Cadillacs, such as the STS, were top-ranked in a customer satisfaction survey. (General Motors)
Satisfaction up with American auto brands
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler all posted significant gains in this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index, a survey conducted by the University of Michigan. GM's Cadillac and Toyota's Lexus brands tied for first place in the survey with scores of 89 out of 100. That marked a 4 point increase for Cadillac from its 2008 results and a 2 point improvement for Lexus, which also ranked first in last year's survey. Chrysler's namesake brand rose 4 points to 84, and Ford rose by 3 points to 83.
GM's Buick brand, Honda and Ford's Lincoln Mercury vehicles all received an 88. The Lincoln Mercury score marked a 5 point increase over its results for the previous year, while Buick's score rose by 3 points.
BMW received an 87, while Mercedes, Toyota and Volkswagen each got an 86. Volkswagen's increase of 5 points, or 6.2 percent, marked the biggest jump from the year before.
Hyundai received an 85, while GM's Saturn brand also got an 84.
The Chevrolet brand rose by 4 points to 83, while GMC fell by 1 point to 82.
Dodge, Kia, Mazda and Pontiac all received an 81. Jeep and Nissan, fell to the bottom of the pack with a 79 and 78, respectively. Nissan was one of the few brands to post a decrease from the year before, falling 4 points, or 4.9 percent.
The overall automotive industry's score was 84, up from 82 the year before.
There were more than 11,000 telephone surveys conducted and about 5,500 for the auto industry in the second quarter of this year, asking respondents to rate their satisfaction of the vehicles on a scale of zero to 100. At the industry level, the margin of error is plus or minus 1 point. At the company level it is plus or minus 3 points.
--Associated Press
Mecum Auction Company
Cobra Coupe sets record at auction
A championship-winning 1965 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupe CSX2601 recently set the record for the highest price paid for an American car at public auction. The hand-built car, which won numerous international races in 1965, sold for $7.25 million at Mecum's Monterey Auction on Aug. 15. It was one of six cars built by Carroll Shelby using an experimental coupe body on an existing Cobra chassis.
--NWautos staff
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