Toyota and GM Top 2007 Motorist Choice Awards

CAMPBELL, Calif.--PRIMEDIA’s IntelliChoice.com, the online source for automotive ownership cost and value analysis, and AutoPacific, the industry source for owner satisfaction rankings, today announced the results of their second annual Motorist Choice Awards for model year 2007, with Toyota and GM coming in as the big winners. Toyota scored winners in eight segments, including the overall winner, Lexus LS, while GM followed in second with five segment winners, including the Cadillac DTS and GMC Yukon XL.

The Motorist Choice Awards were designed by AutoPacific and IntelliChoice.com to recognize the vehicles that delivered both the highest customer satisfaction and the lowest cost of ownership. The awards take AutoPacific’s owner satisfaction data from new car and truck buyers and combine those data with IntelliChoice.com’s rating methodology to create a new kind of award that speaks to both the hearts and wallets of car buyers.

“This year’s roster of winners earned their place by challenging vehicles often recognized for their quality and value,” said James Bell, publisher of IntelliChoice.com. “While Japanese manufacturers garnered a majority of the 25 vehicle segments, the 2007 Cadillac DTS checked in as the top overall large luxury car. GM also showed well by scoring top honors in both the large light-duty and heavy-duty truck segments with the Chevrolet Silverado.”

“Those who monitor the industry closely are probably not surprised by the performance of the Cadillac DTS,” said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “Across all segments, the DTS came in a close second to the overall winner Lexus LS, and it was the top ranked vehicle overall in AutoPacific’s recently announced Vehicle Satisfaction Awards. It’s a car that can definitely challenge the other elite brands.”

Peterson added that any vehicle scoring 700 or higher in the Motorist Choice Awards can be considered in the top tier of highly desirable cars or trucks. “There were 25 outstanding vehicles scoring 700 or better,” said Peterson. “Some vehicles scored high but didn’t make the list because they lost out to other high-scoring vehicles in their segment. These include the Lexus GS, Lincoln Town Car, Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Acura RL, BMW 5-Series, BMW 7-Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Mercedes-Benz GL450, Chevrolet Suburban, Lexus RX, Toyota 4Runner and Hyundai Azera.”

WINNERS

For this year’s awards, Intellichoice.com and AutoPacific identified 25 winners by segment (see attached table) and selected winners in four major categories of vehicle. In terms of overall vehicle rankings, the Lexus LS scored highest of any vehicle, a position bolstered by such premium luxury features as the automatic parallel parking system.

Cars: Lexus LS (Top Overall Winner)
Trucks: Chevrolet Silverado 1500
SUV/Crossover: GMC Yukon XL
Minivans: Honda Odyssey

METHODOLOGY

The Motorist Choice Awards were calculated by combining IntelliChoice.com cost of ownership data with AutoPacific’s customer satisfaction survey data.

AutoPacific surveys 45 different vehicle ownership attributes and, of these, 38 product-focused attributes were used. Each of the product attributes generates a score between 5 and 25, allowing a maximum possible score of 950, which is then normalized to 1000. The actual scores range from 495 to 756.

The remaining seven attributes focus on cost of ownership and are addressed by IntelliChoice.com. These attributes include Depreciation, Financing, Fuel, Insurance, Maintenance, Repairs, and State Fees. IntelliChoice.com rates vehicles based on the vehicles' total ownership cost against the vehicles' total expected cost.

To merge the IntelliChoice.com data with the AutoPacific rating system, IntelliChoice.com ranked each model within the 25 different segments. A conversion formula was then used such that the best model within the IntelliChoice.com analysis received the equivalent score as the best model within the AutoPacific analysis, and the worst model received the equivalent score as the worst model within the AutoPacific analysis. This conversion was done for each segment of vehicle.

The final step was to combine the AutoPacific score with the converted IntelliChoice.com score. This was accomplished by creating a weighting for each segment based on the AutoPacific importance scores from the 45 attributes. The average importance score from the product attributes were weighted against the average importance score from the ownership cost attributes. The AutoPacific and IntelliChoice.com scores were combined through multiplying the AutoPacific Score by the product attributes weighting and the IntelliChoice.com score by the ownership cost attributes weighting, and then adding the two scores together.

About IntelliChoice.com

Part of PRIMEDIA's Enthusiast Media, IntelliChoice is the market leader in automotive ownership cost and value analysis. Founded in 1986, IntelliChoice is committed to empowering consumers to make better purchase decisions by providing independent and essential automotive information and tools. Through the IntelliChoice web site (www.intellichoice.com), consumers get the help they need to research, compare, configure and price vehicles. The site also connects buyers to the buying alternatives of their choice, including vehicle manufacturers and an online car buying guide.

About AutoPacific

AutoPacific is a future-oriented automotive marketing and product-consulting firm. Every year AutoPacific publishes a wide variety of syndicated studies on the automotive industry. The firm also conducts extensive proprietary research and consulting for auto manufacturers, distributors, marketers and suppliers worldwide. Company headquarters and its state-of-the-art automotive research facility are in Tustin, California, with an affiliate office in the Detroit area. Additional information can be found on AutoPacific's websites: http://www.autopacific.com and http://blog.vehiclevoice.com.

IntelliChoice.com and AutoPacific Present the Motorist Choice Awards Segment Winners 2007 Model Year:
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SEGMENT		WINNER
Aspirational Luxury Car		Lexus IS
Compact Car		Mazda Mazda3 Sedan
Compact Crossover SUV		Chevrolet HHR
Compact Pickup		Toyota Tacoma
Compact Sport Utility/ORV		Toyota FJ Cruiser
Economy Car		Honda Fit
Image Compact Car		Volkswagen GTI
Large Car		Toyota Avalon
Large HD Pickup		Chevrolet Silverado HD
Large LD Pickup		Chevrolet Silverado 1500
Large Luxury Car		Cadillac DTS
Large Sport Utility		GMC Yukon XL
Luxury Crossover SUV		Acura MDX
Luxury Mid-Size Car		Nissan Maxima
Luxury Sport Utility		Land Rover Range Rover Sport
Mid-Size Car		Volkswagen Jetta
Mid-Size Crossover SUV		Honda CR-V
Mid-Size Sport Utility		Toyota 4Runner
Minivan		Honda Odyssey
Premium Luxury Car		Lexus LS
Premium Mid-Size Car		Nissan Altima
Premium Mid-Size Crossover SUV		Nissan Murano
Premium Sports Car		Lexus SC
Sports Car		Porsche Boxster
Sporty Car		Scion tC