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ifcar


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Automaker's Grades
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Grade the major automakers' 04 calender year performance in the US. Explain your grades.

My grades:

Toyota: A
They have a strong vehicle lineup, excellent profit margins, and the promise of younger buyers. However, they need more sportier models.

Chrysler: A-
Strong new products are coming in, and are selling well. If they can keep these vehicles fresh and keep quality up, they will do extremely well in the coming years.

Honda: B+
A generally strong vehicle lineup, doing especially well in its luxury division. Coming improvements to its highest-volume products, the Accord and Civic, will help it greatly.

Nissan: B-
Many strong new products just came out, but quality issues became quickly apparent. If evidence emerges that their quality has improved, their grade will increase.

Ford: B-
This was a big year for Ford, with a redesigned Mustang and a new midsize sedan and SUV. With the F-150 selling well and three new passenger cars having sold for several months without rebates and getting good reviews, it is highly promising for their future. Mazda also brought out a highly-successful compact sedan, and the new Volvo S40 is doing very well too.

GM: C+
Competence isn't cutting it for GM, as decent products have rolled out only to have potential profits destroyed by rebates. They are still doing all right, but this strategy can't work forever.

VW: F
It is disappointing to see a manufacturer of good cars do so poorly, but VW is in serious trouble. Its mainstream Golf/Jetta have been selling poorly, with a redesign still months away. The midsize Passat's sales are also declining, and quality issues are rampant. The Phaeton luxury sedan sold poorly after a substantial investment. Two bright spots are the new Audi A6, if it manages to win favor with the American consumer, and the Volkswagen Touareg, the strong-selling upscale SUV.
With a new Golf, Jetta, and Passat coming next year, it would not be good to see VW in the same spot it is now.

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thewizard16


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Toyota: A+
High Quality vehicles across the line (I don't like the Echo, but it seems to be reliable), and a good combination of comfort, power, and at least inoffensive looks on most models. Extremely well off financially, which should mean that their quality will at least stay the same, if not improve. I agree that they need to rejuvenate their sports car department. And of course, in their favor, is the Scion brand, namely the tC.

Chrysler: C+
New models are nicer, but no good mainstream models. Interiors are better, but I'm still angry about their new "leather" which feels more like vinyl and doesn't smell like leather either. Hemis are nice, but overhyped. Also, Mercedes offers nice engines and nice interiors, but are prone to problems from all recent models I've had contact with owners of.

Honda: A
Models are reliable, but lack good styling for the most part. Power is decent on most models, and Acura is nice (and improving more) but they still lack a good luxury image compared to Lexus, Mercedes and BMW. Overall, good, but not appealing to me.

Nissan: B-
I don't like Nissan as a whole, but they have good engines. Interiors are... questionable, but quality seems decent. New models seem to have quality issues when they are released, which they need to work on. Infiniti is pretty nice, though.

Ford: B+
I still probably wouldn't buy one over the competition, but their new models are vastly better than what they've had in the past. The 500 is a nice offering from them,
and the new Mustang is more appealing than the last one. If they continue in the trend they are now, I think they'll shape up to be pretty good overall.

GM: C
New products are better than previous, but it's still not enough. They have a nack for designing interiors poorly, and styling on most new models is either mediocre or terrible. Cadillac is probably their best point, but they need to do better, because as it stands right now, Daimler and Ford are better than they are in several ways.

VW: D
Why this company has such a following, I don't understand. Models are nice, but quality on most are very questionable. The Phaeton was a bad idea, but they went ahead and tried it anyway. I love Audi, but if I were judging them on reliability and overall quality, I probably shouldn't. As it stands right now, they (VW) excel in styling as a whole, but that's about it.

Kia/Hyundai- B-
It's no secret I don't like this company, but with their quality improving rapidly, I think they're a good cheaper alternative to Honda or Toyota. Their engines still need work, and they need better styling, but I think they'll get there.

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