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Honda, Hyundai and Kia get best word-of-mouth recommendations in US

Forget advertising, incentives and, yes, even our excellently crafted vehicle reviews, sometimes the best way for automakers to sell cars is still good ol' fashioned word of mouth. In an attempt to measure this "word of mouth" power, The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, has created a new study called the Brand Advocacy Index (BAI). The index takes a look at how various industries perform from person to person. Those industries include automotive, smartphones, grocery, mobile telecommunications and banking.
The study polled more than 32,000 individuals across Europe and in the US to come up with the top 55 brands in these various industries. On the automotive side of things, the top brands in the US were Honda, Hyundai and Kia, all tied at 63 percent. On a global scale, Volkswagen and Toyota scored the highest with a 65-percent BAI rating (both in France). The average BAI for auto industry players tallied 50 percent.
As for companies in other industries, Apple's iPhone was the index's top-rated smartphone, Trader Joe's was the highest recommended grocery store, Virgin was sat atop the mobile telecom industry and USAA was the top retail bank. Scroll down for the full press release on the new study.

Hyundai ups price of 2014 Sonata Hybrid slightly to $26,000

Hyundai is hoping prospective car buyers won't quibble with a 1.3 percent price hike for its Sonata Hybrid this year. Heck, the South Korean automaker brought the price down a year ago, so everyone's theoretically almost even. Or so they hope. Hyundai is boosting the base MSRP on the 2014 hybrid sedan by $350 to an even $26,000, with the top-of-the-line version now priced at $30,750. The company's probably feeling pretty confident after coming off its best sales year ever in the US. Last year, Hyundai boosted unit sales by 2.5 percent to almost 720,800 units domestically. Oddly, Sonata sales fell enough last year for Elantra to become Hyundai's new best-selling model in the US. And the company doesn't break out sales of the Sonata Hybrid (don't feel bad, sister company Kia doesn't break out hybrid sales figures for its twin Optima either). A year ago - and after a very public lowering of fuel economy numbers - Hyundai increasing the Sonata Hybrid's fuel efficiency while cutting its price, and even arranged for bigger cargo space to boot. Specifically, the 2013 model-year Sonata Hybrid increased fuel efficiency to a 36/40/38 miles per gallon split while cutting its price by $200 to a base MSRP of $25,650. Check out Hyundai's press release on the 2014 Sonata Hybrid below. 2014 Sonata Hybrid Refreshes Interior With New Standard Premium Features and Maximizes Electric-Only Driving Efficiency Hyundai Continues Industry-Exclusive Hybrid Lifetime Battery Warranty FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif., March 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyundai Motor America has announced pricing for the 2014 Sonata Hybrid, starting at $26,000 for the extraordinarily well-equipped Sonata Hybrid and $30,750 for the range-topping Sonata Hybrid Limited. Hyundai Motor America will continue to offer an industry-exclusive Hybrid Lifetime Battery Warranty on the 2014 Sonata Hybrid. 2014 SONATA HYBRID PRICING Model Engine Transmission MSRP Sonata Hybrid 2.4L Atkinson 4-cyl. Hybrid 6-Speed A/T $26,000 Sonata Hybrid Limited 2.4L Atkinson 4-cyl. Hybrid 6-Speed A/T $30,750 Freight Charges for the 2014MY Sonata Hybrid are $810 and not included in the prices above. The 2014 Sonata Hybrid continues to demonstrate Hyundai's commitment to innovation with its advanced Hybrid Blue Drive architecture, which features a powerful 35 kW electric motor, 47 kW Lithium Polymer battery pack and an optimized hybrid operating strategy.

Sonata, Elantra driving down Hyundai quality scores

Hyundai was the butt of many jokes in the auto industry when it first entered the US market, but since then, it has forged ahead and built cars that stand with the best in their respective segments. The 2011 Sonata and 2011 Elantra were seen as the apotheosis of the brand's forward progress when they were introduced, but falling J.D. Power and Associates Dependability Study results may actually cause them to hurt the company's hard-earned reputation.
J.D Power's study examines three-year-old vehicles for problems per 100 vehicles. Since the 2011 study for 2008 model year cars, Hyundai has fallen from 10th overall with 132 problems to 27th in the 2014 survey of 2011 model year vehicles with 169 problems. It was also Hyundai's second consecutive year of an increase in reported problems. According to Automotive News, many of these problems are due to faults with the Sonata and Elantra, but J.D. Power didn't identify specifically what issues caused Hyundai's dependability to tumble so far down the list. However, the study found that, on average, reliability fell throughout the industry for the first time since 1998.
Getting the Sonata and Elantra right are vital to Hyundai. In 2013, they were the company's best-selling cars. "We'll be closely going through the data to see where improvements need to be made. Hyundai's goal is nothing short of quality leadership, and the report shows we have work to do," Hyundai spokesperson Jim Trainor said in an email to Autoblog.