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Mystery shoppers love Infiniti, hate Tesla

Infiniti, followed by Lexus tied with Mercedes-Benz took the top two spots for best sales experience according to mystery shoppers from the latest Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, while EV manufacturer Tesla recorded the lowest overall score. Not surprisingly, premium brands dominated the top ranks. Including the three already mentioned, luxury brands occupied seven of the top ten spots and included Audi, BMW, Porsche, and the only American brand to crack the upper echelon, Cadillac. Toyota, Volkswagen, and Nissan rounded out the first ten positions. The news for domestic automakers isn't good. Aside from Caddy, the only other star-spangled automaker to score above the industry average is Chrysler. The rest of FCA, most of GM, and all of Ford fell below the line. But Pied Piper's mystery shoppers handed Tesla the biggest walloping – the company is ten full points below the next lowest brand, Volvo, and its score of 86 is 17 below the average of 103. It's baffling, considering the company's touted direct-sales model. "Tesla leaves me scratching my head," Fred O'Hagan, Pied Piper's president and CEO, told Wards Auto. "They own all of their stores, so you would think each one would be doing the same thing. But they're not. Tesla is consistent in its inconsistencies." O'Hagan added that there's a "huge variation" in Tesla's store-to-store effectiveness, and that in some cases, shoppers found showroom workers that acted more like "museum curators," Wards Auto reports. It might be popular to call Tesla the Apple of the car world, but based on Pied Piper's work, the brand has a long way to go to emulate the uniform shopping experience of an Apple Store. The news might be bad for Tesla, but even for the brands that scored below average, there's cause for celebration. Only Tesla and Mini lost points in this year's rankings, and only Mercedes and Lincoln held steady. Every other brand, including Infiniti, which topped the index for the first time, gained at least one point. The biggest improvements belong to Porsche, Land Rover, and Mitsubishi, which all jumped five points. Pied Piper's annual Prospect Satisfaction Index uses mystery shoppers – over 6,100 this year – from across the country to assess dealers and generate rankings from over 50 individual factors. News Source: Pied Piper via WardsAuto Green Audi BMW Cadillac Chrysler Infiniti Lexus Mercedes-Benz Nissan Tesla Toyota Car Buying Car Dealers study

Cadillac previews upcoming new XT5 crossover [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Cadillac has released another three images, which we've added to the gallery above. Cadillac is gearing up to unveil its new XT5 crossover at the Dubai Motor Show in November. We've already seen what it'll look like - from a couple of angles, anyway - but the all-American luxury automaker has given us another taste of what's to come with a quartet of images released on its official Facebook page. Set to replace the SRX that's now six years old, the all-new XT5 adopts the new design language we've seen on newer Cadillacs of late. That's most particularly emphasized with those vertically integrated LED headlights. The sharply creased styling is also signature Cadillac, as is the egg-crate grille capped by the brand's wreath-less new emblem. The dark brown paint job also looks like it has a deep metallic flake to it, offset by satin brightwork where you might have once expected to see glinting chrome. (Then again, it could just be reflecting a uniform backdrop.) The XT5 is expected to be the first of several new Caddy crossovers to wear the letters XT. A smaller model (likely to be dubbed XT3) is tipped to slot in below, with a larger XT7 to slot in above – but still below the defiantly truck-based Escalade that's not about to go anywhere anytime soon. Sedans will continue to start their nameplates with the letters CT. But after a dozen years, the letters SRX will be retired from the Cadillac lexicon. Related Video:

Cadillac ATS Crimson Sport Edition is here for a limited run

The Cadillac ATS has been a well-received entry into the small sport sedan segment for General Motors' premium brand, but keeping the model fresh is an understandably high priority. A two-door coupe variant is on the way and should help keep interest up, but the line's volume leader is still expected to be the sedan. In order to keep awareness high and sales going, GM will need to lavish a little attention on its four-door, as well. That's where the Crimson Sport Edition comes in.
Crimson Red Metallic paint is the exterior highlight for this special-edition Cadillac, while the interior is complemented with a number of microsuede touchpoints, including the heated steering wheel and shifter. To this point, the car's rich burgundy finish has only been offered on CTS-V Coupe and Sport Wagon models, and brand spokesperson Donny Nordlicht tells Autoblog that this is the first time that the company has offered a microsuede wheel with heat. Four interior trims are also available, although all have been seen previously.
The Crimson Sport will be limited to production this spring, and the trimmings can be added to either the 2.0T Performance or the V6 Premium specifications. Both rear- and all-wheel drive will be available, as well. Prices start at $46,010 for the turbocharged model and $51,010 for the V6 including destination fees, which represents a premium of $2,990 for the extra equipment.