Survey Shows High Percentage of Design Engineers Drive Fords
11 October 1999
FEATURE/Survey Shows High Percentage of Design Engineers Drive Fords
--(BUSINESS WIRE FEATURES)--Results in the 20th annual Design News Auto Survey show that about 19 percent of respondents drive a Ford vehicle, with the Taurus the most-owned model. Respondents named - no surprise - the Taurus as the best-engineered U.S.-made passenger vehicle.
In the survey's $15,000-25,000 price range, the Toyota Camry was named number one, edging the Taurus, which won in 1997, and the Honda Accord, which was number one in 1998.
In the below-$15,000 price range, the Honda Civic got honors for the best passenger car, followed by the Saturn and Toyota Corolla. In the $45,000-and up price range, Mercedes-Benz topped the survey list, followed by Lexus and BMW.
In the survey's "Money is No Object - Dream Machine" category, Mercedes-Benz was number one, followed by the Chevrolet Corvette and the Dodge Viper.
Volvo topped the safety category, as it has for the past two years, with nearly 50 percent of the Design News survey respondents saying it is the safest car on the road. Mercedes-Benz was a distant second.
More than half the respondents said they'd not buy an electric vehicle, but more than 40 percent said EV's would become a viable choice if priced between $10,000 and $20,000. A greater number (46 percent) said they'd consider buying a hybrid fuel vehicle such as the Toyota Prius or Honda Insight, both of which will be available in the U.S. in early 2000.
Nearly 30 percent of those surveyed believe that the most important engineering challenge facing Detroit in the next decade is development of alternately fueled vehicles.
The survey also asked today's engineers their predictions for the vehicles of tomorrow. More than 50 percent of the engineers in the survey said they would never buy an electric vehicle, while 30 percent said they would "consider it." More than 40 percent said electric vehicles could become a viable option if priced between $10,000 and $20,000.
Since 1980, Design News has asked its design engineer readers -- about 17 percent of whom work in auto-related fields -- to name the cars they'd buy on the basis of quality and good engineering, and to compare how each maker's car stack up against the competition.
"Design engineers have strong opinions about autos, and with their technical training, they understand quality design and good engineering when they see it," says Paul Teague, chief editor of Design News.
Design News is read twice monthly by 335,000 engineers who design products ranging from autos to spacecraft. It is published by Cahners Publishing Co., Newton, Mass., the nation's leading publisher of specialized business magazines. Design News is the winner of five Folio magazine "Editorial Excellence" award as the top design engineering magazine in the U.S.