Strategic Vision Inc

Nissan Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. were the top performers in a new survey of vehicle quality, with satisfied owners praising power and styling. BMW was the highest-scoring individual nameplate in the survey by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based marketing research firm. The 10th annual survey, released today, questioned about 40,000 owners of 2004 vehicles from October to November.

Nissan Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. were the top performers in a new survey of vehicle quality, with satisfied owners praising power and styling. BMW was the highest-scoring individual nameplate in the survey by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based marketing research firm. The 10th annual survey, released today, questioned about 40,000 owners of 2004 vehicles from October to November.

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Scion brand led the Japanese automaker to more segment victories than any other car company in a survey of buyer satisfaction. Honda Motor Co. was the overall winner, however, and General Motors Corp. was the top performer among U.S. automakers. The Scion xA was the highest-ranking small car, and the Scion xB was tops in the small, multifunction segment, according to the survey by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based marketing research firm and consultant to automakers.

From "Animal House" to "Entourage," reverse-opening car doors have long been Hollywood code for cool. Automakers have once again gotten the message about "suicide doors" -- though you're not likely to see that phrase in any advertising campaigns. After all but disappearing from car design in the 1970s, the distinctive clamshell-style doors are staging a comeback, led by popular vehicles such as the Honda Element and the Toyota FJ Cruiser.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Tuesday that it planned to begin a global voluntary recall of nearly 320,000 of its hot-selling Prius gasoline-electric hybrid sedans to repair a potentially faulty steering system component. The campaign will involve about 170,000 vehicles sold in the U.S., said spokesman Sam Butto of the Japanese automaker's Torrance-based U.S. sales unit. That represents about two-thirds of the 268,000 sold since the hybrid's introduction here in July 2000.

Nissan Motor Co.'s U.S. operating arm has launched a new marketing campaign that blends music, "reality" TV, radio and seemingly outlaw behavior in a bid to capture the attention of young American urban car buyers. Gardena-based Nissan North America Inc. has hired former Quincy Jones-David Salzman Entertainment marketing strategist Jonathon Cropper, 32, to head the campaign.

Yeah, but How Many Bags of Manure Will It Haul? Now comes word that Ford's newly emancipated Lincoln Mercury division--recently relocated to Irvine--is talking about a super-luxury (hold the applause) pickup truck. Specifically, a $45,000 to $50,000 pickup truck.

Hyundai Motor Co. is solidifying its image among auto shoppers. The South Korean automaker toppled Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. to take the top spot in brand loyalty, according to Kelley Blue Book's measure of brand loyalty during the second quarter of this year. Although Hyundai has held that position for a month once before, it was the first time since the auto information company began tracking the data that Hyundai has held the No. 1 spot for an entire quarter.

When it comes to car quality, think Korean. Hyundai Motor Co. leads in four categories with five models in the annual vehicle quality study released Monday by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego-based market research company and consultant to automakers. Hyundai's rise in the rankings is only the latest sign of the improved overall quality and declining number of defects in today's cars and trucks, said David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.

A re-energized Volkswagen appears to be winning consumers with its new designs, strong warranty program and pricing, a new survey shows. Excluding the new Beetle, a 1999 model, cars distributed by Michigan-based Volkswagen of America Inc. won top honors in every category in which VW competes--from small cars to convertibles--in the 1998 "total value" awards issued Monday by Strategic Vision Inc., a San Diego market research firm.

Jonathan Browning, the new chief of Volkswagen's U.S. operations, has a tall order from the automaker's corporate czars in Wolfsburg, Germany: Start selling 800,000 VWs annually by 2018. That's more than three times its sales last year. Decades ago, VW sold hundreds of thousands of the iconic Beetle and was the top auto importer in America, and such a goal seemed within reach then. But a long battle with quality and reliability problems have driven those buyers to Asian brands and even back to domestic manufacturers.