the announcement this week of the finalists for the 2010 World Car of the Year Awards may satisfy your need for some international competition.
The top three finalists in four categories – Performance, Design, Green and overall World Car of the Year – were announced at this year's Geneva Motor Show.
The Audi R8 V10, Ferrari California and Porsche 911 GT3 are duking it out for the honour of World Performance Car.
Competing for the World Car Design award are the Chevrolet Camaro, Citroën C3 Picasso and Kia Soul.
The Honda Insight, Toyota Prius and Volkswagen BlueMotion (Golf, Passat, Polo) are challenging for the World Green Car award while the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Toyota Prius and Volkswagen Polo are in the race for the overall World Car of the Year title
To be eligible, cars had to have been produced and sold on at least two continents during 2009 and have a minimum annual production rate of 500 vehicles.
The 2010 World Car of the Year Award winners will be declared on media preview day at the New York Auto Show in April.
GM stops working on
its cadillac electric car
General Motors has stopped work on the Cadillac Converj, an electric-drive two-door coupe similar to the Chevrolet Volt, to focus on less expensive plug-in hybrids for its luxury brand, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The decision is an about-face on GM's announcement of less than two months ago, when vice-chairman Bob Lutz said the Converj was in the automaker's plans.
"The Cadillac Converj is cleared for production," he said on the eve of the Detroit auto show.
GM declined to comment about the Converj's future.
Apparently, the Converj faced two hurdles: it wouldn't have enough amenities nor a reasonable enough electric-only range to meet buyers' expectations and make a profit for GM.
Re-engineering the Volt's plug-in hybrid technology to meet Cadillac performance and luxury standards would have "bulked up" the Converj with features such as larger wheels and heavier seats, and slashing the car's electric-only range to about half the Volt's predicted 64-km EV range.
It would also have added about $30,000 to the Volt's expected $40,000 (U.S.) price.
This decision, though, doesn't mean the Volt will be GM's only plug-in hybrid vehicle.
In addition to a scheduled plug-in version of the Cadillac XTS full-size sedan (the gas version will be due in 2013), GM may add plug-in technology to other models in the future.
Drop in sales results in better dealer experience, survey says
The overall drop in new-car sales over the past two years may be improving the dealer experience, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Consumer Service Index Study.
The annual study focuses on five dealer measurements in various countries around the world, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and the U.K.
The measurements include quality of service, initiation of service, the expertise of the service adviser, the condition of the service facility and vehicle pickup.
Apparently, customers are more satisfied with the ease of driving in and out of dealerships, parking, thoroughness of work performed, the speed of repairs and flexibility of accommodating customer schedules.
All very positive. But the result may simply be because new-car dealers are less busy than they were before the economic downturn started in late 2007.
Whatever the reasons, on a brand-by-brand basis, last year's winner, Lexus, led again. Cadillac was second, with Jaguar – the first-place finisher two years ago – right behind in third.
General Motors holds six of the top seven spots on the mass market category.
Yet, without some irony, its two leading brands – Hummer and Saturn – are either in the process of going out of business or have already been shut down.
Among mass market brands, Kia and Volkswagen posted the greatest improvements from 2009.
At the bottom of the list are Suzuki, Mazda and Jeep.
Consumers Reports magazine rates all the new cars
Just in time for the spring new-car-buying season, Consumer Reports magazine has launched its Auto Issue, listing the publication's highly regarded "recommended" makes and models.
Unlike the majority of North American automotive publications, including Wheels, CR goes out and buys the cars they review with their own money, avoiding any perceived conflicts-of-interest.
At the top of CR's "recommended" lists for 2010 are few surprises.
Honda and Subaru lead again, each scoring 77 out of 100, three points ahead of Japanese rival Toyota, whose score totaled 74.
Keep in mind: the publication removed its recommendation from eight of Toyota's products following the current recall and safety crisis.
After Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan and Volkswagen all scored ahead of Ford, the highest-ranking American automaker on the list.
CR applauded Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Saab and Volvo for improving on their reliability scores from last year.
To no one's surprise, with a solid grip on last place, is Chrysler – the only automaker to score worse this year than last.
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