Saturn Outlook

Aura to Take on Camry and Accord

The Saturn brand has been revitalized by General Motors to provide good competition for Asian brands such as Toyota and Honda. In the past, the brand is known only for its haggle-free customer service, but with General Motors injecting European styling and a better performance engine to the Saturn cars, the brand quickly became a strong competition to Toyota and Honda. The brand’s midsize sedan, the Saturn Aura, recently was named as the North American Car of the Year and that is a...

Create a Positive Buying Experience

A few years ago, when I worked at Cadillac, we studied the customer-buying experience in great detail. Our customers talked about how uncomfortable they were when buying a car. They felt cheap and as if the dealer was taking advantage of them in the negotiations. The proverbial used car salesman approach was well earned. Customers typically felt as though the negotiations were not honest and above board. They would make an offer. The salesman would disappear to check with the sales manager...

Is The Chevy Volt Our Generation’s Edsel?

When Wall Street Journal reporter Stephen Moore shared his thoughts about the all-new Chevy Camaro, a car that he loves, he took a swipe at another Chevy product, the not yet built Volt. That latter product is GM's first major stab at vehicle electrification beyond EV-1, the electric car that GM failed to build the first time around. Moore's swipe isn't so much against the technology as it is against the Volt program's cost, something he has compared to the failed Edsel program from the Ford...

Clutch Kit Essentials You Need To Know

If you need replacement parts for your car, all you need to do is make a trip to the local parts store and seeing what they have on hand. And, even if the item you want is out of stock, more than likely the store can order what you want and get it to you as soon as their next shipment is received. However, should the part be a special order, it could take much longer to get that item to you. Worse, if the part you need is a clutch kit for uncommon Asian model, you could wait weeks for it to...

Consumers Digest Magazine Announces ‘07 Automotive Best Buys

Thirty-two vehicles and six companion models made it to the 2007 Consumers Digest's best buys. Vehicles were grouped into 8 categories - Small Cars, Family Cars, Luxury Cars, Sporty Cars, Trucks, Vans, Compact/Midsize SUVs and Luxury/Full-Size SUVs. They were given ratings based on ergonomics, safety, behind-the-wheel testing, styling and amenities, warranty, ownership costs, and price. Further, performance is assessed according to starting and acceleration, shifting, steering, handling, ride...

Jaguar Tops J.d. Power Consumer Satisfaction Survey

According to a recently conducted survey by the J.D. Power and Associates research firm Jaguar unit led all auto brands in consumers' satisfaction with their car-buying experience. Power, a global marketing information services firm, said that satisfaction with buying a new car registered a record high in the 20 years it has been conducting the survey. The survey has more than 42,000 respondents. These respondents have registered new vehicles in May this year. Jaguar received 912...

Consumer Reports Cited Fuel Efficient Suvs

With the prices of gas and fuel increasing steadily, consumers tend to turn their backs on the sport utility vehicle (SUV) market. Sports utility vehicles after all has a reputation for being gas guzzlers and that is why most consumers now opt for more fuel efficient smaller cars like a sedan or a coupe. But the versatility and the loading capacity of an SUV is hard to match, even by large sedans. That is why Consumer Reports came out with a list of the most fuel efficient SUVs to...

Camry: Motor Trend Car of Year

The 2007 Car of the Year award is given by Motor Trend Magazine to Toyota Camry. This is the first year the Camry has won the award. The award went to all Camry variations including the hybrid. Said car is the hottest-selling car in the United States. Angus MacKenzie, editor-in-chief of the auto magazine, "The car is innovative yet has a broad appeal. The Camry is the one car rival automakers all wish they could build. It offers something for nearly everyone - performance,...

Characteristic of Colors in Relation to Planets in Astrology

Colour has strong but subtle vibratory force in the shaping of human behaviour. Right from childhood man responds and reacts to the impact of colour. Bright colours fascinate children. Even primitives and tribal people, having colour appeal deck themselves in gay coloured clothes and beads. Psycho-analysis tries to study behaviour patterns of man sometimes with his bias towards certain colours. This appeal for colour has also been taken advantage by the modern interior decorators. Astrology, a...

Buses Named Most Fuel-efficient U.s. Transportation Mode

Nathan Associates, a consulting firm, announced that buses are the most fuel-efficient transportation mode in the United States. The report showed that motor coaches offered 148.4 passenger miles per gallon in 2004. This figure shows that the mode of transportation is doing its share in the reduction of fuel consumption of the country. A bus capacity to accommodate a huge number of persons made them the most fuel-efficient mode of transportation. The sector though is suffering...