General Motors, Toyota take top honors with Vincentric's Best Value in America awards
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Michigan - February 5, 2008 - General Motors was the big winner with today’s announcement of Vincentric’s Best Value in America™ awards, an honor that measures value using the overall cost to own and operate a vehicle. At the corporate level, GM rode the strength of its full-size pickups to bring home 10 awards, while Toyota brands also had a strong showing with 8 winning vehicles, including the Scion xB. Honda and Acura continued the consistent delivery of consumer value by winning 6 awards, while the free maintenance provided by BMW helped deliver 5 Best Value in America awards in various premium segments.
New for 2008 was Vincentric’s Best Hybrid Value in America™ awards, with the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Ford Escape Hybrid each winning in their respective segments. Another winner of note was the newly re-designed Chevrolet Malibu, which used a combination of aggressive pricing and low depreciation to make its mark in its mid-size segment.
Vincentric measures cost-of-ownership using eight different cost factors: depreciation, fuel, insurance, opportunity cost, financing, maintenance, taxes and state fees, and repairs. Using a statistical model, the company identified the Best Value in America™ by measuring which vehicles have a lower than expected ownership cost given their market segment and price. Each vehicle was evaluated in all 50 states plus DC using a range of annual mileage intervals (10,000, 15,000 and 20,000 per year). In addition, Vincentric reviewed different insurance profiles (new drivers, less experienced drivers and experienced drivers) and their impact on value for each vehicle.
“We saw a large number of different makes winning Vincentric’s Best Value in America award,” stated David Wurster, President of Vincentric. “This shows the incredibly strong competition in today’s market. The strong results from newly released vehicles make it clear that a focus on newly designed vehicles will be a requirement for manufacturers to provide a strong value proposition to consumers,” he added.
The categories and the winners of Vincentric’s Best Value in America™ for the 2008 model year are listed below. In addition, a synopsis showing detailed ownership costs for each winner is available at www.vincentric.com.
Winners of Vincentric’s Best Value in America™
Passenger Cars
- Subcompact, Entry Level: Honda Fit
- Subcompact, Mid Level: Scion xB
- Compact, Entry Level: Toyota Corolla
- Compact, Mid Level: Acura TSX
- Compact, Premium: BMW 6-Series
- Mid-Size, Entry Level: Chevrolet Malibu
- Mid-Size, Mid Level: Toyota Camry
- Mid-Size, Premium: Acura RL
- Large, Mid Level: Toyota Avalon
- Large, Premium: BMW 750i
- Wagon, Entry Level: Pontiac Vibe
- Wagon, Mid Level: Subaru Outback
- Wagon, Premium: Audi A6 Avant
- Convertible, Entry Level: Mazda MX-5 Miata
- Convertible, Mid Level: BMW Z4
- Convertible, Premium: Chevrolet Corvette
- Hybrid, Car: Honda Civic Hybrid
- Sport: Chevrolet Corvette
- Prestige: BMW 760i
SUVs, Crossovers, and Vans
- Crossover, Entry Level: Honda Element
- Crossover, Mid Level: Honda CR-V
- Crossover, Premium: BMW X3
- SUV, Entry Level: Jeep Patriot
- SUV, Mid Level: Nissan Pathfinder
- SUV, Premium: Toyota Land Cruiser
- Hybrid, SUV/Crossover: Ford Escape Hybrid
- Mini Van: Toyota Sienna
Pickups
- Compact Pickup, 2WD: Toyota Tacoma
- Compact Pickup, 4WD: Toyota Tacoma
- Full Size Pickup, 2WD: GMC Sierra 1500
- Full Size Pickup, 4WD: GMC Sierra 1500
- Heavy Duty 3/4 Ton Pickup, 2WD: Chevrolet Silverado 2500
- Heavy Duty 3/4 Ton Pickup, 4WD: Chevrolet Silverado 2500
- Heavy Duty 1 Ton Pickup, 2WD: GMC Sierra 3500
- Heavy Duty 1 Ton Pickup, 4WD: GMC Sierra 3500
ABOUT VINCENTRIC
Vincentric provides data, knowledge, and insight to the automotive industry by identifying and applying the many aspects of automotive value. Using VinbaseTM, its comprehensive, proprietary cost-of-ownership database, the company measures and analyzes the overall cost of owning and operating vehicles and its impact on the value provided to buyers. Vincentric data is used by organizations such as Yahoo! Autos, Cars.com, Chevrolet, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Volkswagen, Ford Motor Co., Business Fleet Magazine, Audi of America and Fleet-Central.com as a means of providing automotive insight to their clientele. Vincentric, LLC, is a privately held automotive data compilation and analysis firm headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
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Contact:
Dave Freed
Vincentric, LLC
952-891-1054
dave.freed@vincentric.com
www.vincentric.com
©2008 Vincentric, LLC, All Rights Reserved.
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