Posted by George Peterson on July 30, 2012 at 12:55 pm
AutoPacific’s Ideal Vehicle Award (IVA) recognizes the vehicle that best hits the target its buyers demand. Winning an IVA shows the product planners, engineers and designers of the manufacturer understand what their target customers want and have created the vehicle to best meet their demands.
Corvette Edges Jaguar XK for IVA Win: The 2012 Chevrolet Corvette comes closest to the ideal of any Sports Car. The Corvette edges out the second place Jaguar XK to win in the sports car class. (Porsche Boxster/Cayman and 911 scored higher in IVA calculations, but their sample sizes were to small to qualify to be included in the final ratings). Having eighty-percent or more of owners rating a characteristic ideal is outstanding. Achieving a score of ninety-percent is even more impressive. Ninety-percent or more of Corvette owners rate its exterior size, passenger roominess and ride and handling ideal. Eighty-percent or more of Corvette owners find these additional characteristics ideal: driver’s seat visibility, driver’s seat comfort and tires.
The Chevrolet Corvette also was best in class in AutoPacific’s 2012 Vehicle Satisfaction Award research.
A Few Shortfalls – Infotainment and Power and Ingress/Egress: A sports car is all about style, speed and handling and not about practicality. About 43% of Corvette owners want better infotainment technology. This may be buyer’s remorse if they did not get a package with the navigation system and Bose audio. About 36% of Corvette owners want more power and acceleration than they have now. With a base car with 430HP and 4.2 seconds zero to sixty, they should be satisfied, but sports car owners always seem to want more. Corvette is extremely low to the ground leading 34% of owners to want the car to be easier to get into and out of. About 26% want better interior storage than they presently have. About 24% of Corvette owners want better interior lighting than now. About 21% would like more daring exterior styling for an already expressively styled car. Maybe they are thinking of Ferrari or Lamborghini.
You can find an Autobytel review of this IVA award winner at http://www.autobytel.com/auto-news/awards/consumer-s-ideal-cars-revealed-in-2012-iva-awards-112116/
For a complete summary of all AutoPacific 2012 Ideal Vehicle Award results contact karin.turner@vehiclevoice.com and title your email “IVA Results”. A copy of the results will be emailed to you within 48-hours.
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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 Ed Kim on October 3, 2011 at 7:00 am
Without question, one of the most buzzworthy topics surrounding automobiles this year has been plug-in cars. Issues like fuel price instability, dependence on foreign oil (or oil of any sort!), and the environment have stirred the imaginations of many people. Could we really rid ourselves of oil-powered transportation? Could America really free itself of its addiction? At the very end of last year, the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf went on sale (retailing at $41,000 and $32,780, respectively, minus a $7,500 Federal tax credit), finally bringing plug-in transportation to the masses and, plug-in fans hope, heralding a new era in automotive history.
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Posted by Ed Kim on September 22, 2011 at 6:51 pm
As I drove the new Sonic, Chevrolet’s replacement for the unloved Aveo, I realized something. There really are no bad small cars in the marketplace anymore. The Sonic accelerated with authority. It was quiet. It was nimble. It rode nicely. It had plenty of creature comforts. It was even nice to look at. Truly, being behind the wheel of the Sonic was an entirely agreeable place to be.
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Posted by Dave Sullivan on August 9, 2011 at 1:27 pm
In November of 2010, General Motors delivered on a promise they made to start producing the Chevrolet Volt. Just after production started I had the opportunity to spend a day with a Volt. While it was a very interesting car to drive for a day, I wasn’t sure what it would be like to drive a vehicle that had the ability to be plugged in, so Chevrolet let me drive one for a week earlier this year.
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Posted by Ed Kim on August 26, 2010 at 4:01 pm
The Detroit Three have for most of the prior half-century treated compact cars with disdain, even disgust at times. They represented loss-making endeavors that they were forced to build only to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations. As a result, the American automakers for years built compact cars with contempt. Vega, Cavalier, Sunbird, ION…all are nameplates synonymous with automotive underachievement.
Even Chevrolet’s Cobalt, while not entirely a bad car, never strove to be best in class; it merely tried to be class competitive. It was conceived during a time when big trucks were the profit center for GM and gas was cheap, so building a great compact car just wasn’t a priority.
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Posted by Ed Kim on August 5, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Perhaps it’s mildly poetic that the new Camaro’s stunning design is associated to some degree with the Transformers movies. Three years before the new Camaro hit the streets after an eight year hiatus, Bumblebee, the heroic robotic Camaro, was whetting the public’s appetites for a revitalized Chevrolet. After all, if a Camaro could look this good, how about the rest of the Chevrolet lineup? That is, if Chevrolet build this new Camaro at all?
Fortunately for everyone, Chevrolet most certainly did build this new Camaro, helping to set the stage for Chevrolet’s (and General Motors’) own transformation. Yup, Camaro is quite the transformer, both in the movies and in real life!
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Posted by Ed Kim on June 15, 2010 at 11:16 am
We recently had the opportunity to drive the new 2011 Silverado HD and Sierra HD pickups. They may not look very different, but with an all-new frame and chassis and an improved powertrain these vehicles should be considered all-new.
New and improved is the theme, at least in every aspect except exterior and interior appearance.
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Posted by Stephanie Brinley on May 26, 2010 at 7:37 am
The Camaro is back, and its long awaited return comes with great satisfaction from its owners. As might be expected, the Camaro scored particularly well with respect to exterior and interior appearance, power/acceleration, braking, handling and just being fun to drive. Image and overall quality were also rated best in class.
Despite the more frugal sensibilities these days, Camaro makes a strong case for itself perhaps because it provides a just-right combination of emotion and rationality. Who can argue with its rakish looks, 304HP, and 29 mpg?
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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