GM Concept Cars Score Big With Young Consumers

BANDON, Ore., Feb. 8 -- It would appear General Motors Corp. products are becoming more popular with young Americans.

For the first time since CNW Marketing Research began hosting post-auto show focus groups, one GM concept vehicle received the highest rating among 18 to 30 year old consumers with another GM concept grabbing the overall top score.

Among the youngest age group, the GM Autonomy and Cadillac Cien scored 182.3 and 182.2 respectively.

Rounding out the Top 10 among 18-to-30 year olds were the Ferrari Barchetta (177.4), Toyota ccX (171.7), Saturn Sky (169.6), Jeep Willys (168.9), GMC Terra (162.9), Dodge M80 (155.4), Acura RDX (152.3) and Mini Cooper (147.7).

Overall Scores: Cien the Winner

Among all age groups combined, Cien was the top scoring vehicle with a staggering 179.9 score, only 4.4 points lower than VW's New Beetle which is still the all-time historic leader at 184.3.

GM, in fact, had four vehicles rating in the top 10.

In order, the overall top 10 were: Cadillac Cien (179.9), Ferrari Barchetta (162.7), Saturn Sky (161.3), GMC Terra (159.6), Toyota ccX (159.2), GM Autonomy (155.4), Mitsubishi Spaceliner (146.2), Jeep Willys (144), Dodge M80 (142.3) and Acura RDX (141.6).

The focus groups were held in California, Illinois and Florida. Participants are new-vehicle intenders except for 18-to-22 year old ``Youth Appeal'' panels. The groups are representative of a wide cross section of Americans and are shown concept vehicles in photos, videos and detailed presentations based on ``media days'' at the auto shows.