Japanese car-makers sweep Consumer Reports 'top 10 picks'...haha

[K A I N]

Japanese car-makers sweep Consumer Reports 'top picks'

By Rick Popely
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 1, 2006, 5:11 PM CST

Japanese models claimed all 10 of Consumer Reports' "top picks" for the first time and dominated the magazine's annual owner satisfaction survey.

Honda earned five of the 10 "top picks," including the Accord, Civic, Odyssey and Ridgeline and Acura TL. Toyota had two, the Prius and the Highlander Hybrid, as did Subaru with the Forester and Impreza. The Infinti M35 rounded out the list.

The top picks, announced Wednesday, are based on Consumer Reports' road tests and are published in the magazine's annual April auto issue.

This is the third time in the last six years that domestic vehicles have been shut out of the magazine's best picks. The Ford Focus was the only domestic model chosen in 2004 and 2005.

Consumer Reports subscribers also endorsed Japanese models. Japanese vehicles were 31 of the 44 chosen as "most satisfying" to own by 350,000 subscribers who participated in an annual ownership survey.

The Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum were the only domestic cars to make the "most satisfying" list, which included nine European vehicles.

Among the 21 "least satisfying" vehicles, 14 were domestic and seven were Asian. To be on the most satisfying list means at least 80 percent of owners said they would definitely buy the same vehicle again. For least satisfying it was 50 percent of less.

The Prius topped all models with 95 percent of owners saying they would buy it again. The Corvette was second at 93 percent.

Consumer Reports' announcements came on the same day that major Japanese brands continued to show sales momentum.

GM and Ford reported sales declines in February and said they would cut production in the second quarter.

GM's sales fell 2.5 percent and Ford's fell 4 percent as both lost market share to the Japanese Big Three of Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Sales rose 2 percent at Toyota and Nissan in February, and Honda's surged nearly 9 percent.

The Chrysler Group, the U.S. unit of DaimlerChrysler AG, rose 3 percent.

GM said it would cut second-quarter production 3.7 percent to 1.2 million vehicles to maintain inventories near current levels and reduce the need for incentives later in the year.

Ford plans to reduce production 2 percent in the second quarter to 890,000 vehicles.

[TeeRaySix9Teen]

not a surprise

[Black_Smoke]

tight 

[Da WCC Hopar!]

cood give a fuck less they shood stop sellin cars period cuz theres more cars on the road these day then people its almost like theres 2 cars for 1 person