Posted by George Peterson on May 26, 2012 at 11:47 am
General Motors Company (formerly “Corporation”) today is a shadow of its former self. It sells fewer models through fewer brands since its bankruptcy in 2009. It is reconstructing itself and building itself into a competitive and profitable car company. That transformation appears to be going very well.
Over the years, however, General Motors has often tried to be a trailblazer (no pun intended) in new vehicle design and development. Many of these vehicles failed, but we believe GM deserves a tremendous amount of credit for trying where other companies did not have the creative thought or resources to make a “segment breaking” product. Here are some examples…
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Posted by Ty Michael on August 9, 2011 at 1:10 am
While the upcoming Buick Lacrosse failed to induce any excitement within the automotive enthusiast in me, I was more than a bit impressed by its new fuel-saving powertrain technology: eAssist. Recently, I had a chance to try out the new 2012 LaCrosse with eAssist through various terrains near San Francisco, both city and winding country roads, in order to witness eAssist in action.
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Posted by George Peterson on May 25, 2010 at 7:35 am
Cadillac’s owners’ cumulative scores for each Cadillac model in AutoPacific’s 2010 Vehicle Satisfaction research have given Cadillac a win in the race to be best brand overall. Cadillac outpoints Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln and Buick (top Popular Brand). This is Cadillac’s seventh win in the past eleven years. Winning so often is testament that Cadillac is selling to buyers who really appreciate their vehicles.
The Cadillac Escalade Luxury Sport Utility Vehicle is the only Cadillac winning its class outright, but the CTS, the STS, the DTS and the SRX scored well enough to move Cadillac into overall leadership.
For a complete list of winners and description of the Awards, click here.
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Posted by George Peterson on May 24, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Buick and Cadillac Win Top Brand Awards Buick wins the AutoPacific 2010 Vehicle Satisfaction Award for top Popular Brand. Buick’s feat completes a General Motors sweep of brand winners – Cadillac wins as top Premium Brand.
With three vehicles – LaCrosse, Lucerne and Enclave – Buick has achieved superior scores overall topping Honda, Ford, GMC, Mercury and Hyundai among Popular Brands. Some might contend Buick is a Premium Brand. If Buick had been included in the Premium Brand list it would have come in behind Cadillac, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Lincoln. Buick’s performance is excellent whatever class the brand is entered into.
Class Without Ostentation With a “mature” buyer base, Buick has to score highly in ease of use, easy to get into and out of, comfort and quietness. A Buick buyer demands transportation that does not challenge them or their neighbors. They want a vehicle that conveys class without ostentation. With Buick, they have it.
For a complete list of winners and description of the Awards, click here.
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on May 20, 2010 at 6:26 am
National Survey Reveals Cadillac as Top Premium Brand, Buick as Top Popular Brand, Ford Motor Company Has Most Awards with Seven, Suzuki Kizashi as Top Car and Lincoln MKT as Top Truck
TUSTIN, Calif. (May 20, 2010) — AutoPacific today announced its 14th Annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards (VSA) to help consumers make informed vehicle purchase decisions.
“While the auto industry is showing signs of improvement, more than ever before, manufacturers need to be able to differentiate themselves. Proof of satisfied customers is as good as gold,” says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “We’ve found that more than 25% of new car buyers are positively influenced by owner-based awards like the VSA when deciding on a new car or truck.”
AutoPacific’s Vehicle Satisfaction Award is an industry benchmark for measuring how satisfied an owner is with his/her new car or light truck. This study by the Southern California-based automotive research firm summarizes the results of over 42,000 new vehicle owners.
“Vehicles that score highest in the Vehicle Satisfaction Awards are delivering value and satisfaction across a wide range of attributes,” says Peterson. “The winners perform well in 48 separate categories that objectively measure the ownership experience.”
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on April 14, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Being a company focused firmly forward, we don’t talk used cars much. But a program like this deserves some virtual ink.
Recalls have been in the news this year like rarely before. The depth and scope of Toyota’s problems has increased sensitivity to any manufacturer’s recalls–and make no mistake, there are many issued. Most not so severe as Toyota’s problems with accelerator shims, but out there all the same.
Half of the equation for ensuring cars on the road have had any recall work performed is in the owner’s hands. Often, owners ignore recall notices, particularly for minor issues, or figure it’ll get handled with the next oil change, to have it fall off today’s crowded to-do lists.
GM and Carfax announced a measure of help for anyone looking to purchase a used vehicle, making it easier to find out if the car was affected by a recall and if the work was done. GM is providing VINs to Carfax of millions of Buicks, Cadillacs, Chevrolets, GMCs, Saabs, Saturns, Pontiacs, and Hummers with open recalls.
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on July 21, 2009 at 8:06 am
We recently spent a morning with Buick LaCrosse, the star of the Buick showroom for 2010MY. You know by now that Buick is one of the four core brands that GM retained post-bankruptcy. Wildly successful in China, the brand has challenges in the States, evidenced by Chevrolet Camaro outselling the entire brand in June 2009– an atypically high month for Camaro that also speaks to the sad shape of Buick sales today.
Buick needs to connect with buyers who have not hit exit-level, and they know it. Based on our first drive, the 2010 LaCrosse has product credibility to build on the success Enclave started. As Buick navigates a renaissance inspired by Cadillac’s success, the LaCrosse is a strong, firm step forward.
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on October 13, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Are we nearing the end of Chrysler? Or the beginning of a new blended family? Or just another day at the rumor mill?
Late on Friday, the first stories began appearing about GM and Chrysler in possible merger talks. And at least in Detroit, dominated the weekend news cycle. GM’s stock went up this morning, but given that the Dow was up 5.6% and GM went up only about 3%, the stock bump might have happened without merger talk. GM closed on Friday at $4.89, a number some say is actually less than the company would be worth in capital assets alone.
All of this merger talk, whether these deals are realistic or not, does nothing good for public perception. The economy is weak, last week’s events on the stock market don’t reassure anyone, and talking about GM and Chrysler perhaps needing to merge to survive only further erodes confidence in American business. While GM and Chrysler LLC, as well as any other maker in trouble right now, needs to consider even unthinkable options and test our common assumptions as they get out of this trouble, this merger does not inspire hope.
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Posted by George Peterson on October 1, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Several months ago I had the opportunity to drive a pre-production Buick Lucerne Super for a few miles around Malibu with Karen Micklin the program manager for the car from General Motors’ Performance Division. I was pretty impressed with the Super as a very competent front wheel drive large car from GM’s “mature division”. Also impressive was the fact that Buick was not trying to make an overt move to capture younger buyers. They simply want to provide the most competent car a Buick driver can buy.
Last week we had a Super at VehicleVoice offices and the staff had a chance to drive the car. Several balked at the idea of driving the Buick – too mature for their youthful sensibilities – but when they came in the day after driving the car each was surprised and impressed. The highlights: effortless cruising on the freeway, good performance from the tweaked Northstar V8, quiet and comfortable ride, good size.
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Posted by katrina on June 30, 2008 at 9:56 am
Tustin, California, June 30, 2008 – An “ideal” is defined as an excellent or perfect example. In the annual Ideal Vehicle Awards (IVA), announced today by automotive research and consulting firm AutoPacific, owners rate their new 2008 model year cars and trucks by how close they come to their ideal, as measured by 15 key vehicle attributes. The cars or trucks that owners would change the least are the most ideal.
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