GMC/Buick

GMC provides an example of a U.S. Based automobile manufacturer that during the 2012 and into the 2013 calendar and model years that has taken a streamlining, and more focused approach within the line overall.

The company made news during 2012 with one of major steps in this process. GMC eliminated three of its sub-lines of vehicles. In what initially came as a surprise move to industry observers, GMC dropped the Pontiac, the Oldsmobile, and the Saturn vehicle brands.

While the remaining GMC sub-brands all generally seemed to benefit somewhat degree from this streamlining of focus within the GMC line, the bulk of advantage seemed to go to the Buick brand vehicles in general and to a couple specific models in particular.

Buick, in comparison with other automobile brands – both foreign and domestic – made limited technical changes to its existing models between 2012 and 2013 model years. So far as Buick did make modifications to the vehicles, the streamlined focus as evaluated by automobile industry professional observers went into improvements in two primary areas and most of those improvements focused on the interior of the vehicles. The emphasis in terms of modification to existing Buick models went primarily towards improvements in passenger comfort and improvements in passenger safety elements of the vehicles.

Industry observers, in trying to retroactively figure out GMC's objectives in eliminating three brand families and re-directing the company's more narrowly defined focus in the the Buick family vehicles, generally concluded that GMC had a coherent vision of its overall objectives in linking its improvements to a definable market strategy.

The two Buick brand models that benefited the most out of the streamlining within the GMC family of vehicle brands involved the Enclave and the Verano.

Automotive industry observers classify the Enclave into the category of a luxury, mid-sized, SUV. Industry observers classify the Verano into the compact category of vehicles. While it would seem that this category determination would put the Enclave closer to the earlier roots of the Buick line that traditionally incorporated luxury level models, that's not altogether the case. Observers make note that that Buick has designed the compact Verano model more as a somewhat scaled down Regal luxury model vehicle than a somewhat scaled up Cruze compact model.

Overall, the GMC streamlining and Buick brand vehicle model modification strategies revealed the general marketing and sales objectives for the Buick brand line. GMC and the Buick sub-brand sought to obtain market share in two particular consumer categories: attracting purchasers in a younger age demographic and attracting purchasers away from competitors, or what professional industry observers refer to as “conquest purchasers.”

Towards the end of 2012 and into the start of the 2013 model and calendar years, the sales figures suggested that the GMC brand streamlining strategy combined with the Buick brand modification and marketing strategies had begun to show precisely those types of sales results.

For more information on Buick's or GMC's currently available models, or to take a test drive of any Buick vehicle, contact our local dealership such as South Florida's Williamson Buick Dealership.

Reference:

Buick Enhances Enclave, Verano for 2013, Car Review Soup, http://www.carreviewsoup.com/buick-enhances-enclave-verano-for-2013

[Other references gathered in too many bits and pieces to include.]

Mazda CX-5

The Mazda vehicle line got at least its fair share of media and consumer attention during 2012 and into the beginning of 2013.

Various different models of the Mazda line attracted attention for a variety of reasons.

However, the most general 'buzz' from observers – both from professional reviewers and from consumers or potential consumers – within the Mazda line involved the CX-5.

To begin with, one can classify the CX-5 into different vehicle categories and different writers indeed list the model under various classification. Some writers, such as Andrei Nedelea at the Auto Evolution website even list more than one category for this vehicle in the same article.

Primarily, reviews refer to the Mazda CX-5 as a Compact SUV. Other reviews may refer to this model as a Crossover vehicle, which incorporates elements of both a hatchback and an SUV. Some writers add the term “affordable” to either or both the hatchback and the crossover SUV designations.

Whatever category or categories reviewers assign the CX-5 to, they give generally good reviews to the vehicle.

The CX-5 uses Mazda's Skyactiv technology, a design approach that has garnered its own good press during 2012. This is an all-around design approach that seeks to combine performance and fuel efficiency, and the CS-5 is one of several Mazda models that incorporate the Skyactive design.

Reviewers, overall, gave good ratings to the CX-5 on three primary elements of the model: performance in terms of the handling and particularly cornering, interior space for vehicles in these classification categories, and cargo space. The CX-5 in the automatic transmission edition gets good to moderate mileage as compared to comparable cars though manual transmission editions and particularly a six-speed manual incline towards out-performing comparable vehicles by other manufacturers in terms of fuel efficiency..

Finally, some reviewers made note that the CX-5 has a low price point for cars in the various categories into which writers classify it.

Some reviewer did note some concerns with a lack of vents in the rear seat of the passenger compartment, which made air-conditioning equipped models somewhat inefficient as to rear seat cooling effect. Others also made note of concerns about the level of power available particularly with reference to uphill driving.

Overall, however, reviewers found much to praise and little to fault in the CX-5. One of the reasons some reviewers gave for their high ratings of this model involved that the CX-5 is an all-new vehicle within the Skyactiv technology vehicle models, whereas many are redesigns of existing Mazda models.

For more detailed information on the CX-5, or to take a test drive of this Mazda model, visit a nearby Mazda dealership such as Raleigh's Sport Durst Mazda Dealer in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina.

Review: 2013 Mazda CX-5, The Truth About Cars, http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/10/review-2013-mazda-cx-5/

Mazda C X-5 Review, U. S. News, http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Mazda_CX-5/

The Brilliant Simplicity of Mazda Skyactiv, Andrei Nedelea, Autoevolution, http://www.autoevolution.com/news/the-brilliant-simplicity-of-mazda-skyactiv-52462.html

Hyundai

This is an intriguing one for me to cover, because I get to in a sense act as more of a journalist than the actual journalists who covered some of the 2012 newsworthy events.

Newsworthy 2012 events for this vehicle line broke down, essentially, into two primary stories. Notable to me, commentators missed a key element, as events progressed, in the second instance.

The first story involved some buzz and excitement about anticipated release of a redesigned 2013 edition Santa Fe.

While even towards year-end most reviewers hadn't actually test driven the updated Santa Fe, yet they anticipated that documented changes would improve both performance and comfort. One anticipated re-design aspect involves that the model, previously sold as a 5-seater, would now also offer a 7-seater edition.

Mileage delivery estimates for the updated Santa Fe call for approximately 21 miles per gallon city and 29 miles per gallon highway for the Sport, or 5-seater: quite reasonable fuel economy for an SUV category vehicle.

The other Hyundai line news during 2012 involved identification of testing flaws that resulted in fuel economy overstatement on most or all models of the Hyundai line, which includes Kia vehicles.

As commentators eventually pointed out, consumers seemed to clearly understand the discrepancy level. Some Hyundai models called for up to forty miles per gallon highway performance. Initially, commentators anticipated that because breaking the forty miles per gallon milestone is an important fuel economy breakthrough, a significant adverse affect on sales numbers and market share had probability.

However, the differential ranged from as little as one mile to as much as three miles per gallon for most models, depending how close to the forty mile per gallon estimate a particular model had ranked. The Kia Soul showed greatest discrepancy, at a 6 mile per gallon differential.

Even at thirty seven miles per gallon, a variation of only three miles per gallon seems somewhat insignificant and apparently most consumers agree. The testing flaws came to light during the summer, and by November Hyundai's sales figures had returned to projected or slightly higher than projected sales numbers.

The aspect of this story that commentators appear to me to have missed involves Hyundai's handling of the situation in terms of solid Public Relations practice.

Much like handling by Tylenol's manufacturer of tainted bottles of Tylenol some decades a go, Hyundai got pro-active. The company promptly admitted to testing flaws although as an honest error on its part. Hyundai also took corrective actions without waiting for Government to compel such actions. Instead, Hyundai management immediately began notifying the public it would take such measures as issuing gas cards to compensate Hyundai and Kia owners for costs associated with discrepancies between stated and actual mileage.

Such an approach demonstrates responsible corporate handling of a potentially more damaging situation, and good public relations policy. Yet, I ran across no reports even after the restored sales figures for December in which commentators made note of that point.

To discover more about what Hyunda vehicles offer, contact a nearby dealer such as Raleigh's Sport Durst Hyundai for the Raleigh-Durham area.

EPA finds Hyundai exaggerated fuel economy claims, refunds coming to customers, Consumer Reports, http://news.consumerreports.org/cars/2012/11/epa-finds-hyundai-exaggerated-fuel-economy-claims-refunds-coming-to-customers.html

Hyundai, Kia to pay owners for overstated MPG, CNN Money, Peter Valdes-Dapena,

http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/02/autos/hyundai-kia-mpg-overstated/index.html