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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

Recharge Wrap-up: Honda Grace hybrid goes on sale in Japan, Daimler spends 100M euros on batteries

The Mercedes-Benz S-500 Plug-In Hybrid has earned an Environmental Certificate from the TUV Sud technical inspection authority. The award is based on a lifecycle assessment of the vehicle. This includes the ability to reduce CO2 emissions by 43 percent through charging, and by 56 percent if charged using hydroelectricity. Read more in the press release below. Daimler is expanding its production capacity for lithium-ion batteries. The company is investing around 100 million euros in its subsidiary Deutsche ACCUmotive, who will provide batteries for the electric Smart Fortwo and Forfour, as well as various Mercedes-Benz models. By the end of the construction, Deutsche ACCUmotive will have quadrupled production and logistics space since 2011. Read more in the press release below. Honda has begun sales of its Grace hybrid sedan in Japan. The Grace is based on the Honda Fit and uses the automaker's Sport Hybrid i-DCD system. It comes in front- and four-wheel-drive versions and uses a seven-speed DCT with built-in motor. The Honda Grace starts at the equivalent of about $16,500. Read more in the press release below. Honda has begun operation of its wind farm in Brazil. The farm consists of nine wind turbines, expected to produce about 95,000 MWh of electricity per year, which is on par with Honda's consumption for automobile production in the country. Honda is aiming to cut its CO2 production by 30 percent by 2020 compared to 2000 levels. Read more in the press release below. Toyota has won the 2014 World Endurance Championship's Driver and Manufacturer categories with hybrid technology. Toyota celebrated the win after the final race in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Toyota uses the same hybrid technology in its racing cars as it does in its production vehicles. Read more in the press release below. Controlled Power Technologies and other groups are calling for an international 48-volt electrical standard for vehicles. The groups called for the standard at the International Conference Automotive 48 V Power Supply Systems, saying that the 48V standard for mild hybrids would help make the systems more affordable. This will make it easier for automakers to meet the more stringent CO2 standards anticipated in coming years along with the introduction of the World Light vehicles Test Procedures. Read more at Green Car Congress. The world's first certified three-litre luxury saloon: S 500 PLUG-IN HYBRID receives Environmental Certificate Stuttgart.

Mercedes says it's tops in luxury sales for 2012, not BMW

It turns out that Mercedes-Benz North America has legitimate claim to being the top selling luxury nameplate in the US in 2012.
While sources such as Autodata had put BMW in the top spot, registration data from R.L. Polk shows that Mercedes customers registering new vehicles topped the Bavarian automaker in the most recent calendar year. Polk says Benz posted 274,123 registrations, compared with BMW's 268,498.
In terms of sales posted, BMW had bested Benz 281,460 to 274,134. But sales are recorded somewhat inconsistently from automaker to automaker. Some book the sales as soon as they are shipped from factory to dealer. There is perennial gamesmanship between the two German rivals, and the sales numbers suggest that BMW pushed out some extra sheetmetal to dealers in the last four weeks of the year.