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KBB 2013 Brand Image Awards has some obvious and oddball winners

The sixth edition of the Kelley Blue Book Brand Image Awards have crowned a wide range of winners - in a couple of cases the recipient of the laurels might say more about KBB users than they do about the actual winner. Compiled from the responses of more than 12,000 shoppers on KBB.com over the past year, there are 13 categories broken into non-luxury, luxury and truck segments "representing the combined wisdom of the American car-buying public."
The award categories have been revamped this year, with some dropping off, some new ones appearing and at least one other given a new term. What isn't surprising is that Honda won Most Trusted Brand for the second year running, Best Value Brand for the third year in a row and took Best Overall Brand, which wasn't on last year's list of awards.
On our own shores, in the non-luxury categories Chrysler got Most Refined Brand and Buick took Best Value Luxury Brand. Neither one of those marques won anything in last year's Brand Image Awards, while Cadillac, which won Best Interior Design Brand and Best Comfort Brand last year - those awards disappeared this year - went home without a single accolade.

2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1 revealed, plus driving the BMW M8 Convertible | Autoblog Podcast #632

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Producer Christopher McGraw and News Editor Joel Stocksdale. Before they get to this week's big news, they talk about the cars they've been driving, including the Toyota Land Cruiser, Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition, BMW M8 Convertible and BMW 840i coupe. Then they talk about Ford's big reveal of the 2021 Mustang Mach 1. Finally, in lieu of the regular Spend My Money segment, they talk about how Joel recently spent his own money on the newest edition to his personal fleet, a 2013 Volkswagen Beetle. Autoblog Podcast #632 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving: 2020 Toyota Land Cruiser 2020 Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography 2020 BMW M8 Convertible 2020 BMW 840i Fords reveals 2021 Mustang Mach 1 Spend Joel's Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Ford Recalls Nearly 435,000 Vehicles

Ford is recalling nearly 435,000 cars and SUVs to fix rusting frame parts or faulty seats. The biggest of the two recalls covers nearly 386,000 Ford Escapes from the 2001 through 2004 model years. Ford says the subframes can rust, allowing a control arm to separate and hamper steering control. Ford is aware of one crash but no injuries linked to the problem. The SUVs were originally sold or registered in 20 states and Washington, D.C., where salt is used to clear snow and ice from roads. Six Canadian provinces also are included. Dealers will install a reinforcement brace to fix the problem. The Escapes covered by the recall were built from Oct. 22, 1999 through Dec. 19, 2003 at the Kansas City Assembly plant, and from May 1, 2003 through Jan. 23, 2004 at the Ohio Assembly plant, Ford said in a statement issued Monday. They were originally sold or registered in Connecticut, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin, Delaware, Maine, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Vermont, Indiana, Michigan, New York, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. Also covered are Escapes sold or registered in Ontario, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland & Labrador. The second recall covers 49,000 Ford Fusion, Lincoln MKZ, Ford Escape and C-MAX vehicles from 2013 and 2014. Dealers will replace seat back frames that weren't welded properly. No crashes or injuries have been reported from the problem, Ford said. Recalls Ford