2006 Lexus Sc on 2040-cars

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Mystery shoppers love Infiniti, hate Tesla

Infiniti, followed by Lexus tied with Mercedes-Benz took the top two spots for best sales experience according to mystery shoppers from the latest Pied Piper Prospect Satisfaction Index, while EV manufacturer Tesla recorded the lowest overall score. Not surprisingly, premium brands dominated the top ranks. Including the three already mentioned, luxury brands occupied seven of the top ten spots and included Audi, BMW, Porsche, and the only American brand to crack the upper echelon, Cadillac. Toyota, Volkswagen, and Nissan rounded out the first ten positions. The news for domestic automakers isn't good. Aside from Caddy, the only other star-spangled automaker to score above the industry average is Chrysler. The rest of FCA, most of GM, and all of Ford fell below the line. But Pied Piper's mystery shoppers handed Tesla the biggest walloping – the company is ten full points below the next lowest brand, Volvo, and its score of 86 is 17 below the average of 103. It's baffling, considering the company's touted direct-sales model. "Tesla leaves me scratching my head," Fred O'Hagan, Pied Piper's president and CEO, told Wards Auto. "They own all of their stores, so you would think each one would be doing the same thing. But they're not. Tesla is consistent in its inconsistencies." O'Hagan added that there's a "huge variation" in Tesla's store-to-store effectiveness, and that in some cases, shoppers found showroom workers that acted more like "museum curators," Wards Auto reports. It might be popular to call Tesla the Apple of the car world, but based on Pied Piper's work, the brand has a long way to go to emulate the uniform shopping experience of an Apple Store. The news might be bad for Tesla, but even for the brands that scored below average, there's cause for celebration. Only Tesla and Mini lost points in this year's rankings, and only Mercedes and Lincoln held steady. Every other brand, including Infiniti, which topped the index for the first time, gained at least one point. The biggest improvements belong to Porsche, Land Rover, and Mitsubishi, which all jumped five points. Pied Piper's annual Prospect Satisfaction Index uses mystery shoppers – over 6,100 this year – from across the country to assess dealers and generate rankings from over 50 individual factors. News Source: Pied Piper via WardsAuto Green Audi BMW Cadillac Chrysler Infiniti Lexus Mercedes-Benz Nissan Tesla Toyota Car Buying Car Dealers study

Toyota might stop importing certain models if tariffs imposed

In case you hadn't heard, the entire automotive industry, both domestic and foreign, is very much against the automotive tariffs proposed by the Trump administration. And while the industry is lobbying hard against such tariffs, companies are also having to consider what to do in the event they are passed. CEO of Toyota's North American operations, Jim Lentz, told Bloomberg that the company will certainly be reconsidering its strategy in the event of tariffs between 10 and 25 percent the cost of the car. He told the news outlet that, depending on how high the tariffs are, Toyota might just increase the price of some models, or stop importing them altogether. Toyota does build a large number of its cars here in the United States. The Toyota Camry, Avalon, Tundra, Highlander, Sequoia, Sienna models are all built here, as well as some Tacomas, Corolla sedans, and Lexus ES sedans. Many of those vehicles are big sellers for Toyota, too, so that's good for the company. But many other Toyotas are built outside the country. The Toyota RAV4, Prius range, C-HR, Corolla hatchback, Land Cruiser, 86, Yaris, Yaris sedan, Mirai, 4Runner, and the entire Lexus line are built in other countries. Some of these imports we're sure are safe no matter how high the tariffs might be. The RAV4 is the company's biggest seller, and the Prius sells well, too. Even if the Prius wasn't selling so well, the company would probably still sell it simply because it's an image builder. Somewhat related, we imagine Toyota would continue offering a handful of Mirais. The 4Runner, C-HR and Corolla hatchback would probably be safe, too. If these models stick around after potential tariffs are imposed, expect their prices to increase. But in the Toyota line, anything that's not selling well and has tight margins is probably doomed. Chief among them are the French-built Yaris hatchback and the Mexican-built Yaris iA sedan. Both cars have terrible sales, and being low-end cheap cars, they'll only sell worse with higher prices, and Toyota will lose money if it has to eat the tariff. The 86 is a similar situation in which it's a niche vehicle that has had weak sales and is being sold at a relatively low price. The Land Cruiser could go either way. It sells in small numbers, but it's already extremely expensive and continues to sell. Buyers might not be put off by spending some more.

Fast & Furious' Paul Walker checks out Lexus LFA with 30,000 miles

For most vehicles, eclipsing the 30,000-mile mark isn't much to celebrate. With modern vehicles fully capable of sailing right past the 250,000-mile line with just basic, regular maintenance, the wee 30k is as common as coffee.
But that's not the case for supercars like the Lexus LFA. The limited-production machines are more likely to be museum pieces than commuter cars. That's what makes the fact that Lexus has not one, but two LFA models with over 30,000 miles on the clock so special. Paul Walker recently met the dynamic duo out at Willow Springs Raceway.
Walker seems impressed with the two supercars after hammering around the Streets course, saying the ultra rare, high-mileage LFA examples feel as quick and sturdy as they did when the left the factory. Lexus says the cars have both only received their equal shares of regular maintenance. Catch the video of both cars on track below along with a few words from Walker.