More Auto Industry Information
Loan vs. Bailout.
More on the domestic auto industry
This guy should be in Washington today instead of the execs. This is audio, so you'll need headphones or speakers.
If you have noticed all the bad news the last 3 years regarding the falling sales of the domestic auto industry, you might be interested in the following questions, possible answers are listed alphabetically.
The correct answers, along with source, are given below.
1. Which country can boast that their brands occupy 2 of the top 3 spots for long-term reliability?
a. Germany
b. Japan
c. Korea
d. United States
2. As of August 2007, which manufacturer had the most recalled vehicles in the U.S. for that year?
a. Chrysler
b. Ford
c. GM
d. Nissan
e. Toyota
f. Volkswagen
3. Pick the brand from each group that has the highest initial quality.
a. Acura, BMW, Cadillac (all luxury makes)
b. Honda, Mercury, Nissan (all non-luxury makes)
c. Acura (lux), Chevrolet (non-lux), BMW (lux), Mazda (non-lux)
4. Which midsize sedan has the highest initial quality?
a. Accord (Honda)
b. Altima (Nissan)
c. Camry (Toyota)
d. Malibu (Chevrolet)
5. Which large sedan has the highest initial quality?
a. Avalon (Toyota)
b. Grand Prix (Pontiac)
c. Sable (Mercury)
6. Which midsize pickup has the highest initial quality?
a. Dakota (Dodge)
b. Ranger (Ford)
c. Tacoma (Toyota)
7. Which car is the most economical overall?
a. Aveo (Chevrolet)
b. Fit (Honda)
c. Prius (Toyota)
8. Which car did the LA Times describe as "a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti"?
a. A6 (Audi)
b. CTS (Cadillac)
c. RL (Acura)
9. Which company makes the winner of the 2008 "Green Car of the Year" award?
a. Chevrolet
b. Honda
c. Toyota
10. Which car was selected by the North American automotive press corps as the "North American Car of the Year" for 2007?
a. Aura (Saturn)
b. Camry (Toyota)
c. Fit (Honda)
11. Which car won the same award for 2008?
a. Accord (Honda)
b. Altima coupe (Nissan)
c. Malibu (Chevrolet)
12. Which company had a luxury vehicle, a midsize sedan, and a large truck removed from the Consumer Reports recommended vehicles list in October 2007 because of mounting quality problems?
a. Chrysler
b. Ford
c. General Motors
d. Hyundai
e. Toyota
f. Volkswagen
ANSWERS:
1. Which country can boast that their brands occupy 2 of the top 3 spots for long-term reliability?
Answer: United States - Per J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study, Mercury and Cadillac are in the top 3, along with Lexus. And in 2007, Buick was tied with Lexus for the top spot. http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008115
2. As of August 2007, which manufacturer had the most recalled vehicles in the U.S. for that year?
Answer: Volkswagen - According to Business Week, Volkswagen had the most recalls at this time a year ago. The second worst was Toyota. http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/aug2007/bw20070810_455098.htm
3. Pick the brand from each group that has the highest initial quality.
a. Answer : Cadillac (better than both Acura and BMW)
b. Answer: Mercury (better than both Honda and Nissan)
c. Answer: Chevrolet (better than Acura, BMW, and Mazda)
This is according to J.D. Power's Initial Quality Survey. http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008063
4. Which midsize sedan has the highest initial quality?
Answer: The Chevrolet Malibu has better initial quality than any competitor, including the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Nissan Altima. The Ford Fusion also beat all 3 Japanese competitors.
This too is from the J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey, which also reveals that above average are American brands Mercury, Ford, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Lincoln, and Buick. Below average are import brands Acura, Kia, Nissan, BMW, Mazda, VW, Subaru, and Scion (and several others).
http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2008-Initial-Quality:-Midsize-and- Large-Cars http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pressrelease.aspx?ID=2008063
5. Which large sedan has the highest initial quality?
Answer: Again per J.D. Power, the highest quality large car is the Pontiac Grand Prix, beating the Toyota Avalon. Two other Detroit cars that beat the Avalon are the Mercury Sable and Mercury Grand Marquis.
http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2008-Initial-Quality:-Midsize-and- Large-Cars
6. Which midsize pickup has the highest initial quality?
Answer: The Dodge Dakota has the best quality for midsize pickups, proving that Chrysler too can beat the imports. Both the Dakota and the Ford Ranger beat the Toyota Tacoma.
http://www.jdpower.com/autos/articles/2008-Initial-Quality:-Pickups-and-Vans
7. Which car is the most economical overall?
Answer: Per Edmunds.com, the premier automotive analysis site, the most economical car in America, taking into account not only mileage but all costs, is the Chevrolet Aveo. The Honda Fit is #3 and the Toyota Prius is a distant #34.
http://www.edmunds.com/help/about/press/127806/article.html
8. Which car did the Los Angeles Times describe as "a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti"?
Answer: "Cadillac makes a better car than BMW or Mercedes or Lexus or Infiniti, and that car is the 2008 CTS. No other car in the mass market dares so much as this expressive and audacious bit of automotive avant-gardism." Dan Neil, LA Times.
http://www.latimes.com/classified/automotive/highway1/la-hy-neil12dec12- pg,0,5427133.photogallery
9. Which company makes the winner of the 2008 "Green Car of the Year" award?
Answer: The Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid is the winner of this award. How could a full-size SUV defeat the media darling Toyota Prius? Read the link below and you will discover.
"What's equally eye-opening is that the Tahoe's 21 mpg city fuel efficiency rating is the same as that of the city EPA rating for the four-cylinder Toyota Camry sedan." Did you catch that? A huge, full-size SUV from Chevrolet that gets the same city mileage as a 4-cylinder Toyota Camry!! Chevy obtained this remarkable achievement through the use of its 2-mode hybrid system, a technology that Toyota does not have. http://www.greencar.com/features/2008greencar/
10. Which car was selected by the North American automotive press corps as the "North American Car of the Year" for 2007?
Answer: Not only was the Saturn Aura picked by the automotive press corps as better than the Honda Fit and the Toyota Camry, when a panel of 47 journalists named the Saturn Aura the North American Car of the Year over the Toyota Camry, the vote wasn't even close, 205-89." Chicago Tribune, 1/15/07 http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html
11. Which car won the same award for 2008?
Answer: GM again crushed the Japanese competition in 2008 when the Malibu received 190 votes to the Honda Accord's 95. The Accord actually came in 3rd since GM's other finalist, the Cadillac CTS, received 165 votes. http://www.northamericancaroftheyear.org/news.html
12. Which company had a luxury vehicle, a midsize sedan, and a large truck removed from the Consumer Reports recommended vehicles list in October 2007 because of mounting quality problems?
Answer: Toyota's much publicized quality problems resulted in Consumer Reports actually removing from their recommended vehicles list the Lexus GS luxury car, Camry V6 sedan, and Tundra pickup. This demotion occurred in October 2007.
This Q&A list was put together by an employee of an American car company who just might lose his job because of public perceptions that do not match reality. If you are one of the many Americans who gave up on Detroit's cars because of a bad experience many years ago, it's time to rethink your position. Rethink Detroit.
Detroit automakers: 79 U.S. jobs per 2,500 cars sold in America.
Foreign automakers: 33 U.S. jobs per 2,500 cars sold in America.
Labels: Detroit, The Big Three
posted by Kathleen @ 5:30 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
I totally got 100% on that quiz! But then again it's not hard to hear that stuff when you live here.
And I heard the mayor's interview live this morning while I was making our lunches. That's one passionate guy.
I have no idea what his politics are but his perspective seems dead on to me.
Just to kind of add on to the quality thing...
My dad, Big Lou, retired from Ford in 2000 or 2001 after years of working in reseach and design as a mechanic.
He tested engines (at one time he was even on the Chrysler race team, tesing engines for Richard Petty back in the mid-60's), worked in crash safety and was a prototype builder in luxury cars at the end of his career.
I remember him coming home once when I was in either high school or college and talking about how they sometimes bought competitors cars and took them apart to learn about them.
They had a Rolls Royce (and what car could possibly better than a Rolls, right?) in the lab that they had just taken apart.
Big Lou was shocked, absolutley shocked, that the Rolls had a Hydromatic transmission. For those of you who aren't car people, that's technology that GM came up with in the 1950's. 30 or 40 years later transmissions were leaps and bounds ahead of the Hydromatic. They were more efficient and smoother and continued to get better.
But the greatest luxury car in the world was bascially straight out fo the middle of the century.
It's a shame that more people don't know stuff like this.
Nice Kathleen! The opinions about Detroit and the auto industry have to be changed one person at a time. You're doing your part and I'm over on Facebook trying to do the same.
Collin's all stressed because of the auto industry - all his company does is auto advertising so he's sure they're in trouble because no one's buying cars....scary stuff!!
Jorge - They still do benchmarking, although I'm not sure they're dismantling Rolls-Royces anymore. ;-) Many of my aunts and uncles worked for Hydromatic.
Glen - I know, I need to get on Facebook.
Heather - Collin is proof that what happens in the Midwest doesn't stay in the Midwest but will affect the rest of the country.
I drive a Chevy truck and it has been great since I bought it in 1993. I'm considering a new car next year (hopefully) and will try to stay American. I would prefer a hybrid car of some kind and hope there is a decent domestic selection.
Ron - That's what I keep forgetting to do - take on the hybrids and electric cars.
Quickie:
Due to the batteries, the darling of the media, the Toyota Prius actually has a bigger environmental footprint than a Hummer (not that I'm defending the Hummer - what a stupid fricking vehicle), so you're actually better off (in the end) with a decent small car, i.e., Ford Focus, Chevy Aveo, etc.
And the electric car? That's fine if you have a house (which I don't) and therefore, a place to charge your vehicle, and also only do city driving (about 40 miles RT) as that's the extent of the battery life. Forget driving to Chicago for the weekend and back or taking a long trip a la the family vacation in the 70s or my more recent trips for Champ Car races.
I've been reading some comments on articles about todays testimony and the fact that a loan is unlikely in 2008.
The rest of America just doesn't get it.
Didn't there used to be a saying, "As GM goes, so goes America?"
That's still reasonably true.
Here's a question for working Americans. Would you rather work for Gm and get decent pay and benefits or would you rather work at Walmart with lower pay and leser benefits?
Those are the 2 largest employers in the US. One is old economy manufacturing and the other is new economy service industry.
Pick the wrong one and the next generation is not going to do as well as the one before it.
Jorge - Amen. There's a poll at cnnmoney.com about whether or not the auto companies should get the money - 44% said No. People just don't freaking get it.
I'm feeling a lot better about buying my '09 Impala after reading your posts this week. Sorry about not buying another Ford product, but the Chevy dealer was ready to deal big-time while I was there. I figure my purchase of a GM vehicle might save a job or three throughout Michigan.
Dr - At this point, I'm happy that you bought an American car and GM is in much bigger trouble than we are at this exact moment in time. Thank you.
German cars suck. That quiz was too easy.
Get this - my Saturn was getting better gas mileage than a friend's mother's Prius. Granted I was at the time on the highway 24-7. I told her that and she said "well, my car is making a statement." BFD. A statement, huh? Yeah, don't confuse emotion with facts.
This is awesome. I'm still working on my American cars post. I think I'll steal some ideas from this quiz.
I'm glad to see you posting about this Kat. I believe the bailout is going to happen. The problem is the time frame in which it will take place. By the time they (congress) gets their shit together, it may be too late. In which case, no ammount of money will be able to save the big three. You want to do your part? Go trade whatever the hell you're making payments on now in for an American car.
...And VW has made some fantasitc cars but not since 1979.
Glenn - I hope you're not telling me to sell my American-made (actually Michigan-made) car...I have never bought anything but an American made car and won't as long as I have a choice.
Nope. telling the commenters (is that a word) to trade thier crap for a decent American car.
The one car I'm currently making payments on is an American car FYI.
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