Carguide Blog

Another blow to Chrysler Corporation.  More than 100 Chrysler Group LLC U.S. dealerships could lose their businesses this year.  Since  Chrysler emerged from the U.S. government bailout, about 2,366 dealerships are left within the U.S.   About 1,500 Chrysler dealerships are facing financial crysis and applied for financing through GMAC, which replaced the defunct Chrysler Financial.  So far, most  of the applications are expected to be approved, but GMAC has rejected 83 dealerships and up to 60 remain under consideration.  So you would expect another wave of unapproved applications out of those remain 60 applicants.

GMAC is partly owned by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP [CBS.UL] and General Motors Co [GM.UL].

[Source: Reuter]

GM has been aggressively campaign the 60-day money back program on its new cars.  What it is, if you are not satisfied of your purchase of a GM car within 60 days, you can return the car back with a full refund.  Out of 220,000 customers who participated in this program, about 200 customers returned their cars for the refund because they were not satisfied in some way.

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There is a war going on now, the band wagon war that is.  The BMW introduces the 550i Gran Turismo with the starting price of $64,725 MSRP.  The 550i Gran Turismo will be available in December 5, 2009 at a BMW dealer near you, to compete with the Cadillac CTS-V.  The BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo is a wagon style car, much of the same as the Cadillac CTS-V wagon.

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British exotic automaker Arash is planning to unleash the behemoth 1000 horsepower supercar Arash AF-10. First the Bugatti Veyron with 1000 hp, now the Arash AF-10.  We thought the horse race time was over but we thought wrong.  As car manufacturers  are trying to develop more leaner, agile and fuel efficient cars, British exotic automaker Arash is moving the opposite direction with the Arash AF-10.

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If you are in the market for a safe sedan to buy, then look no further.  The 2010 Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse got top picks by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  The Top Pick Safety award is based on test crashes of cars and measured to determine their ratings.  The crashes includes four simulated crashes of front, side, rear and rollover with a dummies inside the car.  In addition if there is an electronic stability control, it will be tested also.  You can learn a lot from a dummy!

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Ford has been coming out on top lately this year with a bunch of awards such as Popular Mechanics and Truck of Texas.  Now the Ford Fusion is taken first place in the 2010 Motor Trend Car of the Year award.  The Fusion bested out 23 contenders which included the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class to win this prestigious award.

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Kia is introducing the new 2010 Forte Koup  with a sporty and aggressive exterior styling different from its brethen the Kia Forte Sedan introduced a few months ago.  The 2010 Forte Koup is Kia’s first two-door coupe that will appeal to younger drivers.  It is the first step to transform Kia’s image and style into a more sophisticated and fun-to-drive car company, not just an economy car brand.

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Nissan continues to increase its campaign effort by announcing the launch of the Nissan LEAF Zero Emissions Student Competition, which allows students at universities and colleges to express how they feel about the Nissan Leaf in a paper writing contest.  Students can enter the competition at Nissan’s Facebook here.  One student from each of the participating universities will be selected as a winner based on the creativity, relevance and originality.  A $500 scholarship will be awarded to the winners at the end of the Nissan LEAF Zerso Emissions Tour of early next year 2010.

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As the sport utility vehicle trend is fading away fast as it was coming, motor manufacturers are trying to fill up that gap.  So what to better fill that gap then to bring back the station wagon style, but this time with a more sporty look.  Cadillac is giving the green light to mass produce the 2010 Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon.  But really, do you really need a 6.2-liter V-8 with a 556 horspower and 551 pound-feet of torque engine inside this sport wagon?  It just doesn’t mean if you can stick a V8 engine anywhere that you can do.

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Chevrolet selected three finalists for the Chevrolet Volt Color Contest, which were selected out of 13,000 entries.  Three finalists selected  are the “EV-ergreen” offered by Devin McQuarrie, 30, of San Jose, CA; “Viridian Joule” submitted by Dave Thomas, 40, of Sanford, FL; and “environMINT” entered by Matthew Valbuena, 30, of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.

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