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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

Chrysler files for IPO

Chrysler has had a lot of owners over the past few years alone, from Daimler to Cerberus to Fiat and the federal government. But it could be poised to gain some more before long. Like, a lot more.
The automaker has just announced that it has filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to issue an Initial Public Offering of common stocks. Chrysler hasn't revealed how many shares will be offered and at what price, however the shares in question will not come out of Fiat's approximate 60% majority shareholding but instead out of the 40% minority stock held by the UAW's VEBA retiree healthcare trust. Reports suggest that the IPO, which is being handled by JP Morgan, could encompass approximately 16% of Chrysler stock, initially valued at approximately $100 million.
Lest you think this is all part of Sergio Marchionne's grand plan to consolidate Chrysler and Fiat, the two auto groups over which he presides, think again. The filing, which still needs to be approved by the SEC, comes at the insistence of the UAW. Negotiations between Marchionne's management team and the union over Fiat's acquisition of the VEBA shares have stalled. If they manage to come to an agreement, however, the IPO would likely be taken off the table. So don't go calling your broker just yet, but you can analyze the official announcement below.

Volkswagen Routan dead one last time

Volkswagen halted production of the Routan minivan in late 2012 due to low sales volume, but there were reports swirling around that it would live on and continue production alongside the closely related Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan. But now VW says that it will indeed stop Routan production for good, The Detroit Bureau reports.
As of our report in March, VW hadn't built a single Routan in 2013, and we can't imagine things have gotten much better for the minivan since then. The Detroit Bureau reports that VW produced some 2014 Routans, but they aren't for sale to the public - they are fleet-only affairs.
VW originally intended to sell between 45,000 and 50,000 Routans per year, but since it was introduced for the 2009 model year, annual sales of the minivan have averaged only 11,500 units. VW has sold 57,683 Routans total.