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According to Toyota's Open Road blog, Magnussen’s Toyota in Palo Alto, California was "doing what Toyota encourages its dealers to do:" Take customers' money. The Silicon Valley dealership had apparently been deluged with requests for a plug-in Prius hybrid ; knowing Toyota was working on such a vehicle, Magnussen's decided to take "deposits" for plug-in Prii, despite the fact that Toyota had not yet announced any timetable for retail sales. Irv Miller, Toyota VP of Corporate Communications, then attempted to spin away Magnussen's shady business practices as a simple case of a dealer trying to make its customers happy. Some choice quotes after the jump. A lot of people can’t wait to try [the plug-in Prius], so it’s understandable that one of our dealers created some confusion recently by taking deposits on future Prius plug-in hybrids. Magnussen’s Toyota in Palo Alto, California was doing what we’ve always encouraged our dealers to do...to listen carefully...
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The Porsche-branded kitchen earlier this week reminded us that automotive marketing gurus like to use their considerable name equity to brand products having nothing to do with cars. While sometimes this can help increase brand identity with the masses, here's our list of the ten auto-branded products which decrease brand equity and dilute brand stature. 10. Jeep Stroller Though parents haven't been buying Chrysler vehicles as quickly as the company may like, they love those Jeep-branded strollers. With a reputation for toughness, the baby-moving business isn't a huge stretch for the brand. If they could get as many families into Jeep Commanders as they could into Jeep Commander Strollers the company might be in better shape. [ JeepWorld ] 9. Renault F1 Backgammon Set In addition to branding special-edition cars, like the Renaultsport 197 Clio , the Renault F1 team has spread into the fast-paced world of table gaming. Made of real Formula One materials like carbon fiber, sterling...
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Just how bad is the US vehicle market? Pretty bad when Intellichoice reports the relatively fuel-sipping Toyota Corolla and Yaris are selling with cash on the hood. Intellichoice, in a release accompanying their August Best Deals of the Month even goes so far as to say that "A Best Deals winner may be obsolete in 2010 due to the collapsing market." Ouch, and so long, Nissan Armada. Aside from Corolla and Yaris, this month's list includes the Chevy Silverado, Lexus GX, the aformentioned Nissan Armada and, don't look now, but smug is actually a really good value this August. In fact, the list contains several of the selections from yesterday's " compact vs hybrid " value shootout. Full release after the jump. CAMPBELL, Calif.—IntelliChoice.com (www.intellichoice.com), the leading source for automotive ownership cost and value analysis, today announced its “Best Deals of the Month” for August for all cars, trucks, and sport utility vehicles. The monthly...
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GM's recent decision to re-offer employee pricing on all new vehicles brings the 505 HP Corvette Z06 down to an astonishing base price of $62,653. Normally, these type of incentives don't include high horsepower and halo cars, but according to the boys at Kicking Tires , GM will include both the 2008 Corvette and the Chevy's up-powered big brother, the 2008 Corvette Z06 , in their current deal. No matter how glowing of a review Wes gave it, with that heavy of a discount you'll maybe want to think twice about spending the money on the new 2009 Corvette ZR1 . galleryPost('2008CorvetteZ06Press', 6, 'A Worthy Champ'); The 638 HP 2009 Corvette ZR1's price of $103,000 (let's pretend for a moment vagaries such as dealer markup don't exist) has a cost per HP of $162. While not the best deal on price per HP, it's still a steal. But this pricing on the 2008 Corvette Z06 brings the cost per HP war to a whole new level — dropping the already amazingly...
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For prospective consumers looking to purchase a car as more than mere transportation, we decided it was time for the ten most beautiful cars in the world currently for sale. We've done the ugliest cars at home and abroad , now it's time to soothe your eyes with images of cars that'll evoke the dragon in you. To be considered truly beautiful, we decided a vehicle must transcend gimmicks and needless ornamentation to achieve an economy of design, eschewing the aggressiveness of most modern sports cars. Instead, these cars capture the classic feminine qualities that have encouraged owners to refer to their cars as "she." Given this standard, we think the ten below are almost indisputably the most beautiful — thought that certainly won't stop you all for adding your own two cents in the comments below. 10. Audi R8 galleryPost('tennattR8', 3, ''); Years of female empowerment public service announcements and deodorant ads have convinced us it's...
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General Motors is offering a transferable bumper-to-bumper warranty with zero deductible on all of the company's 60,000+ Certified Used Vehicles for one year or 12,000 miles, on top of their 100,000, five-year limited powertrain warranty. This offer is valid for anyone looking to get a Chevy, GMC, Buick, Saturn or Pontiac. The program doesn't extend to Hummer, Cadillac or Saab, each of whom offer a comprehensive used-car warranty program that is almost better than the new Saab warranty . Sounds like you've finally got an excuse to pick up that used GTO you've had your eye on. Press release below the jump. GM Adds 12-Month/12,000-Mile Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty on GM Certified Used Vehicles and Saturn CPO Vehicles DETROIT, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ — General Motors today announced that it will provide consumers with a fully transferable 12-month/12,000-mile* "bumper-to-bumper" warranty with no deductible on all GM Certified Used Vehicles and all Saturn Certified...
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After investing time and money into developing a new vehicle to meet consumer's needs you'd think that coming up with a name would be the easy part. Whether because of mistranslation, cultural misunderstandings or just plain mistakes, these names prove it's not as easy as you'd think. Culled from our automotive knowledge and commenter suggestions these are the worst of the worst. And like great Olympic gymnasts, many of these cars are Asian and less than 16 years old. If you think you can do worse, drop a suggestion in the comments below, and of course, don't forget to vote for what you think is the least appealing. 10.) Toyota Estima Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy Known in the US market as the Toyota Previa and in Japan as the Toyota Estima, SOS10 brought to our attention the Lucida G Luxury Joyful Canopy edition of this futuristic van. Any of these modifiers by themselves aren't necessarily ridiculous, but when combined you're reminded of the awesome exuberance...
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Toyota is basing its production plans on projections that US gas prices could rise as high as $5.00 a gallon as soon as 2015. The Japanese automaker also believes the full-size truck market will experience a significant recovery in the near future. Despite demand for its fuel-efficient Prius hybrid reaching an all-time high, it is unable to increase production of the vehicle until the 2011 model year. But gas hit $4.00 a gallon earlier this year: It seems unlikely that it'll take seven years for it to rise another dollar, so is Toyota being too optimistic with its projections? Bob Carter, general manager for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., made the projections in remarks to reporters at and industry conference yesterday. Going on to say that while he expects total full-size truck sales to drop to 1.45 million in 2008, from 2.14 million in 2007, he expects those sales to rebound. "We are absolutely confident that the recovery will take place, it's just arguable when," Carter...
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Yeah, we just heard Chrysler Financial will no longer be offering auto leases. We're just as stunned as everyone else. Hit the jump for the full report and our analysis including what this means for Cerberus-owned GMAC. Follow up on WSJ report that Chrysler will no longer offer auto leases through its lending arm As mentioned at 14:24, Chrysler has started telling dealers it will no longer offer auto leases through its lending arm Chrysler Financial, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Chrysler is expected to brief dealers formally later today in a conference call, these people said. The move comes as auto makers and their financing units have been piling increasing losses stemming from leases, mainly as a result of falling resale values of trucks, sports-utility vehicles and other less fuel-efficient models that many consumers now shun. Jalopnik Snap Judgment: We'd heard Chrysler Financial was having a tough time as of late what with all of those default loans and oh...
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var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/odd_stuff/The_10_Ugliest_Cars_Sold_Outside_The_United_States'; We've already shown you our list of the ten ugliest cars currently sold in the United States . Although epic, it meant exclusion of some fantastically ugly cars sold only on the international marketplace. Until now. After scouring the globe from Australia to Russia, these are the ten top cars that make us want to run from the computer and hurl ourselves out the nearest open window. Vote for your favorite foreign fugly-mobile in the poll at the bottom or chime in via the comments if you think we've missed one. 10. Reva Electric Car (India) galleryPost('forfugREVA', 3, ''); Though we're supportive of the electric car idea, especially in India, it's hard to get excited about the Indian-built Reva Electric CitiCar from an aesthetic angle. The car voted "Worst Car Of The Year" by Top Gear is, also, one of the least appealing vehicles out on the road...
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var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/The_Ten_Ugliest_Cars_Currently_Sold_In_The_United_States_2'; Automakers spend lots of time and money designing, redesigning and test marketing their new vehicles to make certain they'll capture a potential buyer's imagination. It doesn't always work. We asked you just days ago if new cars were getting uglier and there was no real consensus, but one look at this list of the top ten ugliest new cars sold in the United States may tip the scales in favor of uglier. Hit the jump to see them all and make sure to vote in the poll so we can determine which one's truly ugliest. Don't see an un deserving car? Add it to the list. 10. 2009 Honda Pilot We like the 2009 Honda Pilot , we really do. If seven-passenger SUVs were our thing, the Pilot would be at the top of our list. The only thing holding us back would the be styling, which manages to be both boring and ugly at the same time, making it ugling... or borgly. Depending on the...
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We can understand the need to cut corners to save a dime, but automakers have a nasty habit of making their vehicles seem even cheaper than they really are. We've put together our list below of the ten worst things automakers do to cheapen their cars. Learn them now, bean counters, before your kids start ducking in the back seat when they see people they know. Vote on the worst and feel free to amend with your own pet peeves in the comments below. 10. Off-Color Body Cladding While there's nothing wrong with dark or color-keyed exterior cladding on rugged trucks or delivery vehicles, applying it to most cars is just wrong. Take the Subaru Baja, for example. The caminoized Subaru wagon already had a few strikes against it in the design apartment, and the gray plastic cladding beneath brightly colored body panels made it seem more like a Fisher-Price toy car than an expensive truck alternative. 9. No Mats On The Floor It's no secret that dealers often make extra dough by charging...
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Last week we asked you to imagine the worst car color combination . You came up with so many amazing responses of production cars with catastrophic color choices, we've used them to compile a top ten list of the best of the worst. Hit the jump to for the ten worst production car color combinations and see how far we've come since Henry Ford famously told customers they could have the Model A in any color so long as it was black. Also vote for your worst choice in the poll at the end. 10. Mark 3 VW Golf Harlequin Colors: Blue, Red, Yellow And Green Our Take: While we love the Harlequin VW Golf , we don't blame Logruszed for nominating it as an awful color combination. Both awesome and awful, they're not a mix of colors you particularly want to see on a car (red, green and yellow do not mix). On the cute Golf, it almost works... almost. [Photo: Wiki] 9. 1992 Dodge Viper Colors: Mustard And Ketchup Our Take: The color most associated with the original run of the Dodge Viper...
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According to the 28th annual J.D. Power and Associates Customer Service Index, car dealerships rose in customer satisfaction so far this year, due mostly to an increased satisfaction with repair work. Overall, two-thirds of the 37 brands ranked experienced gains in customer satisfaction. Dealer service overall increased to 882 on a 1,000-point scale, with Jaguar ranking highest in customer satisfaction for the second year in a row followed by Cadillac and Buick. Top ten brands below the jump. 10.) Honda 9.) BMW 8.) Infiniti 7.) Acura 6.) Mercury 5.) Lincoln 4.) Lexus 3.) Buick 2.) Cadillac 1.) Jaguar Jalopnik Snap Judgement: In this less-than-profitable auto market, dealerships are working harder to maintain ties with customers by offering a better service department experience. Makes sense to us. Full press release below: Overall Satisfaction with Dealer Service Increases WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 17 July 2008 — Overall customer satisfaction with dealer service improves considerably...
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var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/5_Reasons_Why_High_Gas_Prices_are_Good_for_Real_Drivers'; While people who drive out of necessity are understandably upset about high gas prices , the real enthusiast driver recognizes the positives. Artificially low fuel prices have subsidized an American automotive lifestyle out-of-sync with the needs and desires of serious drivers. And although we're not happy to be forking over the dimes for premium fuel, we've got five reasons the enthusiast is happy the era of cheap gas is over. 5. Less Congestion Higher gas prices mean fewer people driving and more people taking public transit or telecommuting. The most obvious benefit for the real driver is that it opens up the road to those who travel for fun by removing those who merely commute out of necessity. This results in less traffic and, not surprisingly, fewer traffic fatalities , thanks in part to people keeping their Suburbans in the garage. Safer, emptier roads are something all...
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