Ford's F-150 edged out the Nissan NV, Ram HD Laramie Longhorn and the Toyota Tacoma to be named Motor Trend's Truck of the Year for 2012. Motor Trend tested both the 5.0-liter V8 engine and the 3.5-liter V6 EcoBoost engine, but Ford officials expect the EcoBoost V6 to be selected by 45 percent of F-150 buyers. The F-150 also took top honors in 2009, 2004 and 1997.
Once seen only on luxury vehicles, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) are now inexpensive enough for mass-market models. LED taillights will be added to 29% of all vehicles produced in North America by the 2016 model year, but the switch to LED headlights will be slower due to their high cost. The goal of suppliers is to make LED headlights cheap enough that automakers can offer them as standard equipment.
Dealer Services Group of ADP, parent group for Dealix, announces new features on their UsedCar.com website, to ?further enhance the merchandising of our dealer clients? pre-owned inventory, increase their dealerships? brand awareness, and help them maximize their used car sales opportunities,? explained Dealix vice president Egon Smola. UsedCars.com now includes vehicle videos, as well as dealership-branded contextual spotlight ads.
CarMax completed a survey asking consumers to choose which car-buying factor matters most to them from a list of five choices - quality, price, safety, resale value, or environmental factors. Quality continues to be the most influential factor for used car buyers over price; more than double the number of respondents chose quality over price.
The Obama administration is proposing standardizing keyless ignition controls and requiring audible warnings for drivers who fail to use the system properly. The NHTSA wants mandated noise warnings for drivers who try to turn off their vehicles before putting them in park or exit a vehicle without first turning the car off. Push-button start systems have grown from 5,000 vehicles in the model 2002 year to over 1.2 million vehicles in the 2008 model year.