With more great vehicles and intense competition, this will be a terrific year to be in the market for a new car.
NEW YORK (MONEY magazine) – If you’ve paid any attention to the news coming out of the auto industry, you know it’s been a tumultuous time.
In the past year alone, a fuel crunch has put a crimp in the sales of SUVs (Detroit’s most profitable product), unions have rattled their sabers in the face of more job cuts, and people have started whispering about GM possibly declaring Chapter 11.
But what’s bad for the auto industry isn’t necessarily bad for you. Quite the contrary.
The fact is, you have access to more great cars than ever before. And those great cars can come from anywhere. The old line was that high-quality cars came almost exclusively from Germany and Japan, and you had to pay for the privilege of the “right” nation of origin.
But when Mercedes-Benz has one of its biggest recalls ever in 2005, and former bargain-basement-brand Hyundai continues its steady climb up quality surveys, it becomes clear that the old prejudices are just that — old. You don’t need to limit your search to a small group of companies or countries.
You also have more new categories of cars to choose from. With demand for large SUVs beginning to level off, automakers are finding new ways to blend roomy interiors with better fuel economy and driving characteristics.
Besides the usual hatchback, sedan and SUV, car shoppers today can consider yet-to-be-categorized cars such as the Mazda5, a micro-minivan, or Mercedes-Benz’s R-Class, a maxi-station wagon. They join models such as the boxy Scion xB and Honda Element. Read the rest of this entry »