2011 Hyundai Sonata attracts strong interest
Hyundai has certainly come a long way since introducing its subcompact Excel to the US market in 1986. At that time Hyundai was a one horse player and not a car line known for building quality vehicles. Gradually, the Korean automaker expanded its product line and began a relentless pursuit to win customer loyalty.
Part of its customer loyalty initiative was to roll out a then unheard of 100,000 mile vehicle warranty plan. That plan was hatched in a bid to instill confidence in its customers that Hyundai would stand behind every vehicle built for years to come.
Hyundai Warranty
Subsequently, the company rolled out its “Hyundai Assurance” program, an arrangement allowing customers to return their cars without penalty should thy lose their jobs. That plan was launched in early 2009 during the worst of the recession and is one of the reasons why Hyundai sold more cars in 2009 than they did in 2008, one of only three manufacturers to buck the industry trend.
The good news continues to flow forth for Hyundai as Kelley Blue Book (KBB), the consumer car information company, says that brand loyalty for Hyundai has surpassed industry leaders Honda and Toyota. Moreover, Hyundai car values have been outperforming the industry average while its all new midsize Hyundai Sonata sedan is one of the most researched vehicles on the KBB website.
“Hyundai is clearly benefiting from ‘a perfect storm’ – a result of introducing passionate new products like the 2011 Sonata and 2010 Tucson, while Honda’s mainstream vehicles like the CR-V and Accord are a bit stale in the marketplace and Toyota is experiencing a huge consumer perception crisis,” said James Bell, executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com. “To sustain this momentum, Hyundai should continue to promote its attractive new-vehicle lineup, solid warranty offer and strong price-points to new-car shoppers. Hyundai’s main challenge in the near future will likely come from domestic automakers like Ford and GM as they gear up for battle over buyers starting to look for a change from ‘Camry-land.’”
Midsize Market
Indeed, the midsize sedan category has been owned by the Camry-Accord juggernaut since the early 1990s. Up until that time the Ford Taurus was the industry leader but it quickly grew outdated and was surpassed by more modern and better quality Japanese vehicles. Just as the Camry and Accord overtook the Taurus, the Hyundai Sonata should make inroads on these models going forward.
Source: KBB.com
I don’t think it is lost on the managers of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler that some car buyers will purchase only American built cars and nothing else. We might think that this particularly 
group of people is rather small, perhaps union workers who are loyal rank and file assembly line personnel who know that buying American means that they’ll keep their jobs.
Kelley Blue Book (KBB) recently conducted a survey that revealed that the number of Americans who prefer to buy American built cars is actually quite large, about 75% to be exact. 51% try to buy an American product if the price is competitive and readily available while 14% say that they will only buy American no matter what. A loyal 6% say that they’d buy American only and, if there was no other choice, they’d do without.
“Seeing the domestic automakers’ recent struggle has ignited a heightened sense of patriotism among some American car shoppers, and the latest Kelley Blue Book Marketing Research indicates that people are pulling for the Big Three to survive and thrive,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com. “The overwhelming inclination to buy versus lease is a sign of the current economic climate. People feel that leases are both less available and not as financially advantageous as they previously were. In addition, consumers are being more fiscally conservative in the midst of the recession, opting to buy a car they can afford versus leasing a car that may realistically be out of their budget.”
This should be taken as good new for America’s auto industry which finds itself in a position to seize an unusual opportunity, particularly for General Motors and Chrysler: federal loan money has given these companies some breathing room, perhaps enough time to roll out several new products and win the hearts of the American people back to them.
More than half of the survey respondents plan to purchase their next vehicle in the next three months, and say they could be motivated to purchase even sooner if good auto financing offers are available, citing cash rebates and incentive offers as most popular, followed by financing offers and then overall improved economic and personal financial stability. Is anyone from GM, Ford and Chrysler listening?
Source: Kelley Blue Book
The Honda Fit placed #15 on the Kelley Blue Book list of most cars researched in 2008. Honda managed to take six of the twenty top spots in the most recent year according to Kelley.
When you own and manage one of the top research sites online for cars, the information you gather can certainly be helpful to the buying public. In the case of Kelley Blue Book, the company who has been providing vehicle buyers and sellers with new and used vehicle information since 1926, you also have a trust factor that few other companies can deliver.
To that end, Kelley Blue Book (or KBB) has released its list of the 20 most popular car searches for 2008. Noticeably, Honda and Toyota were dominant occupying a combined 13 slots on the list. A handful of domestic models, including the Ford Escape, made the list but if KBB’s results hold true to consumer demand, the Japanese makes with 15 spots taken will continue to dominate in 2009 as well.
Kbb.com’s Most-Researched New Vehicles of 2008:
1. Honda Civic
2. Honda Accord
3. Toyota Camry
4. Toyota Corolla
5. Nissan Altima
6. Honda CR-V
7. Toyota Prius
8. Toyota Highlander
9. Toyota RAV4
10. Mazda3
11. Toyota Yaris
12. Ford Escape
13. Honda Odyssey
14. Honda Pilot
15. Honda Fit
16. Ford Mustang
17. Chevrolet Malibu
18. Toyota Sienna
19. MINI Cooper
20. Volkswagen Jetta
“The site traffic on Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com demonstrates what is on the minds of today’s new-car shoppers, especially when examining the most-researched new-vehicles of 2008,” said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst for Kelley Blue Book and kbb.com. “Continued interest in Honda and Toyota, Chevrolet’s home-run Malibu redesign and an increase in visits to more fuel-efficient, economical vehicles is an accurate reflection of the marketplace in 2008.”
Now that gas prices have retreated from historical high levels, will consumers begin to increase their research on big pickup trucks such as the Dodge Ram and Ford F-150 as well as on big sport/utility vehicles such as the Toyota Sequoia and GMC Yukon? That is kind of hard to tell as the current economic climate plus consumer concern that gas prices may once again spike will likely temper interest in less fuel efficient models.
American manufacturers need to improve their lot and, with the introduction of the Chevrolet Camaro next month and several new models coming from Ford, the KBB list for 2009 just may offer some interesting trends.
Source: Kelley Blue Book
Auto News | Matt Keegan, 15 Mar 10 | 
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