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Lexus LC 500 dominates 2016 EyesOn Design Awards

The Lexus LC 500 captured top honors for the best-designed production car and the best interior at the 10th annual EyesOn Design awards at the Detroit Auto Show. The awards are handed out by the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology. The Buick Avista won the concept car category, just as its four-door predecessor, the Avenir, did last year. Other winners this year included the Chrysler Pacifica, which won for the best-designed production "truck" (as crossovers and minivans are sometimes categorized), and the Audi H-Tron Quattro, which won for the best concept truck. The Acura Precision concept was also recognized for its "innovative use of color, graphics, and materials." And the new Volvo S90 was singled out for its human-machine interface. The panel of jurists this year included designers from an array of automakers and art schools. Several past honorees for the organization's LifeTime Design Achievement Award participated in the voting, including GM's Wayne Cherry, BMW DesignworksUSA founder Chuck Pelly, Hyundai's Peter Schreyer, and Jack Telnack (formerly of Ford). Telnack also served on the select panel of chief judges this year, alongside Chris Chapman from Hyundai, Dave Marek from Acura, and Stewart Reed from the Art Center College of Design. Lexus Takes 2 and Buick Wins Best Concept For 2nd Year at EyesOn Design Awards at NAIAS January 12, 2016, Detroit, Michigan. A panel of design leaders representing worldwide automotive manufacturers and transportation design chiefs from top design schools around the globe today selected these vehicles to receive the following EyesOn Design Awards at the North American International Auto Show: * Production Car: 2017 Lexus LC500 * Production Truck: 2017 Chrysler Pacifica * Concept Car: Buick Avista Concept * Concept Truck: Audi h-tron Quattro Concept * Best Designed Interior: 2017 Lexus LC500 * Innovative Use of Color, Graphics and Materials: Acura Precision Concept * Human Machine Interface: 2017 Volvo S90 Chief Judges were: Chris Chapman of Hyundai, Dave Marek of Acura, Stewart Reed of ArtCenter College of Design, and Jack Telnack of Ford Motor Company (retired). 2016 marks the tenth year the EyesOn Design Awards have been an integral part of the North American International Auto Show. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2016 EyesOn Design Award Winners News Source: EyesOn Design Detroit Auto Show Acura Audi Buick Chrysler Lexus Volvo chrysler pacifica volvo s90 lexus lc 500 acura precision concept

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

Is your new-car warranty good at the race track?

We've all heard the horror stories. Your buddy knows a girl that was dating a guy whose best friend's brother once broke his brand-new, recently purchased performance car while making runs at a drag strip or laps at a track day, and the manufacturer wouldn't cover the repair under warranty. True story? Urban legend? Complete crap? Yes, no, maybe. One thing's for sure: Automotive warranties have always come with caveats. In 1908, an ad in the Trenton Evening Times clearly stated: "All Ford Cars Guaranteed for One Year." Although it changed over time, by 1925 the Ford New Car Guarantee only covered 90 days on material and 30 days on labor, and it clearly stated that that there was "No guarantee whatever on Fan Belts, Glass, Bulbs, Wiring, Transmission, Bands, Hose Connections, Commutator Shells, Rollers, Spark Plugs or Gaskets." Whether or not Ol' Henry would pay to fix your Model T if you broke it shaving a tenth off your lap time at the local board track seems to be lost to history. We're guessing no. But what about today? Do new-car warranties in 2017 cover cars when they are driven on race tracks? We researched the warranties of 14 auto brands to find out, and the answer is yes, no, maybe, depending on the brand, in some cases the model, and whether or not your car is modified from stock. Acura has been out of the high-performance car game for a number of years, but jumps back into the party in 2017 with its hybrid-powered $173,000 NSX supercar. And Acura's warranty, as well as Honda's, clearly states that it does not cover "the use of the vehicle in competition or racing events." View 33 Photos So we asked Sage Marie, Senior Manager of Public Relations for Honda and Acura. "If the car is stock, the warranty covers it on a track just as it does on the street. No question," he told us. "However, if the car is modified, say with slick tires or other components that would put higher stresses on the vehicle's parts and systems, then we would have to investigate the circumstances further." Marie went on to say the same would be true for any Acura model or Honda vehicle, including the new 2017 Honda Civic Si. This became a common theme. Chevrolet actually started this practice with the fifth-generation Camaro on the high-performance ZL1 and Z/28 models.