Slt 4wd 4x4 Leather Sunroof Moonroof Power Seats Pl Pw Cc 4.2l I6 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Car owners getting more irritated with their repair experiences, study says

The J.D. Power U.S. Customer Service Index Study (CSI) is a barometer of a vehicle owner's happiness with the service experience. While it wasn't all bad in the 2023 study, the overall owner satisfaction score dropped. This year's tally of 846 out of 1,000 is two points down from 2022, the 43-year-old study's first decline in more than 28 years, and one point down from 2021. However, the overall score remains well up from the pre-pandemic scores of 821 in 2018 and 837 in 2020. The study claims the stumbling block is the horde of BEV launches. The flood into the new energy space has created a recall rate among EVs that's more than double the rate for ICE vehicles. Furthermore, dealership service department knowledge of EVs isn't on par with internal combustion engine expertise, leaving EV owners less satisfied with service advisors compared to ICE owners. Chris Sutton, VP of automotive retail at J.D. Power, said, "As training programs for service advisors and technicians evolve, EV service quality and customer experience must address both the vehicle and the unique customer needs. The EV segment has the potential to spur massive convenience improvements in how customers service their vehicles — but weÂ’re not seeing the benefits yet." Matters are slightly worse for all owners, though, with labor and parts shortages contributing to longer wait times for service appointments. The CSI study surveys owners and lessees of one- to three-year-old vehicles to gauge their happiness with service at franchised dealer or aftermarket service facilities for maintenance or repair work. The criteria in order of importance are service quality (32%); service advisor (19%); vehicle pick-up (19%); service facility (15%); and service initiation (15%). Lexus retains the top spot for luxury brands, giving it three wins in four years. The Japanese automaker won in 2020 as well, its run interrupted by Porsche in 2021. Cadillac, Infiniti and Acura complete the luxury top 5.  For mass-market cars, Mitsubishi wins again after a victory in 2021 and falling to fourth last year. It's followed by Mazda, Buick, Subaru and Mini.  Considering the different service needs and service experience of different body styles, the study has broken results out by segment for the first time. Lexus earned a second victory thanks to winning the premium SUV segment, and Mitsubishi earned a second victory by winning the mass-market SUV/minivan category.

GM expanding Lansing Lambda CUV plant

Considering that crossovers are a rapidly growing portion of the US auto market, it's not surprising to hear that General Motors is preparing to build even more of them. The company is investing $63 million to expand its Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant that builds Lambda platform CUVs like the Chevrolet Traverse, GMC Acadia and Buick Enclave.
According to GM, the expansion will add roughly 263,000 extra square feet of space to the plant. Of that, 181,000 square feet will be for an updated body shop with cutting-edge robots. There will also be 54,000 square feet of additional room in the paint shop and 28,000 square feet of more area for general assembly.
GM isn't saying as much, but there is the possibility that this extra space could allow for additional models produced at the factory. Cadillac reportedly dropped plans to build a three-row SUV on the Lambda platform earlier this year, however, dealers for the luxury brand were recently pitched the possibility of adding large and small CUVs, an ATS convertible or a sedan below the ATS.

GM may have teased a whole group of electric vehicles

During GM's big CES press conference, the automaker highlighted a number of its upcoming electric car-related projects from delivery vans to the upcoming flagship Cadillac Celestiq. In the middle of it all, a collection of mystery cars sat in the background behind speakers. They were in the dark, lit only with their running lights, and while it's possible they're just generic filler cars or concepts, we think they could be future products. Our best shot of the cars together is shown above, and we can pretty easily identify three of the vehicles. In the center is obviously the GMC Hummer EV. On either side of it are Cadillacs. To the left seems to be the Lyriq crossover, and to the right is the Celestiq sedan. Two of these cars have production dates, and the third has been confirmed for eventual production, just without timing. This is why we think the rest of the cars are upcoming models. The next most easily identified car is on the near right behind the Cadillac Celestiq. It very clearly has a Chevy bowtie illuminated in the running lights. And looking closely, it appears to be a pickup truck. It's difficult to make out anything more than that. The nose does look a bit more rounded and swept back than the brick-like designs of the Silverado truck line. That also squares with what seemed to be the upcoming truck that appeared in the background of yet another GM presentation. GM previously said this electric Chevy truck will be a full-size model with up to 400 miles of range. That leaves us with three more mysterious models. Over to the left behind the Cadillac Lyriq are what appear to be a pair of crossovers. The one on the far left looks low, curvy, and possibly with a fastback roof. The one on the right is taller, boxier, and probably more of a full-size people hauler. It's hard to say much more beyond that. They could be new electric Buicks, which would fit in nicely with that brand's crossover portfolio, and would likely be highly successful in China, where Buicks, crossovers and electric cars are all rather hot commodities. As for the mystery car on the far right, it's quite a puzzle. We can at least rule out Buick and Cadillac, and GMC since it's definitely a car, and a rather small one compared with the other cars on display. That leaves Chevy, and possibly the autonomous division Cruise. We're leaning toward it being a Chevy, since the first Cruise vehicle is going to be a boxy pod of sorts.