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Filed under: Car Buying , Coupes , Economy , Tech , Hatchbacks , Audi Click above for a high-res gallery of the Audi S3 Sportback Audi's five-door S3 and its Sportback sibling will now be able to benefit from the S tronic dual-clutch transmission. Mated to the 2.0-liter TSFI, you'll seamlessly shift from first all the way to sixth, with 265 hp on tap and 258 lb-ft. available from just 2,500 rpm. You'll also get even better gas mileage, with both cars registering 28 mpg, not to mention hitting sixty two-tenths of a second faster than would with a manual: 5.5 or 5.6 seconds depending on whether you're piloting the three- or five-door. The DCT is available now, and for better gas mileage, quicker shifts, and a quicker car... why wouldn't you? Gallery: 2009 Audi S3 Sportback Continue reading Audi S3 and S3 Sportback get S tronic dual-clutch trannies Audi S3 and S3 Sportback get S tronic dual-clutch trannies originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:01:00 EST...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Lexus , Toyota The US auto industry has hit a serious slump in 2008, with overall sales estimated drop by two million vehicles compared to 2007. Even the mighty Toyota has seen sales slip by 7.8%, which is better than the industry average, but a far cry from annual increases of 10%. And times may not improve in 2009 either, as the credit crunch and mortgage crisis have conspired to kick the auto industry in the pants. Toyota sales boss Jim Lentz says the mortgage crisis is the main culprit of tough sledding for the Japanese automaker. Florida and California, which account for 30% of overall Toyota Sales, have been especially hard hit by decreased home values. Lexus sales have been hit hard, too, as one third of all of purchasers in the Sunshine State use home equity to buy their luxury vehicles. It doesn't take an accounting degree to know that houses are typically assets and cars are almost always liabilities. That large amounts of people who were using home...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Economy , Sedans/Saloons , Chevrolet Click above for a high-res gallery of the Chevy Cruze Remember when we told you that GM plans to make more money off of its small cars by upping its prices? Well, as far as the Cruze is concerned, not only do they plan to charging substantially more than the outgoing Cobalt, they might demand more cash than a comparably equipped Corolla, Civic, or Focus. According to GM, that's because it needs to make more per car than Honda or Toyota. With the average Civic rolling away for $19,184, GM doesn't have a lot of room to play before hitting the $20,000 ceiling. And if GM was to get an average price of $19,500 for the Cruze, that would be a $3,000 premium over the current (average) price for the Cobalt. That still gives no indication of how much money GM would actually be making on the car, though. Design honcho Ed Welburn feels the car's styling and interior will justify the extra dosh, and said he believes "we...
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Filed under: Economy , Scion , Toyota Click above for a high-res gallery of the 2008 Scion xB. My older brother Brian drives a Scion xD. He's 39 years old, and probably considered anything but cool by 18-24 year-old standards. He bought his little xD because he was tired of filling up his AWD 2001 Chevy Astro conversion van, and he's gone from getting 12 mpg to about 30. While that's a big-time win for Scion sales, the brand's marketing arm has to cringe. Scion was built to be Toyota's youth-oriented brand, with cars that would finally bring younger buyers into the Toyota showroom. The early days of Scion were a boon, with 80% of Scion buyers having never shopped Toyota before. Young people were clamoring for the xB and tC, and 100-200k online shoppers flocked to the Scion site each month. Only a year after the redesign of the xB and xD, the Scion site is seeing less than half the traffic. Overall, year over year sales fell for 17 strait months until March, when gas...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Trends , Japan , Marketing/Advertising , Lifestyle Could the country that gave us the NSX, Godzilla -- and the other Godzilla -- and The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift be on the verge of giving up cars for good? With car buying down by close to 33-percent since 1990, Japan is claimed to be in the grips of kuruma banare , which, for Japanese carmakers, is the polar opposite of hakuna matata . It's being labeled the "demotorization" process, and it involves large numbers of people in Japan's urban centers not buying cars. Surveys have revealed a variety of reasons, from the cost of purchase and ownership, to vehicles simply not being status symbols anymore, to cars being passé -- as in "so 20th century." The greatest worry is that young folks are simply not into cars, preferring cell phones and gadgets to Cubes and keis. Losing their audience before the love affair has even begun is no doubt causing JDM manufacturers to lose...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Marketing/Advertising , Chrysler Car sales in the U.S. flat-out suck right now, and both domestic and Japanese automakers are feeling the pinch. Chrysler posted a 13.2% decline in its Daily Sales Rate last month while offering 0% financing, so the Auburn Hills-based automaker has little choice but to continue offering free loans in an effort to stop the bleeding. Current deals include five years at 0% for 2008 models and six years for leftover 2007 models. Chrysler is also dealing with folks with less than perfect credit, which is a risky move with credit restrictions so tight right now. Beyond money for nothing, Chrysler is also looking into further production cuts to keep dealer inventory in check. It's also cutting labor costs by offering buyouts to workers to shed its army of industrial storm troopers by up to 10,000. Times are tough right now in the auto industry, but if you're in the market to buy a new car, 0% appears to be making a comeback [Source...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Plants/Manufacturing , Chrysler , Ford , GM If you're in the market for a Focus sedan, the question is, exactly what kind of Focus will you buy? According to Ford's option sheets, there are 100,000 different combinations you can create. Eighty percent of Focus sedan sales, however, are comprises of just 4,000 of those combos. This glut of choice has increasingly become an issue that translates into lost money, unhappy customers and overwhelmed dealers for the Big Three, and now they're going to trim the options tree. Ford's new marketing chief Jim Farley has said, "Coming from Toyota, I can tell you that the opportunity is there to reduce the complexity of our line-up." Toyota cars are not known for an obscene wealth of choice , although Nissan has found itself with too many choices on the Maxima and Altima, and has cut them down recently. Meanwhile, the domestics are working to figure out how to rationalize the choices they offer -- and...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Ford , Lincoln , Mercury , Earnings/Financials Ford Motor company has bumped the prices of its domestic vehicles by an average of $198 fleet-wide, bringing the overall model year increase to $502 per car, truck, van, and utility vehicle. The only vehicles not effected by the latest increase are the Lincoln Town Car, the E-Series vans, and the soon to be defunct Lincoln Mark LT. While half a grand sounds like a lot of money, it only represents a 1.8-percent increase over last year's overall costs, which is a full percentage point less than the average inflation in the past year. While nobody likes to see prices go up, it's hard to fault Ford for attempting to keep up with the financial times. The big question is whether customers will be willing to pay for the hike in a soft car market, or if Ford will need to put more cash on the hood to move metal. [Source: Automotive News - Sub. Req.] Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
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Filed under: Car Buying Seriously, a survey by Consumer Reports shows 57% of car buyers are very satisfied with the treatment they got at the dealer. Another 31% said they were somewhat satisfied. That means 88% of those surveyed drove away from their car dealer with a smile on their face. If you find that surprising, get this: Of the car buyers surveyed, 96% said they considered the deal they got "fair." If you're wondering how such a high percentage of the public can be so overjoyed with car dealers, the magazine brings up some more interesting statistics that could help explain this. An overwhelming majority (90%) said they found the staff "informed and helpful," which, from our car-shopping experiences leads us to believe the survey respondents themselves could have benefited from some automotive education. Backing up our suspicion, Consumer Reports says from looking at answers to other questions in the survey, car buyers could have saved themselves some money...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Minivans/MPVs , Trucks/Pickups , Marketing/Advertising , Chrysler , Earnings/Financials Chrysler is already offering five-year, interest-free loans on some of its cars. As of today, it is also offering six-year, interest-free...
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