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Porsche, Jaguar continue dominance in 2015 JD Power APEAL study

The top of JD Power's 2015 APEAL Study has not changed much in the last year. Porsche remains No. 1 with Jaguar nipping at its heels, although both premium brands saw their overall score fall compared to 2014. For those that need a refresher, the APEAL Study looks at how "gratifying" a vehicle is to own and drive, rating cars and brands on a 1,000-point scale. The industry average for 2015 has increased from 794 to 798, while the total number of automakers that finished above the curve increased from 16 to 20. While Porsche and Jaguar finished at the top, their scores dropped eight and seven points, respectively, to 874 and 855. The top "non-premium" brand was Mini, which scored an impressive 825, up from 795. If the BMW-owned British marque is still a bit too premium for your tastes, last year's non-premium winner, Hyundai, did climb five points and is this year's runner up. At the opposite end of the scale, Smart sits at the very bottom of the rankings, with a score of 683 (it didn't appear on the 2014 rankings). Fiat also dropped, from fourth worst in 2014 to second worst in 2015, despite the 500 being named most appealing city car. Subaru made an impressive climb, from third worst to seventh, falling just 10 points shy of the industry average and two points south of the non-premium average. In the individual vehicle segments, eight brands earned multiple awards, with Ford, Chevrolet, and Porsche earning three apiece. Surprise segment victories included the new Ford Expedition, which beat out Chevy's popular Suburban. The Infiniti QX80 bested the likes of the Cadillac Escalade and Range Rover for best large luxury SUV, and the Dodge Challenger beat its muscle car rivals from Ford and Chevy. Most of the victories, though, were quite predictable. The Mazda6 and CX-5 took wins for the midsize sedan and compact SUV categories respectively, while the Volkswagen Golf captured the compact car win. The Ford F-150 won the large pickup category, while the Porsche Cayman was named most appealing compact premium sporty car. Check out the official release on the 2015 APEAL Study, available below, from JD Power. 2015 U.S. APEAL Study Results The latest safety-related technologies are among the drivers of customer satisfaction with new vehicles, according to the J.D. Power 2015 U.S.

GM to build next-gen Chevy Cruze in Mexico

As one of its global products, General Motors builds the Chevy Cruze for local consumption at assembly plants around the world: in Australia, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, China, India, Kazakhstan, Russia, Brazil and Ohio. The automaker is expected to trim those locations for the next generation of its compact sedan, but its latest announcement has it adding a new site to the list: Mexico. As part of a $350-million investment, GM's plant at Ramos Arizpe in Coahuila will gear up for production as one of several sites that will be charged with building the next-gen Cruze. The General has yet to announce just which plants those will be, but it has confirmed that the Lordstown, Ohio, site will once again be among them. The plant in St Petersburg, Russia, which has produced the current Cruze, is being shut down, as is the Holden plant in Elizabeth, Australia. The Ramos Arizpe assembly plant currently puts together the Chevy Sonic and Captiva as well as the Cadillac SRX, but has over the course of its 34-year history handled a variety of models for the Chevy, Pontiac, Buick, Cadillac, Saturn, Opel and even Saab brands. The site handles a quarter of GM's production in Mexico, and exports 87 percent of its capacity to other markets. Invertira GM 350 mdd en Ramos Arizpe para fabricar siguiente generacion de Chevrolet Cruze 2015-03-23 - Se consolida GM de Mexico como el sexto productor global de vehiculos para General Motors Company Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila - General Motors de Mexico anuncio este dia que invertira 350 millones de dolares en su Complejo de Manufactura Ramos Arizpe, para fabricar en estas instalaciones la siguiente generacion del modelo Chevrolet Cruze. "Esta inversion, que forma parte de los 5 mil millones de dolares anunciados en diciembre pasado para todo el pais, fortalecera la presencia de GM Ramos Arizpe en la produccion de nuestra compania a nivel mundial y, por supuesto, consolidara a Mexico como el sexto productor de automoviles para GM Company, con el 7% de la produccion global", informo Ernesto M. Hernandez, Presidente y Director General de GM de Mexico. En una reunion de trabajo en la que participaron Ruben Moreira, Gobernador del Estado de Coahuila y Rogelio Garza, Subsecretario de Industria y Comercio del Gobierno Federal, el Presidente de General Motors en el pais aseguro que el Complejo GM Ramos Arizpe se ha consolidado como un iman para las inversiones de la compania a nivel global. Adicionalmente, Ernesto M.

2020 Chevy Trax and Buick Encore spied testing

We just recently saw a little crossover SUV from General Motors being tested, and we weren't positive what brand it belonged to. We narrowed it down to Chevy or GMC, but we're feeling more confident that it's a GMC now, since both the next generation Chevy Trax and Buick Encore subcompact crossover SUVs have been spied testing together. Of the two, the Chevy has the more radically different sheet metal. It ditches the somewhat frumpy, lumpy shape of the current Trax for a body inspired by the bigger Chevy Blazer. The roofline has sharp corners, and the hood is wide and flat. The front fascia, though obscured, shows the most connection to the bigger crossover. It has the same split headlight configuration, and it looks as though the grille takes up a sizable section of the fascia. View 7 Photos The Buick Encore on the other hand looks evolutionary in design. The body still has plenty of curves, and the distinctive, sharply rising window sill are all hallmarks of the current Encore design. The headlights and grille are similar, too, though the grille appears to be slightly updated to fit in with the Enclave and Regal. It's understandable that Buick might want to play it safe with the new Encore, since the model is Buick's best seller, selling about 23,000 units in the last quarter, nearly twice that of the next best performer, the Enclave. Since this is the first time we've seen these little crossovers, we expect it will still be a year or two before we get to see them fully revealed. They will probably continue to use small-displacement turbocharged four-cylinder engines with either front- or all-wheel drive. Related Video: