(December 18, 2010) SANTA MONICA, Calif. — It's the most wonderful time of the year, but not for your car. Edmunds.com has issued tips to help snow-belt drivers.

One of the most important elements of driving — especially on slippery roads — is to maximize traction. According to Edmunds.com, approximately 70 percent of new cars come with standard all-season tires, but not all are well-suited to serious winter driving conditions.

(December 17, 2010) WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. — The December new-vehicle retail sales pace is significantly beating expectations, driving a strong close to a challenging year of recovery, according to J.D. Power and Associates, which gathers real-time transaction data from more than 8,900 retail franchisees throughout the United States.

(December 16, 2010) Subaru and BMW have taken top honors in Kelley Blue Book's 2011 Best Resale Value Awards, which recognizes current and forthcoming vehicles for their projected retained value five years from now.

(December 15, 2010) WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.  — While reliability concerns for some brands have increased from 2009, many domestic and Korean brands — including Ford, GMC, Hyundai, Kia and Ram — have been successful in improving customer perceptions of reliability in 2010, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Avoider Study, which was released on Tuesday.

(December 14, 2010) Only seven percent of car shoppers say they are likely to consider an electric vehicle for their next new-vehicle purchase or lease according to a recent study by Kelley Blue Book.

For the majority of survey respondents, the primary concerns about electric vehicles included the drivable range on a single charge (87 percent) and availability of charging stations (84 percent).

(December 13, 2010) IRVINE, Calif. (PRNewswire) — According to the latest Kelley Blue Book Market Intelligence Brand Watch study, embattled automaker Toyota has regained the top spot as the most-considered auto brand among new-car shoppers. 

Toyota consistently captured the most-considered auto brand title from Q1 2007 through Q3 2009, but then fell to the number-two spot for Q4 2009 through Q2 2010, during which time the company experienced its high-profile recall crisis. Domestic auto manufacturer Ford surged ahead to capture the top spot.

(December 10, 2010) — Small cars appeal to buyers on a budget, to the environmentally conscious, to growing numbers of empty-nesters and to the legislators pushing for improved fuel economy from automakers — and yet consumer expectations inspire automakers to make smaller cars more powerful and more functional.

As a result, compact cars are physically larger and heavier than in the past, according to analysis by Edmunds.com.

(December 9, 2010) WESTLAKE VILLAGE — New-vehicle owners are increasingly citing fun-to-drive vehicles as a top reason to remain loyal to their brand, while shifting away from expected resale value as a loyalty reason, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Customer Retention StudySM released today.

Ford and Honda rank highest in a tie among automotive brands in retaining vehicle owners. Each brand retains 62 percent of owners.

(December 8, 2010) DETROIT — It has often been said that the first rule of good business is take care of your customers, or someone else will. And the second rule is you can’t take care of your customers if you haven’t taken care of yourself first. Buick and GMC dealers know you can’t do one without the other, and the customer survey results show it.