car buying

  • 2014 Tesla Model S

    Startup electric-car maker Tesla Motors and its sleek Model S luxury sport sedan have generated more media coverage over the last three years than many well-established car companies. But at least some of that coverage is woefully, hilariously out of touch with the actual world of real people buying real cars to meet real needs and satisfy complex and varied motivations. MORE: Who Buys Plug-In Electric Cars, And Why? CA Report Explains It All For You Some of the worst offenders are financial analysts, and some of the oddest suggestions come when they consider the vehicles a Tesla Model S may...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S
    Wait, Tesla Owners And Fans Don't Care So Much About Green?

    It's dangerous to assume, as the saying goes. And a lot of assumptions about why people buy electric cars are wrong--including that they only do so because they're "green," meaning to help the environment. Now a new attitudinal survey shows this isn't much true for Tesla owners and fans. A study by...

  • Tesla owners & supporters gather in Statehouse in Austin to support company [photo: John Griswell]
    Tesla Loses Legal Battles To Texas, North Carolina Dealers

    Win some, lose some. Tesla's had a very good year thus far, but it was recently dealt legislative defeats in two states where it had hoped to sell its electric cars. In Texas, the state legislature declined to make an exception to existing rules that make it illegal for automakers to sell cars to...

  • 2013 Suzuki Kizashi
    Should I Buy A New Suzuki (Now That It's Leaving The U.S.)?

    There's nothing like a bargain price on a brand-new car. And since Suzuki has announced that it'll stop selling cars in the U.S., there are bargains galore on new Suzuki models. But is buying a brand-new car from a departing manufacturer a good deal? That depends on how the carmaker exits; unlike...

  • 2013 Suzuki Kizashi
    Suzuki Stops Selling Cars In U.S.--What Does It Mean For You?

    After nearly a three-decade run in the United States market, Suzuki has decided to cease selling automobiles here to focus on its core markets in India and Southeast Asia. Those of us in the industry weren’t surprised by the announcement that American Suzuki Motor Corporation was filing for...

  • Gas pump
    Fuel Economy Now #1 Factor In Car-Buying, Consumer Reports Study Says

    Historically, when gas prices are relatively stable, fuel efficiency doesn't rank very high on car buyers' lists of priorities. But that seems to have changed recently. A new survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center found that fuel economy was the leading consideration of 37 percent...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius V

    If you're currently in the market for a Toyota hybrid, you might like to close the deal soon if you don't want to spend a few hundred dollars more. Toyota has announced it will raise the manufacturer's suggested retail price on selected Toyota and Scion models, effective with May 2012 production. Several hybrids will be included in the price rise, notably the 2012 Toyota Prius v wagon, Camry hybrid and Highlander hybrids. Other Toyotas affected by the price increases, which total no more than 1 percent, include the Tacoma, regular Camry models and the 2013 Scion tC. The smallest increase is...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius C Online Configuration Tool
    As The 2012 Toyota Prius C Goes On Sale, We Spec Our Own

    Toyota has just this week started sales of its newest Prius family member, the 2012 Prius C. The smallest Prius hybrid yet, the Prius C is Toyota’s first subcompact Hybrid to go on sale in the U.S. At a starting price of $18,950, the Prius C is also Toyota’s cheapest hybrid yet...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf SL
    2012 Nissan Leaf: Now Available To Order Nationwide, Deliveries By Summer

    The all-electric Nissan Leaf may have been on sale in some parts of the U.S. for 14 months -- but for residents in 21 states, today is the day Nissan will email them saying they can start the ordering process for the $35,200 hatchback. When the 2011 Nissan Leaf launched, Nissan restricted rollout...

  • 2012 Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid
    Why Do Buyers Avoid Prius, Electric Cars? It's Styling And Price

    According to the ninth annual Avoider study published yesterday by J.D. Power and Associates, many car-buyers avoid green cars because they’re too small, look strange, or cost too much. As we’ve previously found from other recent surveys, gas mileage proved to be the number one...

  • 2012 Fisker Karma
    Dream About Ordering A 2012 Fisker Karma? We Show You How It's Done (Video)

    Have you ever dreamed about just walking into your local Fisker dealer and ordering a Karma plug-in luxury sport sedan? Very few of us have the funds to afford the $95,900 starting price of a 2012 Fisker Karma, but that doesn't mean we can't imagine doing it. The youngest member of the High Gear...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    Which Cars Are Getting Traded In For Electric Cars? We Find Out

    In the last nine months, we’ve seen over 10,000 plug-in cars sold in the U.S. alone, with Nissan taking the lion’s share of new plug-in car sales with its 2011/12 Nissan Leaf. Mass-produced electric cars still very much a niche market, so anyone buying one can be legitimately thought of...

  • 2012 Tesla Model S beta vehicle, Fremont, CA, October 2011

    You’ve heard about the 2012 Tesla Model S Sport, read our first ride review, and seen our 2012 Tesla Model S gallery -- but unless you’ve already put down a deposit for the 2012 Tesla Model S you won’t be getting one for a while. So who is getting a 2012 Model S? What kind of people put down $5,000 deposit on a car well before they had even seen it for the first time? And what sort of cars do they already drive? We were at the 2012 Tesla Model S reservation event and talked to many different reservation holders about the electric car they’ve put $5,000 down on...

  • 2012 Ford Focus Electric launch, New York City, January 2011 - Nancy Gioia
    Electric-Car Education: As Important For Salespeople As Car Buyers

    Although it’s almost a year since the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt officially launched in key electric car markets, the majority of the U.S. population have yet to see their first highway capable electric car. So its no surprise that automakers are spending a lot of time and...

  • 2011 Chevrolet Volt
    Buying or Leasing An Electric Car: Why Residual Value Matters

    You’ve read up on the latest electric cars, gone for test drives and are ready to make a purchase. However, there’s one more thing you should consider before singing the contract: how much will your car be worth in a few years’ time? The answer depends on who you ask and could...

  • Think City $17,995 ad campaign
    Theory Meets Reality: How Expensive IS The 2011 Think City?

    It’s well known that any sales material always uses the most attractive pricing option as a way of enticing customers to buy a product. But is it helpful, confusing or downright misleading for an electric automaker to advertise an electric car for sale at more than $17,500 less than its own...

  • 2011 Nissan Leaf for Sale on eBay
    Buying Or Selling a Used Electric Car? What You Need to Know

    On the face of it, buying or selling a used electric car could seem like a great idea if you either need to make more room in your garage for your shiny new plug-in ride or you just can’t afford the sticker shock associated with buying new. However, we’ve been watching Internet auction...

  • Slide from "Selling Green in Today's Market," GfK Research, October 2010
    Why Buy Green Cars? For the Cost Savings, Not the Planet, Survey Says

    If you're reading this site, there's a good chance that you're interested in driving green: saving fuel, perhaps reducing the overall impact of your transportation choices on the planet. Or maybe not. Maybe, like the vast majority of U.S. buyers, you're interested in better fuel economy not for...

  • 2010 Toyota Prius

    What a shock! Who'd ever have thought it? Will wonders never cease? Yes, yet another survey shows that fuel efficiency matters to car and truck buyers. And that more than half say their next vehicle will get better gas mileage than their current ride. Fuel efficiency: It matters Capital One Auto Finance hired Braun Research to survey 800 adults last month by phone on their views about their next automobile purchase. The results? A full 53 percent of respondents expect their next car to be more fuel-efficient than their current vehicle. Perhaps more remarkably, 55 percent say they would be...

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