Chrysler and Fiat reliability – Merger of equals?

As Chrysler goes through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, the troubled U.S. automaker is working on recreating itself through a partnership with Fiat. (Read: “Chrysler enters bankruptcy, merges with Fiat.”) There is much synergy promised from this relationship, such as shared technology and manufacturing capacity, though there are many unknowns—including quality and reliability.

Chrysler reliability
Chrysler Corp. brands rated poorly in the Consumer Reports 2008 Car Reliability Survey, based on our subscribers' experiences with 1.4 million vehicles. Respondents reported on any serious problems they had with their vehicles in 17 trouble spots during the previous 12 months, which allows us to provide predicted-reliability Ratings for new cars. Among the 34 brands ranked for 2009, Jeep is 28th, Dodge 30th, and Chrysler 32nd. (Land Rover takes the bottom spot by a significant margin.)

Clearly, reliability is a challenge for Chrysler. In fact, it is a key factor in why Consumer Reports does not recommend a single vehicle from its three brands, along with often-mediocre test scores. (Read "Detroit report cards.") That said, Chrysler has stated that it is making a concerted effort to improve its vehicle quality and its internal auditing shows marked gains. If these changes are successful it will be reflected in our survey findings, but will take several years to assess its effectiveness and allow vehicle recommendations. We hope the promised improvements come to fruition, for both consumers’ benefit and company health.

Now, the real question is, how will working with Fiat affect quality?

Fiat reliability
For those Americans who recall when Fiat cars were sold here, the brand made a less-than-stellar impression. Looking back at Consumer Reports reliability ratings from the late 1970s, Fiat models typically had more dreaded solid black blobs than most car shoppers would prefer. In particular, the Fiat 128 and 131 received a worse overall reliability rating for several years. Back then, Fiat was sometimes referred to as “Fix It Again, Tony.”

A lot can happen in 30 years, but don’t get your hopes up.

For insights, I turned to the 2008 Brand Reliability Index from Which? Car. The annual Which? Car survey is the largest survey of its kind in the U.K., and it is conducted by a publication that, like Consumer Reports, does not accept advertising and delivers the straight facts from its findings. Its methods differ from Consumer Reports’, and cars can be different from the ones sold here. Still, the results are nonetheless illuminating.

For its reliability study, Which? Car looks at models up to eight years old, thereby often reporting on years of experience with a given vehicle. Their survey tallies serious breakdowns, unscheduled repairs, and minor problems.

When the brands are ranked, Which? Car finds Honda and Toyota at the top of the 2008 reliability list, followed closely by Daihatsu, Lexus, Mazda, and Subaru. This largely mirrors the latest CR predicted reliability ranking, though there Scion was at the top and Mazda placed 12th with CR due to a different model line-up. (CR online subscribers, see how brands compare.)

Among the 38 brands featured in Which? Car, Fiat ranked 35th, followed by Renault, Land Rover, and Chrysler/Dodge.  Jeep is the highest-rated brand from Chrysler, with its 29th place just barely keeping it in the “Poor” category. Fiat, Chrysler, and Dodge are categorized as “Very poor.” In total, Fiat, Chrysler, and Dodge provide similar reliability, and it isn’t good.

There is risk in assessing how a brand performs in one part of the world, versus another, given product line variance, equipment differences, and usage patterns. Point of assembly could also be a factor. That said, the results from the Which? Car survey are illuminating.

Bottom line
When Daimler-Benz bought Chrysler in 1997, it was billed as “merger of equals.” The Chrysler and Fiat deal seems to fit that description better. By the limited indication we have, it looks like reliability may be a challenge. Even in the best of times, it would be difficult for these newly joined companies. Further challenges include factory closings, assembly line changes, and corporate language and cultural differences. We will know for sure only when the products from the new, joint company hit the streets, and our subscribers report on their experience.

We will continue to monitor this fast-moving story, reporting here in the Cars blog and also updating advice and news on the Auto Crisis hub.

–Jeff Bartlett

The Genesis of Hyundai’s luxury brand?

It’s all about dropping hints.

Sometimes the most important revelations at auto shows are buried beneath the headlines, or cavalierly floated as trial balloons. A hint at the automakers’ future intentions was slipped into a speech introducing the Hyundai Nuvis concept car at the New York International Auto Show.

In giving the usual generic corporate intro to the new concept car (“sales up in a down market, market share gain,” etc.), acting President and CEO John Krafcik referred to the Korean-market only luxury Equus sedan on the Hyundai show stand and asked the audience to imagine Equus “as the cornerstone of a premium Genesis line” of Hyundai models.

Hyundai already has two Genesis models: The Genesis luxury sedan and the new Genesis sport coupe. Although the two share their V6 engines and basic rear-drive platform, they are aimed at completely different audiences. The luxury Genesis sedan, priced in the mid-$30,000s, competes against a wide range of sedans, from a Toyota Avalon to luxury German marques, undercutting the Europeans by thousands. The Genesis coupe competes with anything from a Ford Mustang to an Infiniti G37 coupe, again undercutting much of the competition’s price.

What do you think? Is Hyundai trying to beat Toyota at its own game, introducing a discount luxury brand to undercut Lexus? And if so, would you buy one?

—Eric Evarts

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

Earth Day: Future panel says electric cars are inevitable

We’ve seen the future of the car, and at least some of them are electric.

That was the conclusion of a panel discussion about on The Future of the Automobile at the New York International Auto Show. The discussion was interesting, and the highlights seem relevant on Earth Day.

The three-member panel, presented by Newsweek magazine, included Henrik Fisker, the man behind the luxury plug-in hybrid planned for early next year; Lou Rhodes, head of advanced vehicle development at Chrysler, and head of the company’s electric vehicle program; and Kevin Smith, editorial director at Edmunds.com.

The highlights:

• As many as half the cars sold in 2020 will be electric cars, hybrids, or plug-in hybrids.
• Since the other half (at least) will not be, it is important to continue to improve the efficiency of internal combustion engines.
• Automakers are improving the efficiency of gas engines by one- to two percent a year. This will not be enough to meet upcoming fuel economy and carbon emissions standards.
• These upcoming electrified cars won’t be boring. It’s human nature for people to make purchase decisions based on emotion, rather than logic. So automakers will have to find ways to make the cars fun and/or good looking.
• Electric cars will help automakers create more interesting designs. The car companies will be freed from the packaging constraints of traditional internal-combustion engine power trains. New flat battery packs can go under the floor, electric motors are small, and other components can be placed most anywhere.
• The electric cars showing up at auto shows today don’t have many of these advantages, because they’re based on existing cars to keep production costs down.
• Batteries are still much too expensive and have limited longevity. While engineers are working on these issues, costs will not come down significantly until enough electric cars are sold to bring greater efficiencies from mass production.
• Since the gasoline engine in plug-in hybrids (in which only the electric motor is attached to the wheels) only acts as a generator, they don’t need advanced technology and should be much cheaper than the engines available today. (Fisker said he’s looking to spend $500-800 wholesale, on gasoline engines for upcoming plug-in hybrid models.)
• The future of cars with 7.0-liter V8 engines will be in museums.

These plausible predictions suggest the near future will be an interesting, and maybe even electrifying, time in the auto industry.

—Eric Evarts

Learn about driving green in the Consumer Reports special fuel economy section

 

Unveiled: 48-mpg Kia Soul Hybrid

Kia took the wraps off its Soul Hybrid at the Shanghai Auto Show (shown here). The car shown is said to look much the same as the concept unveiled at the Paris Motor Show, which had a 1.6-liter gasoline engine matched with a 20-horsepower electric motor and continuously-variable (CVT) transmission. A conventional hood replaces the transparent one shown in Paris, leading some to speculate the Shanghai car might be production-ready, or close to it. Kia claims fuel mileage will be in the 48 mpg range, aided by regenerative braking, automatic engine shut down, and restart at traffic lights. Despite online rumors to the contrary, a Kia spokesman said there are no current plans to sell the Soul Hybrid in the United States.

Read our Kia Soul preview.

—Jim Travers

Just In: 2010 Honda Insight

Typically, there’s an inherent downfall with hybrids: buying one brings a cost premium over a similar conventional vehicle. Getting over that initial price difference can pose a hurdle, even though Consumer Reports’ cost of ownership data shows that a Toyota Prius has a lower five-year ownership cost than a cheaper-to-buy Honda Civic EX.

Enter the Honda Insight. Starting at $20,470 (with destination), the Insight is the least expensive hybrid you can currently buy in the U.S. We recently bought an EX version for $21,970.

That low, low price warrants a footnote or two. First off, the Insight is a relatively small car, and that price isn’t all that cheap. Compare that $20,470 to the $18,925 you’d pay for a roomier Honda Civic LX with similar equipment (including an automatic), or the $16,220 you’d pay for a base automatic Fit. Plus, if you want stability control (and you should, given its safety benefits), you need to move up to the EX trim level. That rings in at $21,970—still cheaper than a Prius, but not exactly pocket change.

Of course, part of the reason you pay the up-front premium is for fuel efficiency. The Insight isn’t as efficient as either the current Prius or the upcoming third-generation version, but Honda’s claimed 41 mpg overall is nothing to sneeze at. Our very first impressions are that fuel economy is impressive, but the Insight is missing some refinement.

We’ll let you know more very soon, as we prepare a First Drive report.

—Tom Mutchler

Porsche Panamera sedan debuts in Shanghai

Porsche chose the 2009 Shanghai Auto Show to introduce the world to the new Panamera, the first four-door sedan in the carmaker’s history.

That Porsche selected China for the debut of its upscale sports sedan is not altogether surprising. China remains a relatively bright spot for carmakers in a year of declining sales; sales there rose 10 percent last month. This marks the third straight month that China has eclipsed the United States as the world’s largest car market, and it now ranks as the world’s second largest luxury car market, behind the U.S. A Porsche spokesperson said the company’s Cayenne SUV is something of a status symbol in China – it’s apparently one of the more popular chauffeur-driven vehicles.

The Panamera will start at $89,800 when it arrives in the United States in October. Three trim levels will be available: S, all-wheel-drive 4S, and the $132,000 Turbo AWD. All Panameras will have Porsche’s PDK seven-speed automated manual transmission. Porsche says an automatic on-off feature that shuts off and restarts the engine at traffic lights will help deliver class-leading fuel economy, and that the S model has returned 26.2 mpg on the European driving cycle. The Panamera has not yet been rated by the EPA, but buyers saving for a chauffeur in these trying times can certainly use all the help they can get.

—Jim Travers

Happy Birthday, Mustang! Share your Mustang story

Today marks the 45th birthday of the Ford Mustang, which was first shown to the public at the New York World’s Fair on April 17, 1964.

Ford introduced fairgoers to the Mustang at the Magic Skyway exhibit, where various Ford models including 12 Mustang convertibles were drawn through a Disney-designed vision of world history, from the dinosaurs to the “City of Tomorrow.” The voice of Walt Disney himself narrated the automated journey, piped through the cars’ radio speakers.

Henry Ford II handled the official Mustang unveiling duties and introduced the Magic Skyway. Some show attendees queued up in long lines for the Disney spectacle, others simply wanted to ride into the future in what would become an American icon. As a raving young gearhead, I fell into the latter category, and my parents were kind enough to let me slide behind the wheel for the ride. I’m not sure I even noticed the dinosaurs.

 Mustang sales took off from day one, with customers flocking to dealers even as the exhibit opened, and some 22,000 were sold the first day. First-year sales topped 400,000 units, far beyond the original projections of 100,000 cars. The Mustang was off at gallop to become what is now the longest-running nameplate in the company’s history.

As a lifelong car enthusiast, I have fond memories of being there for the birth of the Mustang, and it is with the same sort of youthful enthusiasm that I look forward to getting behind the wheel of the revised 2010 model.

Everybody has a Mustang story. What’s yours? Post in the comments below.

—Jim Travers

2009 New York Auto Show: Mini charges up Mini E customers' garages

At the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, Mini introduced the Mini E, a battery-powered Mini Cooper that it will lease to 450 consumers in California, New York, and New Jersey starting in May. With one sitting on the show-floor at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York, we decided to check in on the project to see how it’s progressing.

The cars have been built and Mini has chosen the applicants who will get the cars to drive for a year, said Nathalie Barthmuss, a Mini spokeswoman. But before the cars are delivered, Mini is sending electricians to the customers’ homes to install 48-amp/240-volt charging outlets in the garage or where the cars can be recharged. With that kind of power, the Mini E's giant, 35-kwh battery pack can be recharged in about three hours. Using a regular 12-amp/110-volt outlet, it would take 26.5 hours.

The lithium-ion battery pack is more than twice the size of the one in the upcoming Chevrolet Volt and takes up the Mini's whole back seat. It gives the car a range of about 100 miles and will only cost about $3.30 to "fill up."

Still, it would only cost about $6 to drive a standard Mini Cooper the same 100 miles. And the monthly lease would cost a whole lot less than the E's $850-per-month lease price.

More info on the Mini E.

—Eric Evarts

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

2009 New York Auto Show: Behind the wheel with Ford Active Park Assist

Ford will soon roll out a self-parking system that promises to help the parallel-parking challenged sit back and let the car do the work. Much like the system introduced by Lexus a couple of years back, Ford’s Active Park Assist lets the driver sit back and watch the steering wheel spin back and forth as the car glides smoothly into an available space. But unlike the Lexus system, this one promises to be truly usable in the real world – at least some of the time.

Impressive as the Lexus system was when we first tried it, it had severe limitations in the name of safety. (See our claim check video on the Lexus self-parking system.) If you pressed the gas, it canceled out, making backing into a space on a hill impossible. It also needed a lot of room, because it had to get into a space on one try. It couldn’t jockey back and forth.

Active Park Assist addresses both of those concerns, and in a brief test drive, it got us into a space set up in front of the convention center several times without incident. It eased a demo Lincoln MKS back and forth into a space, relying on the driver to avoid hitting cars in front and back with the aid of ultrasonic sensors, a camera and audible signals. But the system still couldn’t be relied on to consistently get us close to the curb, neatly lined up with cars in front and back.

Still, progress is being made, and maybe parallel parking skills are destined to go the way of the manual transmission and clutch.

Active Park Assist will be available on the Lincoln MKS this summer, and it will follow on the Ford Flex, Escape, and Mariner in the fall. Ford says the price will be less than $1,000. 

—Jim Travers

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.

2009 New York Auto Show: Will the Ford Transit Connect with families?

In an effort to gauge consumer interest in the Transit Connect van as a potential replacement for the family minivan or SUV, Ford is showing a version called the Family One concept at the New York International Auto Show.

With added side windows, under-floor storage for a folding baby stroller, video screens for the kids in back, and sensors linked to a dashboard screen that can alert parents if a child seat is improperly installed, the Family One appears to be family ready. And better still, the in-dash screen can also let parents know if a wayward Rollerblade or some other piece of gear has been left behind, thanks to a radio frequency identification tag (RFID) inventory control system, like that used in the Ford Works System.

Electronic wizardry aside, the Transit Connect’s high ceiling, generous passenger room and cargo capacity relative to its small footprint, EPA fuel mileage estimate of 25 mpg highway, and $21,475 price tag should all make sense to non-commercial buyers. Seating for five will be available when it arrives this summer, but most non-commercial buyers will likely find the stock interior on the Spartan side.

It’ll be interesting to see whether buyers or aftermarket suppliers pursue adding a degree of personalization and more creature comforts to the Transit Connect. While Ford appears to be interested in seeing what develops, the carmaker seems unlikely to get creative with this people-hauling niche market until somebody else makes the first move.

But the possibilities are intriguing, and the Family One drew plenty of attention during the show’s media preview. In fact, it was among the most crowded show vehicles. You’d have to think customizers, young families who have outgrown their Scion xBs, and even motorhome makers all have their eye on the Transit Connect, too. 

While the RV market implodes, could the Transit Connect be the basis for a conversion van revival?

—Jim Travers

See Consumer Reports' coverage of the 2009 New York auto show.