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J.D. Power: Mini, Lexus again offer most satisfying sales experience

JD Power has released its annual Sales Satisfaction Index Study, and once again Mini and Lexus have taken top honors. Overall, buyers are more satisfied with the auto-buying sales experience than they were last year, with those surveyed reporting an average score of 664 points on a 1,000-point scale. That's up from 648 in 2011. Dealer satisfaction also increased by five points over last year as well.
All told, Lexus brought home an index score of 737, which was high enough to put it atop the luxury brands for the second year in a row. JD Power says Infiniti came in second in that category with a score of 728 and Cadillac rounded out the podium with it's rating of 725. Speaking of Infiniti, that brand saw the single largest jump in sales satisfaction of any brand on the survey, popping up 52 index points over 2011.
Among mass-market brands, Mini ranked highest with a score of 712, followed closely by Buick with 706 and GMC farther down the line with 683. You can check out the full press release below for more information.

2016 GMC Sierra All Terrain X is cool but no Raptor threat

If you want a brutish off-roader from Ford or Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, you're spoiled for choice. There's the F-150 SVT Raptor, the Jeep Wrangler, and the Ram Rebel and Power Wagon. But since General Motors killed the Hummer brand, it's been without any real competitor to those trucks. The new, special edition GMC Sierra All Terrain X is not going to be that vehicle, but it's close enough to be worth a look. The oft-overlooked Sierra All Terrain's off-road suspension and Eaton locking rear differential give it some real trail credentials. The All Terrain X builds on both with cosmetic and performance upgrades. For most owners, the big draw will be the brawnier 5.3-liter V8. Fitted with a performance exhaust, it should deliver a meatier tone, and according to GMC it bumps output up from 355 to 365 horsepower. The other big performance upgrade comes from the tires, knobby Goodyear Wrangler DuraTrac MT mud-terrain-rated things. The tires and their accompanying 18-inch black aluminum wheels are nice touches. Cool as the All Terrain X might be, it strikes us as an odd strategy for the GMC brand. For one, the trail-ready tires and performance exhaust of the All Terrain X don't seem to fit into the more premium market position that GMC occupies. Moreover, Chevy already has an off-road-oriented pickup in the new Colorado Z71 Trail Boss. Visual upgrades like the black bed-mounted sport bar, LED off-road lights, blacked-out accents, and the 18-inch wheels, the look of the All Terrain X is more in line with the Colorado Trail Boss theme. It's just our two cents, but it seems like attaching the All Terrain X's aesthetic to the Silverado would have been a stronger strategy, and would give Colorado buyers a larger off-road-focused truck to aspire to. You can look for the special edition All Terrain X in GMC dealers this spring, with prices to be announced closer to the on-sale date. Read on for the official press release from GMC. Related Video: GMC Announces Sierra All Terrain X The News GMC today announced the 2016 Sierra All Terrain X – a special edition of the All Terrain model, featuring exclusive premium content that enhances off-road capability and an aggressive, monochromatic appearance. The All Terrain X's powerful attitude reflects a popular personalization trend among off-road enthusiasts, executed with the top-range refinement GMC has cultivated for years with models such as the Sierra Denali.

Chevrolet Malibu could last until 2024 before joining the dodo

Automotive News pieced together all available intel on the Chevrolet and GMC lineups, trying to ascertain how much life each model might have left. Concerning the Chevrolet Malibu, the answer is not too much, and the historic nameplate's final years don't look like the glory kind. After a major overhaul in 2016 boosted sales for the ninth-generation sedan to 227,881 units, the 2018 sales fell to 144,542, and this year's are down almost 15% through the end of June. The Malibu is one of two Chevrolet sedans still breathing - the other being the Impala for now - but only for about five more years. AN says there'll likely be a refresh in 2022, followed by a visit from the Reaper in 2024. After that, it could be "indirectly replaced" by an electric vehicle, one of the 23 EVs that GM is working on for 2023.     The Impala will meet the ax earlier despite a recent stay of execution. Production is still set to close in January 2020. In the entire GM stable, Cadillac might soon be the only marque with sedans. The Buick LaCrosse has a date with death, and Groupe PSA won't supply Opels-as-Regals forever.  The Sonic hatchback should say goodbye at the end of 2020, a year before the seemingly eternal Spark is thought to die. Two years after that, according to one report, the Camaro will go back into cold storage, perhaps forever, and AN says an "expected redesign of the car in 2021 was reportedly canceled." Finally, let's give one final shout-out to the Chevrolet Cruze, a global nameplate, which in the United States alone outsells the Malibu, outsold the Camaro by a factor of three last year, and absolutely trounces the Impala, Sonic, and Spark. Even that couldn't get a stay of execution. In more uplifting news, everything's happening on the crossover and truck side in the next few years. The Chevy Bolt is due for a refresh next year, even though it has "become more important for self-driving ride-hailing fleets that GM Cruise plans to operate than for consumers." In 2021, the Bolt-based crossover should bow, first in China, then here. It's said to look like "a mix of the Bolt and Trax" in spy shots. Still waiting for a green light: a possible subcompact GMC crossover called Granite that might make it to market by 2023. The full-sized SUV triplets Tahoe, Suburban, and Yukon could show their new faces in 2020. The Silverado might get an updated interior in 2020 or 2021, while the Colorado and Canyon mid-sized pickups won't get attention until perhaps 2023.