The Chinese automarket is hopping these days even though the rest of the world is having a horrible year sales wise.  There are many differences with the Chinese vehicles, but according to an article by Patrick Hong on yahoo autos, there are five vehicles that “could make it to the U.S.”  Here they are:

Brilliance GT - This is a sporty 2-door compact car with a 1.8-liter engine with a 167 horsepower and a 6-speed manual transmission.

Great Wall Gwkulla- This is an electric car that has about an 100 mile range between chargings. 

Great Wall Hover H7 -  This is a midsize sport SUV with a 3.0-liter V6 engine with a 6-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive.  It has a lot of high-tech stuff as well.

Roewe MG6 - Remember MG?  Well, this is an MG. Hong suggests that the company should consider a 4-door of this vehicle instead to entice more customers.

Roewe N1 Concept - This is a midsize sedan with sporty headlamps and many stylish details on the interior that would help make it stand out for sale.     

So, none of these are currently available in the U.S. and for that matter may never be, but these are just the Chinese vehicles that Hong thinks could make it. We’ll have to wait a few years and see if he is right on any of them.

www.hybridlane.net

Motor Trend Car of the Year is……the Ford Fusion.  The Ford Fusion beat out 22 other competitors to win the award of best car.  The redesigned Toyota Prius, BMW 7-Series, and the Chevrolet Camaro were some of the competitors.  Motor Trend said that they chose the Ford Fusion as the best because of its good performance, comfort, and fuel efficiency.  Ford was praised for offering several versions of the Ford Fusion, such as the hybrid and sporty V-6 versions.   Motor Trend has extensive road tests that are completed before determining the car of the year. What a great honor for Ford and the Fusion. 

I found an article by Larry Printz of The Virginian-Pilot that gives the name and some description of 8 cars that will be disappearing in 2010 to “Rust in Peace.”  Some of these vehicles have been around a long time, so it’ll be hard for some to say goodbye, whereas others life have been short-lived.

Bentley Arnage 1966-2009

Chrysler Aspen 2007-2009 - this SUV never took off. This was Chrysler’s first SUV and last.

Honda S2000 2002-2009 - a great sports car that was the “victim of corporate neglect.” Personally, I never even heard of this vehicle.

Hyundai Entourage 2007-2009 - This minivan is gone as the Entourage, but it will be in Kia’s showrooms as the Kia Sedona. Therefore, we won’t really have to miss the Entourage, just its name.

Mercury Sable 1986-2009 - With the new Ford Taurus 2010, there is no room for the Sable.  Sad but true.

Pontiac G8 2008-2009 - This was considered the poor man’s BMW.  This car will live on as a Chevy Camaro.

Saturn Sky 2007-2009 - Yet again, never heard of this car.  Another sports car that can’t make it.

Toyota Solara 1999-2009 - People don’t necessarily want spice in their vehicles, and the Solara was alittle spicy, therefore leaving us.

It’s sad to say that me personally will not miss any of these vehicles, but I’m sure there are some of you out there that will and for that I’m sorry.

I found another article on AOL autos that gives in their opinion the best deals for buying a new car this month.  If you are interested, read the full article and see why they pick each vehicle. I thought I would just give you a list of the cars in each category and then you can read further if need be.

Compact Cars -   Mazda3 (Editor’s Pick,) Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, Chevy Cobalt

Midsize Crossovers - Mazda CX-7, Hyundai Santa Fe, Ford Edge, Chevy Equinox

Midsize Cars - Mazda6, Chevy Malibu, VW Passat, Mitsubishi Galant

Fullsize Cars - Chevy Impala, Ford Taurus, Cadillac CTS, Kia Amanti

Pickups - GMC Canyon, Toyota Tundra, Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado

Lots of Mazdas, and several vehicles that were on the top 10 searched vehicles. Interesting.

So, I guess you can take this information for what it’s worth, but I found the top 10 searched vehicles on AOL autos, and thought I would share them with you.  I know this information is just 1 site and you can probably find a completely different top 10 on another site (well maybe not an entirely different top 10,)  but I still think it’s interesting to see what vehicles people like and are interested in at least interested enough to search them.  So here they are (in no particular order:)

Ford Taurus                                             Honda Accord

Chevy Camaro                                         Honda Civic

Chevy Equinox                                        Toyota Corolla

Kia Soul                                                   Toyota Camry

Smart Car                                                Dodge Challenger

I’m not surprised with several of these searches, but a few (Dodge Challenger?) are interesting choices for me. 

Do you own a dirty vehicle?  One that has low gas mileage and gives off high tailpipe and greenhouse gas emissions?  Well with all the talk about green vehicles and high gas mileage, we still have many vehicles on the lots with problems, I guess you could say.  Chrysler is the worst automaker for dirty vehicles with 6 (Jeep Commander, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Chrysler Aspen, Dodge Ram 1500, and Dodge Dakota) last year and 5 this year.  Just another problem for Chrysler. They can’t seem to do anything right these days.

Here are the top 5 dirtiest vehicles driven in the U.S. these days: (I wouldn’t be too proud to be on this list or driving one of these vehicles for that matter!)

Jeep Grand Cherokee

BMW M5

BMW M6 (Sedan and Convertible)

Chevrolet Trailblazer

Mercedes-Benz CL600

Tough go for these vehicles. Maybe they will figure out what is wrong and correct it sooner rather than later, though the Cherokee has been on the top of this list for quite some time.  Oops.

Here’s something you probably never thought about. The new hybrid electric cars are not only cutting down on air pollution but also noise pollution. That’s good right?  Well, it is, but then there is another problem.   Silent electric cars are some what of a problem for the blind.  Congress is considering federal regulations for electric cars.  I can see their point. Yes, the driver of a vehicle should take responsibility and not hit somebody, but that doesn’t always happen, and a blind pedestrian has no chance if there can’t hear the vehicle.  So, Fisker and other automakers as well as toying with different ideas to decide how to have the electric cars alittle noiser.   Fisker will emit a sound from speakers that are in the bumpers.  BMW was thinking of allowing the customer to choose their own sound for their vehicle.  Some are thinking maybe a ringtone that you could manually push on your steering wheel. Whichever way the automaker chooses, it sounds like electric cars will be getting louder.  I guess a quiet car cannot completely happen after all.

An annual survey was done by Consumer Reports shows that the Asian automakers (Japanese and Korean) are the top for reliability in vehicles. They took 8 out of the top 10 spots. That’s pretty impressive.  An interesting fact is that several Ford models are consistently scoring higher than Honda and Toyota.  The Consumer Reports stated that “Ford is now making some vehicles that have world-class reliability due to the fact that the Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan have been at the top of their class for a couple of years now.  That means that the Fusion and Milan are considered more reliable than the Accord and Camry, which are known for trust and reliability. 

Good news for Ford…..not such good news for Chrysler.  Chrysler had only one model that was recommended by Consumer Reports for their reliability and they came in last out of the 33 brands that are sold in the U.S. Not so good, Chrysler.  For GM, 21 of 48 models scored average or better for reliability. Not so good for GM either. 

The survey also found that higher-priced cars are not necessarily more reliable and that less-expensive small cars and midsize family sedans were the most reliable.  Also, the Honda Insight hybrid was found in the survey to be the most reliable vehicle and the Volkswagen Touareg was the least reliable. 

The number 1 brand for reliability….drum roll please…..Scion by Toyota.  This is the second year in a row for them to get this honor as the top brand!  Good for them, but somewhat surprising for me. I guess because the Scions don’t appeal to me, I would never consider even looking into them and checking out the details of these vehicles. Maybe I’m dumb and I should be!

The sad reality in the auto industry these days is that people aren’t brand loyal anymore, according to Bill Vlasic of the New York Times News Service.  Back in the 1980s, dealers didn’t have to do much at all to get customers to trade in their Ford for a Ford or their Toyota for a Toyota.  About 4 out of every 5 Americans were repeat buyers in the 1980s.  And furthermore, the “allegiance often continued through generations of families.”  Well, not anymore. Partly because the consumers have become more fickle in their tastes and also because of everything that has gone on in Detroit, there is no brand loyalty anymore.  Sad but true.  Only about 20%  of consumers this year have stayed with the same brand when they purchased new vehicles, according to a study done by the Oregon-based firm CNW Marketing Research. 

Just five years ago, Chevrolet and Ford were the top 2 brands in the U.S. market each with more than 16% of the market share.  Chrysler had 3 brands, Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeep, in the top 10.  Not anymore.  Toyota sits atop these days with 14% of the market share.  Then Ford, Chevrolet, Honda, and Nissan.  Chrysler is no longer in the top 10 and has been replaced by Hyundai and Kia.

The reality is that people trust many brands and improvements in the vehicles have made people willing to give up their brands to try something new and exciting for now…until the next vehicle comes out with new technology and exciting features to try out.  Oh well, maybe someday we will be more loyal again. In the meantime on the flip side, it keep the automotive companies thinking and trying to be more innovative in their new models.  Right?

The Tokyo Motor Show began today (press only-open to public starting 10/23-11/4) and of course there were many new concept cars unveiled.  Many automakers had decided not to participate in this show due financial difficulties but those that have exhibits there are trying to make the most of the situation.  Lexus is showing off the LF-A super car with a 500 horsepower engine.  I was reading alittle about the LF-A at topspeed.com and people aren’t saying nice things. They don’t like the look of it and aren’t buying the super car advertising of it as well.

Another concept car unveiled at this show is the Toyota FT-86.  This is a compact, rear-wheel drive sports car that supposedly provides “driving joy and excitement.  Also the Toyota FT-EV II was introduced which is a compact electric vehicle designed for short distances. 

Mazda also are showing off a new concept as well as a new engine and transmission at the Tokyo Motor Show.  The Mazda Kiyora has a Mazda Sky-G engine and Sky-Drive transmission, which are both being debuted at the Tokyo show as well.  The Sky-G engine has greatly improved fuel economy due to thermal efficiency. 

I’m sure there will be more talk of the Tokyo Motor Show as the week goes on, but I thought this was some good information about some new concepts.  The thing is that I feel like most of these concepts have the same ideas. They are smaller, with more power and better gas mileage.  I guess that’s what people want.